August 20, 2024 - Good Morning! It's Tuesday, August 20.
On this day in 2020, Kamala Harris was nominated for vice-president, and that fall she became the first female vice-president in U.S. history. Will this November see the first woman president? Stay tuned.
In yesterday's devotion I mentioned that there are only 93 women who speak in the Bible, and that their words make up only 1% of the Word of God. When you list all the Bible names, just 5% are female. We realize that the culture in biblical times was a male dominated one - but still, these numbers are surprising and perplexing, This is particularly true when we consider that the overwhelming number of Bible women are listed in scripture because they were the wife of, or the mother of, a famous Bible man.
One notable exception was the woman named Deborah. We read about her in the book of Judges. In that era, before the kings like David and Solomon ruled Israel, God raised up men, and one woman, to lead His people. These "judges" were less like the court figures of today, and more like, well, presidents. Deborah was a military leader, a prophet, a judge. And her husband, Lappidoth, is mentioned only once, and almost as a footnote.
Some scholars, in fact, believe that the word "lappidoth" was a Hebrew reference to "lightning", and when we see it in Judges 4:4, it isn't a reference to Deborah's husband, but a description of her character. Deborah, a strong woman, a leader, a Woman of the Word.
Meet you back here tomorrow,
Bro. David
dmathis@fbccenter.org
