Power and Purpose

Day 45: Judges 1 to 5

My father's occupation while I was growing up was a judge. Every day, he drove downtown to the courthouse where he would spend most of his day in court, hearing pleas, testimonies, and trials from people who had committed felonies. He was a judge over the worst crimes committed.

I often went down to the courthouse to see what life was like for him on the job. I was always entertained. When there wasn't a trial going on, I got to sit in the jury area and listen to the pleas. When there was a trial going on, I watched the defendant, the lawyers, and the family's of the victims react to the events. When the courtroom was empty, I even got to sit in the witness chair and give "testimony" through the microphone. I also got to sit in my dad's chair on the bench and bang the gavel like I had seen on TV but that I had never seen my dad do.

When court was in session and my dad entered the courtroom, everyone stood. The room was so quiet at this moment that you could hear the tapping of my dads boots as he walked up to the bench. The room had an aura of respect, and the judge seemed very powerful.

Now I'm not sure how the culture worked back in the Old Testament, but I'm sure judges were seen as powerful then, too. Which is why I am so impressed (astounded, even) by the fact that there was a female judge. Deborah, a prophetess, became a judge. What must God have been thinking? In a culture where women didn't seem to have roles beyond mother and wife, here you have a woman who was a judge. I couldn't tell from the text if Deborah was married or if she had kids (it does say she is the "Mother of Israel," but that doesn't necessarily mean she was a mother herself). Regardless, here God is using a woman--a person who probably wasn't very valuable in the eyes of her society--to accomplish his purpose.

God uses all sorts of people, especially those who might not be viewed as "powerful" in the society to make them powerful in other ways. Thankfully, God has used many women since Deborah to continue on the path that Deborah began.