Westworth United Church

Rev. J. Clark Saunders, November 13, 2011, Westworth United Church         

 Judges 4:1-7

She sounds like a pretty tough cookie.  You’ll find her in the Book of Judges where she is described as a prophetess.  In fact, in the passage we heard as our first scripture lesson this morning, we heard that she was a married woman who used to sit under a tree giving judgments to people who came to her presumably in order to have some dispute resolved.  And we learned that her name was Deborah.

Now this was a time when the Israelites were fairly new to the land of Canaan and lived under the shadow of one of the local Canaanite kings.  A couple of centuries would pass before the Israelites would be sufficiently well organized to create a single united kingdom under, first, King Saul and then David, and then Solomon.   And during this unsettled period leadership was exercised by local figures called judges.  But sitting in judgment like modern judges was only one of their functions – and a function that only some of them performed.  Others – like Samson (he of the long hair and prodigious strength) were more like local heroes.  And some were notable for their charismatic personalities.  But all of them – in one way or another – were leaders.  And there are some things about Deborah’s leadership that make her remarkable.

In today’s reading Deborah tells an army officer named Barak – this would be the first “Barak” in history, but certainly not the last – she tells Barak to set up his army on top of Mount Tabor where they will engage their Canaanite enemies in battle.  Just after our reading today ended, Barak says he’ll do it, but only if she comes with him.  She agrees, and – long story short – they win a great victory. 

Now it doesn’t give us a lot to go on, but I think it does give us a picture of Deborah’s personality.  She was a strong person.  In a patriarchal society, here is a woman who has risen to a position of leadership.  We know she was married – we even have her husband’s name:  Lappidoth – but he appears to have done nothing of historical significance.  Her wisdom and authority were implicitly acknowledged by those who came to her for judgment.  She had imagination and was an intelligent tactician; she came up with the plan to confront the people’s enemies from a position of strength on Mount Tabor.  And she must have been able to inspire confidence, because General Barak refused to carry out his mission without her.  Her name – don’t forget — was Deborah.  And I’d love to see someone try to address her as Deb.  Or Debbie.

 From rather meager evidence we can surmise a fair amount about Deborah and her qualifications as a leader.  But what the Book of Judges doesn’t tell us is how she came into that leadership role.  In fact, this book doesn’t tell us much about how any of the judges got picked for the job.  The most we may find is a line like, “But when the Israelites cried out to the Lord, the Lord raised up for them a deliver, X son of Y, who did this or that.”

How did someone get to be a judge?  The Lord raised them up.  But that isn’t really much help, is it?  We can assume, I think, that these local leaders could not have led without the consent of the people.  You can’t be much of a leader, after all, if no one is willing to follow you.  And although they didn’t hold elections, the people must have discerned leadership qualities in these judges or we would never have heard of them.

So I’m wondering, what qualities did people discern in Deborah that led her to rise to the position of judge in Israel?  What was it about her that inspired that kind of confidence?  And do we look for – or hope for – the same qualities in our leaders in church and state and society today?

Well, it seems to me that Deborah was a person of vision and imagination.  Our reading describes her as a prophetess.  (Now most of these feminine forms – authoress, poetess, even actress – have become or are becoming outmoded, so let’s just call her a prophet.)  And although the word prophet has a variety of connotations, it certainly seems to suggest someone who has foresight, someone who is committed to helping shape the future – and shaping it in a way that is pleasing to God.  I think that is a quality we look for (or should look for) in our leaders.  And Deborah’s plans for freeing her people from oppression suggest that it is a quality she had.

But then, if she was not only a prophet but a judge, that is another word that suggests a quality we should value in our leaders:  good judgment – having some innate wisdom that goes beyond mere intelligence, being a good judge of character, being perceptive, being able to assess situations.  Perhaps as she grew up Deborah showed indications of having this gift.  Perhaps here reputation spread.  She was a good person to talk to.  More and more people sought her advice and counsel.  More and more they trusted her to settle disputes fairly and without prejudice.  And that, too, is something we hope to see in the leaders of — well, everything from our country to our congregation.

And third, I think Deborah was a leader who identified with her people.  For her, leadership wasn’t a means to self-aggrandizement.  There is no indication that she was a corrupt leader who was in it for personal gain.  She was in it for the people, and she was in it for long haul.  And she was willing to put herself in danger.  After giving Barak an order about carrying out a military campaign, she agreed to his request to accompany her.  She was not the kind of leader who sends people into dangerous situations that they are unwilling to share.  She led by example.  At the decisive moment she was found with those who faced the challenge.

And what I think we cannot underestimate in all of this is the significance of the fact that this leader was a woman – a woman who lived in a man’s world.  Some of you will remember that Charlotte Whitton, when she was mayor of Ottawa, said, “Whatever women do they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good.  Luckily this is not difficult.”

Well, difficult or not, we can easily believe that Deborah must have been not just a little more gifted, but a lot more gifted than the men around her to have achieved the position she did in her society.  At any rate, she is someone we can commend as a role model for anyone – and for girls and women in particular – who aspire to leadership today.

Ah, leadership today.  As political parties on both sides of the border ratchet up the process of seeking new leaders, it is worth asking what kind of leadership people are looking for.  There is always a ready supply of potential leaders who will try to appeal with a quick fix or some other form of pandering to the mob mentality.  But if we are looking for leadership qualities that deserve a following – qualities like vision and imagination, wisdom and good judgment, and a willingness to share with the people the challenges that they face – then we should keep a sharp lookout for someone like Deborah.