Deborah Who?

In my bible reading this week, I came across a verse that stuck with me throughout the day.  From the 35th chapter of Genesis, verse 8: And that's when Rebekah's nurse, Deborah, died.  She was buried just below Bethel under the oak tree.  It was named Allon-Bacuth (Weeping Oak).

This verse is set in a chapter about the journey of Jacob, one of Rebekah's twin sons.  Before this, Deborah had not been mentioned and she is never mentioned again.  It felt like a verse that was put into the story later.  Someone felt this death was important and not to be missed.  But why?  Who was she? Why is there so little about her?

There is some speculation that this is the same person in chapter 24 of Genesis, when Rebekah is chosen as a bride for Isaac and leaves home "with her nurse."  Just a verse later it describes Rebecca with her "young maids," so whether this was Rebekah's childhood nurse or someone chosen to nurse Rebekah's children, I don't know.

When reading about the women of the bible, one does a lot of speculating and guessing.  Most of the time the women are left out of the narrative, forgotten, and sometimes even unnamed.  The fact that this nurse was named and had her death and burial recorded must mean she was very important or at least seen as valuable to Jacob and his family.  In many cultures, children valued their nurses more than their mothers, as nurses were the ones who nurtured and cared for the children of women with some status.  In some ways, women of import were seen as above the role of caregiver of their children.  Thus we know exactly when Isaac, Jacob’s father, died and how old he was and where they buried him, but we have no idea when Jacob’s mother, Rebecca, died or whether her family grieved her loss.

Rosie the Riveter is an image used to promote feminism; it's an image of a woman I didn't even now had a name until recently.  Did you know she is based on an actual person?  It wasn't until recently that she was identified. Well, actually misidentified and then identified.  Read the story here.

This Halloween, a young person from church decided she wanted to dress up as Rosie the Riveter for Halloween.  I thought it was wonderful to choose such a strong female image.  Unfortunately, at a weekend Halloween event, her peers had no idea who she was, which was disappointing and discouraging to this young person.  Luckily, she has a mom who encouraged her daughter to continue wearing the costume for other Halloween events.  Hopefully, a few more people learned about this iconic figure.

Finding strong, independent female images can be challenging.  Princesses abound in our culture.  The bible is filled with strong, male characters, heroes and villains, kings and shepherds, and women are usually the supporting roles.  Even God is mostly described with male imagery.  It can be difficult to find female characters in the bible to whom we connect.  Rebekah was one strong character, who unfortunately used deceit to promote her favourite son and then disappears from the story.  It's Deborah, the well-loved nurse, who is remembered, but even she is only given one verse in the bible, relating to her death.  It's no wonder that Mary, the mother of Jesus, became such a well loved and even a worshipped figure as there were very few female images from which to choose.

This is probably one of the most difficult aspects of the bible for me.  It was written by men, for men, during a time when women were considered property and had little to no say in their own lives and in the world around them.  Highlighting female characters is thus very important to me.  I hold onto female images of the divine, like the images from Jesus of the mother hen in the gospel of Matthew or the woman who lost and found a coin in Luke's gospel.  There are images of God in Isaiah as a mother who cares for her child or the God who gives birth.  One of my favourite images is from Proverbs, the only female personification of God in the bible.  Wisdom is her name or in Greek, Sophia.  (Notice the title of my blog.)  Asserting these images in a world that is filled with male images of God is important and valuable if we want our young people to experience God as a vast mystery with many images and symbols, not just that of Father.

**If you listen to podcasts, the Liturgists have an excellent episode called, "God as Mother."  It will challenge you on how you name God.