Prophetesses in Israel
Scripture mentions a number of prophetesses. Who were they, and what do the following texts tell us about the role they played in the history of Israel? Exod. 15:20, 21; Judg. 4:4–10; 2 Kings 22:11–20.
Miriam, the sister of Moses, is called a prophetess. She is described as leading the women in the Song of Moses (compare Exod. 15:1 and 21). Moses was the appointed leader of the people of Israel, but his dealings would have been primarily with the men, who were considered the heads of their families. Miriam’s task was, perhaps, with the Israelite women. She must have been several years older than Moses (Exod. 2:1–8), and according to Josephus she married Hur, who together with Aaron had held up the arms of Moses in the battle with the Amalekites—Antiquities, III, p. 98.
That she was an important person in Israel is seen in the fact that all Israel had to wait seven days until God took away her leprosy after the unfortunate incident with her brother Moses and his wife (Num. 12:1–15).
Deborah (Judg. 5) must have been an extraordinary person. In a society dominated by men, she became a political and spiritual leader, something few women achieved in those days. Deeply spiritual, she ascribed all praise for the victory over the Canaanites to God (vss. 3–5, 13); she did not take any glory for herself or Barak.
As a “mother in Israel” (vs. 7) she watched over the people with maternal care, counseling and aiding them in procuring justice.
Read Judges 4:1–8. What does this tell us about how highly respected this woman was in Israel at that time?
Another prophetess in Israel was Huldah (2 Kings 22:14–20, 2 Chron. 34:20–28). When King Josiah asked her concerning God’s will, she prophesied judgment and disaster upon Jerusalem and its people but not in Josiah’s day; his eyes were not to see the evil because he humbled himself before the Lord. It is interesting that Huldah was consulted although both Jeremiah and Zephaniah were living at the same time.
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