What happens when the men God calls won’t lead?  This question is one of the most frequently raised when I’ve been in groups of women discussing female versus male roles in leadership.  The story of Deborah is often used as an example of a female leader interchangeable with men… rightly so?  Let’s take a closer look.

The first three verses of chapter 4 show that our pattern is repeating again:

Step One: After Ehud died, the Israelites once again did evil in the eyes of the LORD.

Step Two: So the LORD sold them into the hands of Jabin, a king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth Haggoyim. Because he had nine hundred iron chariots and had cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years,

Step Three: they cried to the LORD for help.

So, then step four will follow: God will raise a judge to deliver them.

The first interesting thing is that the judge at this time is Deborah. Importantly, Deborah is referred to as a judge, but she calls Barak and tells him that God has called him to deliver the people from the oppression of Sisera.

Deborah is not the same type of judge as the other main characters in this book – she is described as a prophetess, and although the same word for “judge” is used for her as many of the other judges, she was not in a warfare/deliverer role. God has called a man to fill the role of deliverer.

However, when Barak is told that God wants to use him as the deliverer of Israel, he refuses to do it alone!

She sent for Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “The LORD, the God of Israel, commands you: ‘Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead the way to Mount Tabor. I will lure Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.’” Barak said to her, “If you go with me, I will go; but if you don’t go with me, I won’t go.” (4:6-8)

Why does he want Deborah to come with him?  Notice that Deborah is just the mouthpiece – she is simply delivering a message to Barak from the Lord.  It is GOD who promised to lure Sisera, it is GOD who promised to deliver him into Barak’s hands.  But Barak is seeing with human eyes – he directs his request for “back-up” to Deborah, not to God.   The wording here reminds me of something we heard Moses say back in Exodus, but in very different circumstances – he, too, was begging for Someone to go with him.

Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your ways that I may know You, so that I may find favor in Your sight. Consider too, that this nation is Your people.” Then he said to Him, “If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here...” Then Moses said, “I pray You, show me Your glory!” (Exodus 33:15-18, NASB)

Through a long process of being taught and refined by the Lord, Moses had been transformed in God’s presence. He understood that if all else failed, he just wanted to be in the presence of God!  If Barak really understood what it meant that “The LORD, the God of Israel, commands you,” there is no way he’d be depending on Deborah.

I firmly believe that God made male and female with very different roles. Some have asked if Deborah was acting as judge and prophetess because a male was not close enough to God to fill that role. I’ll leave that for you to chew on as I have no clear answer on that from the text! However, it IS clear that Deborah wasn’t meant to be in battle gear leading the army – that was Barak’s job. His lack of courage and commitment apart from his female counterpart is evidence of a lack of faith in God, not an argument in favor of a feminist interpretation of Scripture.

Deborah continues to function in this account as a cheerleader of sorts, urging Barak to believe God and obey.  She tells Barak that she will accompany him, but that the honor will not be his.

So, do I believe that women can lead?  Yes, I believe we CAN.  I don’t think it’s best.  I think there are situations in which God uses women to influence His people in the right direction – and if they are godly women they try very hard to hand the reins over to male leadership.  When those men refuse, God can choose to use women to carry out His plan… but I believe this story is an illustration of the fact that this is not a good situation – it will have negative ramifications for individuals and for the group as a whole.

Because Barak refused to believe God and obey in faith, a woman was forced into battle, and another woman ended up being the one to kill Sisera.  And as we’ll discuss tomorrow, it’s never a good sign for society when women are nailing people to the ground with tent pegs!