Biblica - Vol 88 (2007) Wong, Gregory T.K., Song of Deborah as Polemic (2007)

Focusing on its rhetorical structure, this article argues that the Song of Deborah in Judg 5 may have been composed not so much primarily to celebrate a victory, but to serve as a polemic against Israelite non-participation in military campaigns against foreign enemies. Possible implications of such a reading on the song’s relationship with the prose account in Judg 4 and its date of composition are also explored.