Prophetess and Judge Devorah leads the Israelites.
Her commanding general is Barak who defeats the Canaanite/Assyrian General Sisera. Devorah was the fourth Judge of Israel (the only female judge), a celebrated leader, poet and prophetess.
In celebration, Deborah and Barak compose their famous song, one of the earliest of Hebrew heroic poems:
“Praise ye the Lord for the avenging of Israel,
When the people willingly offered themselves.
Hear, O ye kings; give ear, O ye princes;
I, even I, will sing unto the Lord;
I will sing praise to the Lord God of Israel
Lord, when thou wentest out of Seir
when thou marchedst out of the field of Edom,
the earth trembled,
and the heavens dropped,
the clouds also dropped water.
The mountains melted from before the Lord,
even that Sinai from before the Lord, God of Israel.
In the days of Shamgar the son of Anath,
in the days of Jael,
the highways were unoccupied,
and the travelers walked through byways.
The inhabitants of the villages ceased,
they ceased in Israel,
until that I Deborah arose,
that I arose a mother of Israel.
They chose new gods;
then was war in the gates:…
Awake, awake, utter a song:
arise Barak, and lead thy captivity captive,
thou son of Abinoam.
Then he made him that remaineth
have dominion over the nobles among the people:
the Lord made me have dominion over the mighty…
So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord:
but let them that love him be as the sun
when he goeth forth in his might” (Judges, 5:2–31).
Deborah appears in the narration of events as a national leader, as a “mother in Israel,” but it is clear from her song that she had the allegiance only of some of the Israelite tribes that came together for the purpose of defeating a common enemy. She is the only iconic “Israelite Judge” whose activities actually included some judicial functions.
An Israelite homemaker Yael, assassinates the retreating Assyrian general Sisera who had stopped by her home to rest while fleeing from the lost battle; Yael serves him milk and drives a stake through his head when he dozes–off.
After the victory and killing of Sisera, there were forty years of peace.