Lepidoth’s household. There was no essential conflict between being a wife in a patriarchal age and being a spiritual leader. ———————— The battle with the Canaanites in Deborah’s time took place here, and involved only a few of Israel’s twelve tribes. ————————❖———————— While the biblical text casts Deborah in a strongly positive light, the later rabbis, whose negative view of women is explored in chapter 1, were disturbed by the Old Testament’s portrait of Deborah. They developed a play on Deborah’s