Thank you for taking the time to read Deborah’s story. I know I say this often, but in this case it is truer than most—this was a book I did not think I could write, one I actually turned in early and took back because it just wasn’t working. A book I dreaded.
Why? In Scripture, Deborah seemed too perfect. We know so little about her other than she judged Israel and wrote a victory song. Oh, and a brief mention that she was the wife of Lappidoth. (Though some interpret that to mean other than a literal wife, I chose to believe Lappidoth was a real man and her real husband.) Still, how does one come up with a story with so little information?
While much of the story did come from imagination, this is where research and attention to detail come in. For instance, Sisera and his mother are mentioned in Deborah’s victory song, which gave a springboard to imagine what kind of woman is mother to a terrorist. This is not to place blame on parents for the choices of their children, but in Sisera’s case, based on Deborah’s song, we get a glimpse of a woman who probably fed her son’s rage and savagery.
In stories like this, it also helps to bounce ideas off a friend or critique partner. The idea for Talya came from such a discussion, and now I can’t imagine the story without her in it.
Another clear picture that emerged had to do with what it might be like to live with terrorism. With the constant barrage of militant extremists attacking innocent people all across the Middle East and beyond—even on our own shores—it was not hard to imagine. Terror is very real and has been for millennia. Deborah and Barak lived in such a time as this. And suddenly her story didn’t seem so impossible, nor she so perfect. Undoubtedly, Deborah felt anxiety, even fear, over Sisera’s advances, and concern for her family, her clan, and her country.
The final help came from two friends who came to my rescue when I knew the story wasn’t working. They helped me see that I had to address how Deborah came to be the only female judge mentioned in Scripture, and to give more detail in her relationship to her husband. I could not have finished the book without their input.
As with every biblical novel I write, I do hope you will turn to Scripture and read Deborah’s story there for yourself in Judges 4 and 5. As God had mercy on Israel when they cried out to Him for help and relief from the terror, may we also cry out to the Almighty One in our own time of need.
Until He Comes,
Jill Eileen Smith