Devorah — Steven Liebowitz

The Bible tells us that 175 years after Moses led the Children of Israel out of Egypt, there arose a woman, Devorah, a daughter of Ephraim, to be a Judge over her people, a prophetess and a righteous example unto them. The Bible also tells us of Devorah's husband, Lappodoth; Barak, the great Hebrew general; Sisera the Canaanite general; Yael the Kenite, slayer of Sisera; and of Sisera's mother, Betheena. The Bible touches only the high points of their lives. This is a more complete story. At story's heart, are two different views of God--God as an accessible, benign, loving and present force, and God as a distant, arbitrary, capricious and punishing monster. Devorah called the punishing fearsome God (the God of the temple and formal worship) the God of the Scrolls; and she called the benign and accessible God, the God of the Covenant. Devorah's story is the first in a series of novels based on this unique alternative view of God and its influence on the lives Old Testament characters. Titled, "The Covenant and The Scrolls, Book One" shows Devorah as a prophet, mother and the only female Judge ever to rule ancient Israel walking a tightrope between her personal view of God as an accessible, benign, loving and present force, and the prevailing traditional view of God as a distant, arbitrary, capricious and punishing power that, as the official representative of the state, she is expected to uphold. "The Covenant and The Scrolls" series describes biblical events and characters beginning with Devorah, through Kings Saul, David and Solomon, from the perspective of this unique alternative view of God and the two almost completely opposite experiences that arise from it. For example, when King Saul is centered in the Covenant, he has no headaches; but with the Scrolls, he is tortured by 'evil spirits'. Steve Liebowitz' interest in alternative views of the Bible and what else might have gone on behind the scenes, began when he read Kazantzakis' "Last Temptation of Christ" under fire during the first TET Offensive in Viet Nam in 1968. What he learned and wants to share in these books--that God is both more than and less than we've always thought Her to be, not only sustained him in the defense of his doctoral dissertation (on alternative ways of knowing) in l990, but continues to support his Business Coaching practice today. He's lived this stuff, as well as researched it. As you read, please consider that Devorah, Saul and the others in "The Covenant and The Scrolls" are probably not the only people to experience the two almost completely opposite experiences of God. Perhaps you have, too.