The Complementarian Problem With Deborah

As I mentioned in my previous post about reading the Bible through a complementarian filter, I do believe this practice can have dangerous theological implications. The complementarian problem with Deborah is the perfect example of this.

The teaching of 1 Timothy 2 is arguably one of the centerpieces of the complementarian doctrine (I do not permit a woman to teach or have authority over a man). Because of this, any Scripture that appears to be even slightly contrary to it must be explained away. In the case of Deborah, this is especially true. Here is the relevant passage.

Deborah, a Prophetess and Judge
Judges 4:1-14

After Ehud died, the Israelites again did evil in the sight of the LORD. So the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his forces was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth-hagoyim. Then the Israelites cried out to the LORD, because Jabin had nine hundred chariots of iron, and he had harshly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years.

Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time. And she would sit under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, where the Israelites would go up to her for judgment.

She summoned Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, “Surely the LORD, the God of Israel, is commanding you: ‘Go and march to Mount Tabor, taking with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun. And I will draw out Sisera the commander of Jabin’s army, his chariots, and his troops to the River Kishon, and I will deliver him into your hand.’”

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.”

“I will certainly go with you,” Deborah replied, “but the road you are taking will bring you no honor, because the LORD will be selling Sisera into the hand of a woman.” So Deborah got up and went with Barak to Kedesh, where he summoned Zebulun and Naphtali. Ten thousand men followed him, and Deborah also went with him.

Now Heber the Kenite had moved away from the Kenites, the descendants of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent by the great tree of Zaanannim, which was near Kedesh.

When Sisera was told that Barak son of Abinoam had gone up Mount Tabor, he summoned all nine hundred of his iron chariots and all the men with him, from Harosheth-hagoyim to the River Kishon.

Then Deborah said to Barak, “Arise, for this is the day that the LORD has delivered Sisera into your hand. Has not the LORD gone before you?”

So Barak came down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him. And in front of him the LORD routed with the sword Sisera, all his charioteers, and all his army. Sisera abandoned his chariot and fled on foot.

Then Barak pursued the chariots and army as far as Harosheth-hagoyim, and the whole army of Sisera fell by the sword; not a single man was left.

God Really Couldn’t Find a Man?

According to complementarian teaching, Deborah being both a judge and prophet (the ONLY judge listed in the Bible with that distinction) is simply not acceptable. So it must be explained away. It is usually explained away as an anomaly because it doesn’t fit the complementarian 1 Timothy 2 doctrine.

The most common way of explaining away this passage is that Deborah was used because God couldn’t find a man to fulfill the job. God used a woman because no man was available. Furthermore, the fact that God used a woman shows how bad things were.

I’ve always found that answer unsatisfying both spiritually and intellectually. It always seemed like a cop-out to me. I was reflecting on this recently and realized that to take this stance seems to be a denial two central facts about God.

In the first, saying that God used Deborah only because no man was available is to deny God’s omnipotence. God couldn’t find a man to work with?

• This is the same God who hardened Pharaoh’s heart multiple times.
• This is the same God who gave Abraham a baby in his old age.
• This is the same God who chose David, the youngest, over his brothers.
• This is the same God who chose Jacob and not Esau.
• This is the same God who waited forty years for Moses to be ready to lead his people out of captivity.

This same God couldn’t move one measly man in all of Israel to be used as a judge? Does someone really want to say God was incapable of finding a man to work with?

In the second, God using Deborah would seem to seriously call into doubt God’s omniscience as well. According to the complementarians, the appeal to the created order of Genesis 1-3 in 1 Corinthians 11 and 1 Timothy 2 is used to demonstrate that women are not to lead and are to be subject to men. They view this as a binding doctrine starting in the Garden of Eden and continuing to the present day.

So if this view of women being forbidden to lead because of the created order is true, why did God establish a created order He would be forced to violate? If we believe God is omniscient and knows the beginning from the end, wouldn’t He know that there wouldn’t be a man to put in place as judge and He would be “forced” to “settle” for a woman? Why would God establish a principle that He knew he would have to violate? And how can God violate His own created order? Aren’t those the options? Either God isn’t omniscient and didn’t realize He would end up in this situation or else He chose to violate his own established creation order that He commands in the same Scriptures that recognize Deborah’s godly leadership.

If we come to the conclusion that Deborah was a legitimate leader, deliberately chosen by God, why would God use women in the Old Testament and then put MORE restrictions on them in the New Testament when the entire point of Christ’s coming was to bring freedom?

The fact is that Deborah would be unwelcome in complementarian churches today despite being specifically chosen, gifted, and equipped by God to lead His people.

Berean Standard Bible