And speaking of the biblical Deborah...

[GenerationCedarchip]

One of the posters over on the Drinking Sousewife/women lawyers thread brought up Deborah from the Bible, and lo and behold! Here is a fundie blogger explaining Deborah to us. Apparently, she's not supposed to be a good role model for women but rather something to shame men over their own inadequacy:

 

growinghomeblog.com/2012/04/what-about-deborah.html

 

I heard a lot of wacky Bible interpretation growing up in fundie land, but this is a new one on me. From my totally unscientific Google search, this seems to be a rather popular theory out there in fundieland.

[gustava]

Twisted sistas alright!!!1

[2xx1xy1JD]

I thought fundies were supposed to follow the plain, literal meaning of Biblical texts.

First, why the quotations around "prophetess"? The text says she was a prophet, period.

Second, there's not a word in Judges 4 about Israel lacking a man of courage or being subject to a colossal curse.

Third, if you read all of Judges, it's clear that Deborah was easily one of the best. There's a big military victory (with some help from girl-power sidekick Jael), no stupid blunders like those made by Samson, no irresponsible vows and human sacrifice like Jephtach, no all-around anarchy and mayhem like you get in the battle with the Benjaminites. Instead, the facts are that she's a prophetess AND a judge AND a military leader AND a civilian leader AND a wife, she performs those roles flawlessly, she doesn't mind celebrating and singing about her success in battle with Jael, and the "land knew peace for 40 years" which is about the highest praise that you get in the Book of Judges.

From a more academic, non-fundie POV, I also find it interesting that secular biblical historians believe that the Song of Deborah is one of the earliest biblical writings, and it's the earliest point at which there is some consensus among scholars that the Biblical text is describing actual historical events.

[fluttershies]

I thought fundies were supposed to follow the plain, literal meaning of Biblical texts.

First, why the quotations around "prophetess"? The text says she was a prophet, period.

Second, there's not a word in Judges 4 about Israel lacking a man of courage or being subject to a colossal curse.

Third, if you read all of Judges, it's clear that Deborah was easily one of the best. There's a big military victory (with some help from girl-power sidekick Jael), no stupid blunders like those made by Samson, no irresponsible vows and human sacrifice like Jephtach, no all-around anarchy and mayhem like you get in the battle with the Benjaminites. Instead, the facts are that she's a prophetess AND a judge AND a military leader AND a civilian leader AND a wife, she performs those roles flawlessly, she doesn't mind celebrating and singing about her success in battle with Jael, and the "land knew peace for 40 years" which is about the highest praise that you get in the Book of Judges.

From a more academic, non-fundie POV, I also find it interesting that secular biblical historians believe that the Song of Deborah is one of the earliest biblical writings, and it's the earliest point at which there is some consensus among scholars that the Biblical text is describing actual historical events.

Israel lacking a man of courage is referring to Barak, no?

And this interpretation of Judges 4 is sadly very common, especially in denouncing female church leadership.