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The Lord Says, “Listen and Pay Attention to My Female Prophets”
Did God commission men and women to prophesy—to speak authoritatively on his behalf? Is there evidence that the Lord says, “Listen and pay attention to my female prophets?” Ancient Near East scholar Christopher Rollston notes, “The fact that certain biblical texts presuppose that there were women prophets, there can be no debate. There were women prophets in ancient Israel and in Early Christianity. And the term that is used in Hebrew and in Greek for women prophets is the same as the term used for men prophets.”
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Women Speaking for God in Mixed Groups?
Recently, when I went to look up the female prophets in the Bible, I reached for one of my reference books that claimed to list the OT mouthpieces for God. But it included only the male prophets. Yes, missing from that guide were all the females who should have been there, such as Miriam, Huldah, and Deborah. In every era of redemption history in which men have prophesied, God has raised up at least one woman, and sometimes multiple women, to speak for him as his prophet. And since the book I consulted didn’t have the info I needed, I had to create the list for myself. Perhaps you will find it…
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Prophesy: Women through the Eras of Redemption History
Recently, a reader wrote to ask about the history of women prophesying throughout Scripture. . . While the text records the stories of fewer women prophets than men, in every era in which men prophesied, at least one woman (often multiple women) has prophesied. Prophesy, it should be noted, was/is not just predicting what will happen, but to build up, encourage, and console (1 Cor. 14:30). The transmission of God’s truth through inspired proclamation has always had both human and divine elements (like a pair of scissors—both blades work together). So when we read 1 Timothy, for example, we understand that Paul is writing God-breathed scripture, but he…
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“She Was a Pretty Good Prophet…for a Woman”?
A seminary-class grader once wrote this comment on an assignment turned in by the female who would go on to become his school's first female professor: "Your questions are really insightful for a woman." Recently one of my female seminary students told of feeling she did not matter to God. She described seeing herself as the less-favored one as compared with men. She said she constantly grapples with questions, such as, ‘Does God really love women the way he loves men?’ ‘Does God see women as inferior to men?’ and ‘Why did God allow women to be treated so poorly?’” Some of her questions stem from how she has heard…