Judges Part 1: DeborahShembull

Should Leaders Be Worshippers?

Judges 5 is a Holy Spirit-inspired worship song that Deborah and Barak lead the leaders and people to sing in thanks to the Lord for His forgiveness of their sins and deliverance from their enemies.

Two things are noteworthy here.

One, the leaders are worshippers. There was no distinction between sacred and secular. The key to working in public (e.g. legal as a judge, military as a strategist, spiritual leader as a prophet) was to personally worship God. This reveals that to be a good leader, you must be a good worshipper of God.

Two, a godly leader uses their influence to encourage and teach other leaders, as well as regular people, to worship God. While some feminists will twist the words and works of Deborah to promote the erasing of God-given gender lines, Deborah, in worship, says that she rejoices when the male leaders (called princes in some English translations) worship God.

The days of the Judges were just like our own day – corrupt political leadership; weak, progressive, compromised clergy; urban cities in hellish decline; and no sense of urgency or repentance from God’s people, who did not know the difference between a demon and a donut. If our day is like Deborah’s, then we should be singing songs like Deborah’s.

Read the song of Deborah, as well as the three songs from other Spirit-filled worshiping women in the Word:

1. Miriam (Exodus 15:20-21)

2. Deborah (Judges 5:1-21)

3. Hannah (1 Samuel 2:1-10)

4. Mary (Luke 1:46-55)

Thank you for studying Deborah in the book of Judges with us. For more free resources visit www.realfaith.com.