An Old Testament Woman Leader Without Apologies

Judges 4:4-5
(4) Now Deborah, a prophet, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time. (5) She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites went up to her to have their disputes decided.

There is shallow reasoning that suggests that God created women inferior to men. This reasoning suggests that by just being a woman one had a limited station in life and religious life. This reasoning exposes its height of folly by suggesting that the Bible is in support of male and not female leadership.

Very few people are able to think outside the framework they were brought up in. It takes effort and God’s guidance to be free from the framework that informed your thinking. This is why it is correctly stated that you can take a person out of a village but you can’t get the village out of that person.

A person who grows up in a framework where women are inferior to men may get converted to Christianity but still operate in that framework. The person may get a high level of education but will always argue to defend his or her own framework. What many argue as Biblical and sound reasoning is just an affirmation of their traditional biases dressed in modern gear.

Many societies contrary to God’s will oppress women. They treat them as second-class citizens. They believe women cannot be leaders because of one serious mistake – they are women. If being a woman is such a misfortune, we beg to ask, who created this misfortune? Did God create women before sin or after sin? Women were created before sin, therefore, they are not a consequence of sin, and they have all rights and privileges associated with life!

Our text today tells us that a woman named Deborah was a prophet and also a leader of Israel. Ehud had just exited the scene and God chose a woman without having to explain anything to anyone at that time nor for our time. Women can replace men at work and vice versa and it is not an issue.

Deborah was doing everything men do. She was listening to all sorts of disputes and making decisions. Men and women came to her so that she can resolve disputes. No one murmured and no one complained. It was treated as a normal issue for her to be in leadership. From where you are is it normal for women to be in leadership and even replace men in their roles?

Deborah ordered a man by the name of Barak to go to war. It wasn’t unusual. Barak was afraid and Deborah told him that God will give victory to Israel at the hand of a woman. This is because if men refuse to serve God, He still has an option to pick any woman. Both men and women are at God’s disposal for leadership and other services.

Deborah being a prophet and leader of Israel did not require that she leads a single life. She was married and her husband was known. The husband did not interfere with her and she operated freely in her God-given role. Are men letting their female partners thrive?

Galatians 3:28
There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Luke 8:1-3
(1) After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. The Twelve were with him, (2) and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases: Mary (called Magdalene) from whom seven demons had come out; (3) Joanna the wife of Chuza, the manager of Herod’s household; Susanna; and many others. These women were helping to support them out of their own means.

Acts 1:14
They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.

In Christ, there is no male or female. In Christ is the space we get into when we get converted. Those who are converted and are in Christ cannot be biased against men or women. Jesus had female disciples who followed him where He went and provided for Him and His disciples. In the upper room after Jesus ascended to heaven, the team was made of men and women!

Only Christ can liberate us from a life of being victims of discrimination and discrimination against others. May we find freedom and liberty in Christ. May God help us to create a society where men and women are free to be the best of what God intended for them without bias, in Jesus’ name, Amen!

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