What does Judges 4:4 mean?

Israel has cried out to the Lord for help after twenty years of cruel oppression (Judges 4:1–3). They have been subject to the king of Canaan and the commander of Canaan's army. Immediately, the writer of Judges introduces us to someone functioning as a judge in Israel. The Hebrew term translated "judge" in this book means much more than a legal expert who renders decisions. In Deborah's case, however, that seems to be exactly what she was doing. Her role appears to have been that of an arbiter—a legal referee between parties. She leads the people, primarily, by her wisdom.

Deborah is described as a prophetess, along with four other women in the Old Testament (Exodus 15:20; 2 Kings 22:14; Nehemiah 6:14; Isaiah 8:3). A prophet was someone used by God to deliver His messages to the people. This prophetess was also leading in Israel by resolving disputes between the people not addressed by their Canaanite conquerors.

The prophetess is also associated with a Hebrew word referring to a torch, usually translated as the name Lappidoth. If this is Deborah's husband, he is curiously not mentioned again, nor is his tribe recorded. For these reasons, some scholars believe the Hebrew phrase ē'set lappidot, typically translated as "wife of Lappidoth," might mean "woman like a torch" or "woman of fire." The same structure is used elsewhere in the Old Testament to assign traits to particular women (Proverbs 21:19; 31:10). Deborah's personality certainly seems fiery, as shown in these two chapters of Judges.