A really long post about women in government

The other day I was going on a day trip with some other pastors. We began talking about the remarkable choice of Sara Palin as the Republican VP choice. Several pastors commended her personal faith and views, but one pastor surprised me by citing Isaiah 3:12 as what he called "God's curse on a nation when women are in leadership."

Today, there was an article posted in the Faith and Family Values newsletter of our Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Committee, titled "The Role of Women in Public Life" by Barrett Duke.

I feel this is important enough to copy his entire article, and also my comment that I posted on ERLC's website.

Here's his column:

The Role of Women in Public Life

By Barrett Duke - Nov 8, 2007 - comment

The question about the role of women in the political life of our nation is an important and certainly timely one. I do not believe that the Bible prohibits women from serving at any level of public life. The Bible’s instructions about the proper roles of men and women apply to the church and the family. The Bible does not speak directly to differing roles of men and women in public life.

Some people have developed principles from the Bible’s instructions about the proper roles of men and women in the church and family and applied them more broadly. Depending on the setting, the application of these principles has varying degrees of validity. In the church and in the home, the Bible teaches clearly that God has appointed the man to serve as the primary leader. In these environments the issue of spiritual headship figures prominently. As one moves further from roles where the exercise of spiritual authority is involved, it becomes more difficult to apply these principles.

Public service is essentially a secular role. While a person can certainly express spiritual opinions in that setting and can influence public policy related to spiritual activities, there is little, if any, assertion of spiritual authority. Some people choose to apply the biblical model of male headship to all activities in life, including public service, as a means to reinforce the biblical teachings on the proper role of men and women in the church and the family. The Bible does not prohibit this, but neither does it require it.

In fact, there are a number of biblical examples of women providing key leadership roles in the public life of nations. Consider the very affirming depiction of Deborah’s role as a judge in the book of Judges (Judges 4-5). The Bible says “the Israelites went up to her for judgment” (Judges 4:5). It even says that Barak refused to meet Sisera on the battlefield unless Deborah accompanied him (Judges 4:8). Some may note that the text does not explicitly state that God established Deborah in her role as judge and conclude that she did not occupy that role with the same divine authority as the other judges (cf., Othniel, Judges 3:9-10). But Deborah is not the only judge where the divine appointment language is not used. It is also not used for Shamgar (Judges 3:31), Tola (Judges 10:1-2), or Jair (Judges 10:3-5). It is evident that the divine appointment language is not needed to validate for the reader the divine appointment of the judges. Interestingly, the book of Hebrews singles out Barak’s accomplishments without mentioning the role that Deborah played, but this is understandable in light of the passage’s emphasis on the heroic and spectacular (Hebrews 11:32-33).

Some people have claimed that God calls women to leadership when He can’t find a willing man. Certainly, the vast majority of examples of leadership in the Bible are male, but that should not be interpreted to mean that women should be excluded from leadership in public life if a man can be found to do the job. The Bible gives no hint that Deborah was a judge because adequate male leadership could not be found. Indeed, we can be glad that Deborah wasn’t afraid to exercise leadership, since she is the one who summoned Barak and told him that he needed to obey God’s command to fight Sisera (Judges 4:6).

The Bible is clear about the leadership role of men in the home and in the church. Neither the example of Deborah nor any other female leader in, or outside, the Bible should be used as a means to undermine that design. In the same regard, God’s design for male headship in the home and the church does not require the exclusion of women from leadership in public life, where spiritual headship is not involved. Such extrapolation carries the biblical teaching about the role of women beyond the Bible’s own application.

Here is my comment that I posted to the ERLC website: (I later had to condense this as it was too many characters for their system)

I'm a pastor, and the other day had occasion to ride with some other pastors to a meeting. I was surprised that one of them cited Isaiah 3:12 as a prohibition on women serving in public office.

Here's the verse from HCSB: "Youths oppress My people, and women rule over them.
My people, your leaders mislead you; they confuse the direction of your paths."

The pastor stated, "Every time a woman in the Bible was a prophet or judge or ruler, it was a curse from God."

Naturally, I wanted to check this for myself. Not being a very good Hebrew scholar, I did some comparisons of translations first.

Here's the KJV: "As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths."

NASB: "O My people! Their oppressors are children,And women rule over them. O My people! Those who guide you lead you astray and confuse the direction of your paths."

NIV: "Youths oppress my people, women rule over them. O my people, your guides lead you astray; they turn you from the path."

The Message: "Skinny kids terrorize my people. Silly girls bully them around. My dear people! Your leaders are taking you down a blind alley. They're sending you off on a wild-goose chase."
It seems to me that given the background of this passage (God 'taking Judah's leaders to court' for their leading the people into sin) that the verse is either 1) stating the actual course of affairs or 2) using sarcasm to compare the leaders to children and women. [New American Commentary, Vol. 15A p. 149 tends to confirm this last.]

Bottom line--I agree with your interpretation, and disagree with the other pastor's position. The Bible does not speak authoritatively either way on the role of women in government leadership roles.

By the way, Dr. Duke is VP for Public Policy at ERLC.