Wednesday Bible study: D is for Deborah

I had a titanic struggle where to go with D this week, but as usual, God gave me the clue where to go in something I ran into quite by chance.  Deborah was a judge of Israel, and her main story is in Judges 4-5.  For those not in the know (as her main story isn't the point I'll be chasing), Deborah lived in an era of Israel's history before they were united as a kingdom, with the phrase over and over, "Every man did what he saw fit" being used in the book.  The highways had fallen into disuse due to banditry; even the city gates weren't secure- and one commenter notes that this is the reason she judged from a secure place ("She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim", Judges 4:5).  Israel was under the thumb of one Jabin, a Canaanite king in Hazor (North of the Sea of Galilee in Napthali territory), who had 900 iron chariots, against with the Israelites were basically defenseless ("When new gods were chosen, then war was in the gates. Was shield or spear to be seen among forty thousand in Israel?" Judges 5:8).

She was also a prophetess, and God instructed her to give the order of battle to a man named Barak.  Barak refused to do it without her, whereupon she let him know this would cost him the glory of the victory.  Meanwhile, a neighbor friendly to Jabin and his general Sisera named Heber the Kenite ( a supposed father-in-law of Moses descendant) let Sisera know where the Israelites were, and away he went.  But Barak and Deborah carried the day by God's might, Sisera fled back to Heber's camp.  And there, Heber's wife Jael let him hide in her tent till he fell asleep, and then she put a tent peg through his head.

There are a ton of ways to take this story.  The irony of the man Heber contributing to the enemy of Israel's attack, and his wife ensuring their victory.  The interplay between the confident Deborah and the not-so-much Barak.  And why was it in Chapter 5, the tribes of Reuben, Dan, and Asher REFUSED to fight? But I found the most interesting thing was how Deborah was both a prophet and a judge.  Now there have been a ton of prophetesses in the Bible; the Rabbis list seven special prophetesses that God raised up in Israel:  Sarah, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Abigail, Huldah, and Esther.  But there was one comment in the Summarized Bible by Keith Brooks (1919):

 It is a sure mark of apostasy in a nation when a woman is found in the place of leadership. 

And he may have had a point; after all the only other leaders of Israel that were women were Jezebel (and we all know how SHE was), and Athaliah, who was basically the same with less fame.  So how was it she was a Judge?  And what does this mean for Paul in 1 Timothy 2:12?

1Ti 2:12  I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet. 

Before I gave the matter much thought, I noticed an article in the Christian Post called, "What does the Bible really say about women being pastors?" By Bob Edwards.  In it he has an interesting take on the above passage:

Some also misinterpret 1 Timothy 2:12, to be saying that women may not “exercise authority” over men in the church. However, the word translated “exercise authority” in Latin and English versions of the Bible was repeatedly used in 1st century Greek to refer to someone who was responsible for someone's death. In the writing of Philo of Alexandria, for example, being an “authentes” was connected to causing death by embracing a false knowledge (“gnosis”) of God (see Philo’s “The Worse Attacks the Better").

Using similar language, Paul prohibits “a woman” from “authentein andros,” possibly referring to a false teaching that would be responsible for the death of a man. The woman is compared to Eve in 1 Timothy 2:13-14, who was deceived and gave the forbidden fruit to her husband, who ate it and then died. Early Gnostics completely misunderstood the creation account found in Genesis. They taught that the serpent was a messenger from God, and that Eve did a good thing when she shared divine “gnosis” with Adam. In 1st Timothy 6:20, Paul warns Timothy to guard the gospel against profane babblings that are falsely called “gnosis.”

He also points out several examples of NT women in what would seem to be leadership roles, and one that I found interesting was a certain couple from Acts 18:

18:2 And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. And he went to see them, 

Act 18:3  and because he was of the same trade he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade. 

Now all seems well here, but every OTHER time the couple is mentioned...

Act 18:18  After this, Paul stayed many days longer and then took leave of the brothers and set sail for Syria, and with him Priscilla and Aquila. At Cenchreae he had cut his hair, for he was under a vow. 

Act 18:26  He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him and explained to him the way of God more accurately. 

Rom 16:3  Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, 

Rom 16:4  who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks but all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks as well. 

2Ti 4:19  Greet Prisca and Aquila, and the household of Onesiphorus. 

Priscilla (or Prisca) gets the top billing, just as we saw two weeks ago 'Barnabas and Saul' become 'Paul and Barnabas'.  He further goes on to point out that the words that he used on himself for teaching or exhortation he also used for ladies like Priscilla, Phoebe, Lydia, not to mention Timothy's Mom and Grandma.  When it came to 99% of the duties a pastor might have, Paul by his actions showed he had no problem with women doing them.  That 1% was being the actual head of an individual church- what we would call the pastor.

Bob Edwards, though, doesn't quite go with that distinction in his article, summarizing, " Does the New Testament support women being “pastors” in the church? Yes, when read in its original language and context, and not confused with fallen human traditions, it most certainly does."  HOWever, I also found an article called, "Women Pastors: What does the Bible Teach?" by Richard R Melick Jr, on the SBCLife page.  They note that there are duties specific to pastors and not to teachers, lay leaders, etc, that are not for women to do:

Someday neither the church nor the family will operate with such economic subordination. Marriage is only an earthly economy (Matt. 22:30). The church is the bride of Christ and will have a corporate beauty in the image of God (Eph. 4:11-16; Eph. 5:25-27). Perhaps this, too, is analogous to the Godhead since someday "God will be all in all" (1 Cor. 15:28). Prior to the eternal state, however, there is a demand for functional organization. The organization prescribed for churches pictures God's functional organization in the Godhead. Therefore, based upon these texts and models, a woman's spiritual service is to be in those roles assigned her by God. These do not include the role of pastor.

So in this article, the stress is on the ORGANIZATIONAL, administrative functions- the "final say" on things, and the direction to take the church.  THAT I can live with.  Does that mean that a church with a large amount of female teaching and leadership is bad? No!  Does it mean a woman being a pastor is bad?  Apparently.  So how does this fit in with Deborah and her being a Judge?

Well, think of it this way.  God could have very well had Deborah lead the armies of Israel.  But her actions show that she saw God's will as her staying OUT of the fight:

Jdg 4:6  She sent and summoned Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh-naphtali and said to him, "Has not the LORD, the God of Israel, commanded you, 'Go, gather your men at Mount Tabor, taking 10,000 from the people of Naphtali and the people of Zebulun. 

Jdg 4:7  And I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin's army, to meet you by the river Kishon with his chariots and his troops, and I will give him into your hand'?" 

Jdg 4:8  Barak said to her, "If you will go with me, I will go, but if you will not go with me, I will not go." 

Jdg 4:9  And she said, "I will surely go with you. Nevertheless, the road on which you are going will not lead to your glory, for the LORD will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman." Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh. 

And even then, the woman who "got the glory" wasn't her.  She was more than willing to do all that God asked, and it WASN'T the whole job.  Perhaps the "sure sign of apostasy" wasn't Deborah's leadership but the man's UNWILLINGNESS.