Contrary to popular modern Christian belief, the Bible does not say God appointed Deborah or any other woman as a leader over Israel. 

In Judges 4:3-5 the Bible says:

“³ And the children of Israel cried unto the Lord: for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel.⁴ And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, she judged Israel at that time. ⁵ And she dwelt under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in mount Ephraim: and the children of Israel came up to her for judgment.”

Many Christians have read the word “led” into “judged“ when it comes to Deborah. But to do so ignores the Biblical principle that Scripture interprets Scripture. The Bible tells us God’s hierarchy in this world in 1 Corinthians 11:3:

“But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God”

God’s order is simple – God the Father is head of God the Son, God the Son is head over man and man is head over woman. This is why we never see qualifications for a queen in Israel, but only a King (Deuteronomy 17:14-20). This is why we never see qualifications for female priests, but only male priests (Leviticus 21). This is why Pastors and deacons in the New Testament are called to be “the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well” (1 Timothy 3:12).

The biblical office of prophet is an exception to God’s normal societal order. The qualifications for a prophet are listed in Deuteronomy 18:22 and Deuteronomy 13:1-5.

In Deuteronomy 18:22 the Bible says:

“When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.”

And in Deuteronomy 13:1-5 the Bible says:

“1 If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, ² And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; ³ Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the Lord your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. ⁴ Ye shall walk after the Lord your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.⁵ And that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath spoken to turn you away from the Lord your God, which brought you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to thrust thee out of the way which the Lord thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee.”

As we can see in the two passages above the qualifications for a prophet were far simpler than for any other biblical office. If the person foretold future events that actually came true AND they were not attempting to lead people away from the God of the Bible then people should listen to him. There are no gender qualifications, no marriage history qualifications nor does this person even have to be a good teacher. The prophet is simply a mouth-piece for God, revealing his divine revelation to world.

The problem is that many Christians today, especially those in favor of churches having female pastors, try and use the office of prophet to overturn God’s natural order of man over woman because God sometimes chose female prophets.

But what they fail to realize is that there is zero evidence of any female prophet in the Bible leading men. Not one. And not even Deborah.

The Bible says she was “a prophetess” (Judges 4:4) and that “the children of Israel came up to her for judgment” (Judges 4:5).

When we apply the Biblical principle that Scripture interprets Scripture then we must understand Deborah’s judgement to be one of advice. People would come to her for advice since they knew God spoke divine revelation through her. And sometimes, God would give her a command for someone to follow.

Deborah told Barak, the leader of the Israelite army, that “the Lord God of Israel commanded” (Judges 4:6) him to take and assemble his army to fight against their enemy Sisera.  She did not command him; she instead relayed the special revelation from God that he was commanding Barak to do this thing.

Because of Barak’s cowardice, that he would not go if Deborah did not come with him, she revealed that “the Lord shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman” (Judges 4:9) referring to a housewife named Jael who later killed Sisera in her tent (Judges 4:21).

The only time the Bible speaks of someone leading during battle in which Deborah attended is when it says in Judges 5:12 “arise, Barak, and LEAD thy captivity captive, thou son of Abinoam”.

Deborah was a cheerleader and moral support for the men of Israel, but she never led the men of Israel.  Her revealing divine revelation from God and encouraging people is a very different thing than being a leader or ruler.

We know based upon the Biblical qualifications for a prophet that Deborah had to have first qualified herself as true prophetess of God by predicting near future events that came true – otherwise the children of Israel would never have come to her for judgement.

Could God raise another prophetess like Deborah in our time? Certainly.  And if a woman starts miraculously foretelling near future events and her teachings align with the commands of the God of the Bible – then we should listen to what she says that God is commanding.