Deborah and women elders?

Is 'Deborah' evidence that supports women elders?

The account of Deborah, Judges 4, is often used as an example from the egalitarian perspective, that supports women elders. What about Deborah, they might say, she was a Godly leader?

However, when we look carefully at the scriptures and consider what is written, this may not actually be the case. Remembering the important concept, we need to look at what is written in scripture, but also what is not written. In addition to this the general principle of not basing our theology on assumptions but on the text is important. Applying this principle carefully to Deborah, what do we see? Is her example actually transferable to the New Testament context of eldership?

Subtitles

the first thing to note is when you get to the book of judges 4, note how many versions of the Bible call it 'Deborah's song' in the subtitles, also just 'Deborah' in others. It is called priming. Basically it is a process where you direct people's attention and interpretation towards a particular outcome.

For example: 'Why does Bob always get it wrong?'. In the question it assumes that Bob always gets it wrong. So you try to answer that. However, perhaps what needs to be asked first is 'Does Bob always get it wrong?'

Or which of these three movies is the greatest of all time-Star Wars A New Hope, Ben Hur or Avatar? The question itself primes a particular response- that at least one of these movies is the greatest of all time. These type of questions and directions actually try to limit answers, to fit responses into a box.

Judges 4 and 5 can includes this in many versions of the Bible- the added subtitles. Subconsciously it sets up these chapters as being all about Deborah buut is that what the text actually says? In reality it is about Deborah and Barak which some translations, such as the ESV, have in their subtitles. This can create bias in our interpretations. So often we hear of Deborah, and much less often we hear of Barak. Yet the text itself clearly makes this account about both of them. Deborah is introduced in verse 4 and Barak in verse 6. The song sometimes subtitled as 'Deborah's song' is actually connected to both Deborah and Barak in 5:1. It is just something to be aware of especially when drawing strong conclusions from something not properly studied. So the first point, this text, without the subtitles, is the account of Deborah and Barak.

The basics

We know Deborah was a prophetess. In 5v7 her coming was like a Mother figure in Israel. Her day to day life consisted of judging people who came to her (see 4v4-5). She was literally acting as a judge in Israel. Forget judge Judy, we have judge Deborah! Also note that people came to her. It wasn't a requirement. As mentioned, she was like a Mother to Israel, a place of comfort and nourishment. She was the judge of Israel, dealing with matters of justice.

During this time she prophetically told Barak the right time to go and attack their enemies (v14). She went with him and his army as a support to Barak (v9) at his, not God's, request. After an overall victory she, with Barak, sang the song found in judges 5. However, we do not know who contributed what lines to that song. After the various victories we know the land had peace for 40 years (5v31) we do not know anything at all about Deborah or Barak's role in that time of peace.

Did Deborah or Barak actually lead Israel?

The first point in this to note is that at the time of Deborah Israel was under foreign control. In judges 4:1-3 we see that Israel was ruled by Jabin, King of Canaan and reigned in Hazor. Hazor was originally conquered and burned by Joshua and became part of the land of Naphtali until the Israelites sinned and turned from the Lord. So Israel was dominated and oppressed by these people at that time. There was no formal leadership of Israel during any of the time of the judges. So Deborah was certainly not leading the whole of Israel as it was being dominated by another nation who would have been very controlling of the nation (judges 4:3).

So if she was not leading Israel as such what was she doing? Thankfully the text makes that quite clear:

Deborah is specifically stated as acting as a judge

Deborah was called a prophetess

She had a place where she would sit

People would come to her for judgement.

That is basically it.

The phrase 'for judgment' means the act of deciding a case (Strongs 4941-from Biblehub referring to Brown-Driver-Briggs). It is clear that she was not leading Israel in this action in the way we understand leadership. This is why different Bible translations can be helpful because some always translate the word for 'judge' as 'led' or 'leading'. But with Deborah it has a much more specific description. The context of the text clearly shows that she was not going out anywhere, running the country but people knew her to be wise and she was clearly a prophet so was the voice of God for that generation. If you wanted to hear from God-go to Deborah. Which actually fits the day to day role of other prophets such as Samuel, Nathan and Huldah.

Therefore, it is clear that Deborah very much fits the prophet role. So while exercising leadership within her role as prophet (like all prophets did) there is nothing in the text to show that she ever did more than that.

Also, while she is called a judge, unlike the other judges, there is no introduction for her being called to save Israel (such as Gideon). In fact, she is the one God uses to call Barak to save Israel. Saying that she led Israel is misleading to our modern ears. The text describes what she did: her place of ministry was under a tree in the mountains (4:5) which sounds fairly hidden away. Again, we always need to look at the text for our answers first.

So her role was not a leader as we understand it and it is not a representative role that can translate to New Testament eldership. Prophets, absolutely, but more on that later.

Did Deborah save Israel?

In short the answer is no. Reading the account carefully, we can see that from verse 8 in terms of Deborah being a leader, the information we have is non existent. There is no reference to her leading. She was significant and influential, as Godly prophets always were, but she was not 'the' leader of Israel.

She was not, for example, the leader of the army (as Barak had been) she was not leading like a King such as David over the whole of Israel. which is closer to the original meaning of the text.

4:4-5 explains quite clearly she was a legal administrator, obviously of good reputation (people went to her), and a Godly, married, prophetic woman. That's what the text actually says.

However, when we look at the pattern of those called to save Israel, Barak is the one who fits the description in that he was called to save Israel through war in some way which is what fits with the majority of the other judges. Gideon was called to save Israel through military conquest, along with Samson, Jepthah and others. This was Barak's role, not Deborah's. It wasn't even Deborah who told Barak to go of her own leadership or personal authority, but only because she heard from God i.e Barak was not under her authority.

But Deborah did go with Barak, so wasn't she still a leader?

Look at the text, what does it say? The text states that she was not even meant to go with Barak. She did it as a favour to Barak (this means God did not call her to go with him nor lead the armies). Speaking through Deborah, Barak was called, as Gideon was called through the Angel of the Lord (Judges 6v14). Barak even lost some of the glory of battle because he insisted on Deborah going with him. She was clearly not meant to go with him.

There is no text that she fought anyone or led the army. It was Barak who went, led the army and pursued Sisera (4v14b; 15a, 16; 22 ) and Barak who led the army. It is even debatable whether Deborah stayed with the army after that point. Deborah said 'Go!...' (4:14a) and after that word from God everything was about what Barak did. Also, as the song in 5v15 says the armies were with Deborah, yet they followed Barak. Who led them to victory? Barak.

Prophets in the OT 

Another issue with Deborah being a leader is how we understand OT prophets. You will see that while leaders such as David can speak prophetically, those who were known as prophets were never considered leaders. Nathan, Isaiah, even Samuel. They were influential, absolutely, but they were never leaders in the way Barak, Gideon or David were leaders.

They did, however, work alongside Kings and warriors and, if times were desperate times work more independently such as Elijah and Deborah (initially).

The way Deborah was described was more akin to these prophets including Huldah in 2 Kings 22:14 where people also went to her for guidance.

Prophets were their own category, they weren't leaders, or Kings they were prophets, they did what prophets do.

When you wanted to hear from God, you went to a prophet and sometimes God would speak through a prophet whether you wanted it or not. But the fact that people were going to Deborah meant that the people were coming back to God. But we miss these important teachings if we are too focussed on trying to use Deborah to prove egalitarianism.

So when we are looking for an OT parallel to elders for churches, prophets are not an OT parallel.

Does Deborah support the egalitarian view? 

It does not appear from the text itself that Deborah had any kind of formal authority outside of her prophetic gifting. She did not lead Israel in the same way as some of the other judges or Joshua or Kings. Barak in fact, was the main leader of Israel, he led the armies to victory.

If we focus on trying to make Deborah fit into an egalitarian framework we miss what God has actually chosen to reveal about her life, her faith and character. We miss what God is teaching us and instead try to use her as a tool to prove a point. We also miss what we can learn from the faith of Barak as we are too focussed on Deborah. They were a complementary team.

Instead of seeing and honouring Deborah for who she was and what she actually did do. We end up reading into the text what is very clearly not there and focus on that instead.

 My Brothers and sisters, this should not be. A quick off the cuff knowledge of scripture could lull you into thinking Deborah is a key in unlocking the egalitarian view, but a careful reading of what is written does not support this view. Let's not be casual with scripture but with every view and opinion, let's test everything we hear against what is actually written. This is empowering.

She walked in her gifts, even at a difficult and tumultuous time. She served people faithfully according to her gifts. She had great wisdom in settling disputes and discerning over possibly quite difficult situations (during this time there wasn't much of a national government). She respected Barak even though she saw weakness in his request. There is a lot of good when we look at her life and that of Barak. Let's not miss what the text says by approaching it with our own agendas.

Deborah certainly challenges more extreme forms of patriarchy. Within the realm of her gifting she had authority to settle matters. It seems people looked up to her. Barak, an influential leader, still wanted her by his side. She was his support. As mentioned she was a mother figure in Israel. Women in the church take very important Mothering roles within the church. Deborah was this for Israel, for both men and women which is showed clearly in the way Barak wanted her by his side as a support and how they sung together of Israel's victory.

She is an example of godly, gifted women not being shut out of proceedings in churches. Their thoughts and opinions matter and should be listened to and considered.

But her New testament parallel is not teaching elders, but mothers of the church, people who anyone can turn to for guidance, safety and support who will look out for their interests in line with the will and purposes of God.

Again, what does the text say and what does it not say.

There is no indication of this text pointing us towards embracing an egalitarian view now for the church. Was Deborah a great example for women? Yes. But lead churches? The example of Deborah does not support that. If we read the other accounts in judges, the people who were leaders were called in special ways, Barak was that person, he was called to lead Israel out of their oppression, not Deborah.

Secondly, this season of Israel's life shows us unusual examples of leadership. If judges is the basis for who we can or cannot have as leaders then that raises some serious questions when it comes to characters like Samson. He was the hero of Israel, yet you would never want someone like that being an elder over a church. So we need to be very careful not to make more of what the text says because of our own agendas. Judges was not the standard for all leadership for Israel at that time.

Deborah was a prophetess. She is an example of God gifting women to be prophets and her example can teach us about what it means to be a prophet. But being a prophet is not enough to support the response where someone says, 'yes, women can be elders, look at Deborah'. It just doesn't fit with the text. so be empowered to think through these things. Don't just take my word for it, study the text for yourself whatever your view. Let go of agendas, and just sit before the feet of Jesus and learn from him.