The Bible includes plenty of female prophets. This is the story …
Definition
In the Bible, prophets like Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Jonah and Daniel are well-known. Many individuals are unaware that the Bible also includes female prophets. Depending in your version of the Bible they’re called prophets or prophetesses. Some people prefer to call them ‘women prophets’ or ‘female prophets’, or they only use the identical word ‘prophet’ for men and ladies alike. Although the Old Testament priesthood was restricted to men, the Old Testament has no such gender restriction for other leaders and prophets.
Female prophets in Jewish tradition
Traditionally the Jewish Talmud recognises seven women of the Hebrew Scriptures as prophets: Sarah, Miriam, Deborah, Hannah, Abigail, Huldah, and Esther. Three of those women, Miriam, Deborah and Huldah, are explicitly called prophets (or prophetesses) within the Bible. Additionally Miriam and Deborah are specifically called leaders. With the exception of Huldah, all these remain popular names for Christian and Jewish girls to this present day.
Miriam
The first woman to be explicitly called a prophet within the Bible is Miriam, the sister of Moses. In Exodus 15:20 we read that ‘the prophet Miriam, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand; and all the ladies went out after her with tambourines and with dancing’ (NRSV). In Micah 6:4 it’s written: ‘I brought you out of Egypt; I rescued you from slavery; I sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam to guide you’ (GNB). So right from the start of the Law, there was a girl as a frontrunner and prophet.
Deborah
In the early days of Israel before the dominion, the tribes were ruled by Judges. The fourth Judge, and considered one of the best was Deborah. She was not only a Judge, but was also specifically called a prophet. In Judges 4:4 we read ‘Deborah the wife of Lappidoth was a prophet and a frontrunner of Israel during those days’ (CEV).
Huldah
Huldah was a prophet in Jerusalem through the reign of King Josiah. She was a prophet alongside or overlapping with the prophets Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:1-2) and Zechariah (Zephaniah 1:10). She held great respect and authority. Both the high priest Hilkiah and the king deferred to her on matters of faith (2 Kings 22:14), even over the opposite male prophets who existed on the time. Huldah recognised a scroll present in the Temple as a legitimate book of Scriptures, probably what we now know as Deuteronomy, so she helped to form the canon we have now today (as told in 2 Kings chapter 22).
Anna
When Jesus is presented on the Temple as a baby, Mary and Joseph met Anna, who was an old widow in her eighties. She is specifically described as a prophet (Luke 2:36-38). The text implies that she was a prophet for a lot of many years before she met the infant Jesus, which effectively puts her as a rare example of a documented prophet within the intertestamental period.
Were female prophets an exception?
Some people claim that female prophets were the exception. An exception requires a rule to differ from. Those who claim female prophets were the exception are assuming that there was a rule that the role of prophet was specifically male, with the intention to have exceptions from it. All the priests of Judaism were men, but there was never a rule restricting the role of prophet to men, and with no rule there aren’t any exceptions to the rule. Rather, the story of Miriam shows us that from the start prophets could equally be male or female.
That there have been fewer female prophets to male prophets simply reflects the patriarchal society. In the same way, the UK has had fewer female monarchs and few female Prime Ministers. Most have been men, with none rule that the role was restricted to men.
Women at Pentecost
Only a small variety of female prophets are named within the Old Testament. There could have been more who’re unnamed and never mentioned. However, Joel predicted a time when female prophets can be more common, when he said: ‘Your little children will prophesy’ (Joel 2:28). This was quoted by Peter at Pentecost, and this only is sensible if you realise that each men and ladies (Acts 1:14) were chatting with the crowds (Acts 2:1-18). Peter regarded this as prophesying – otherwise he wouldn’t have quoted Joel to clarify it.
Female Prophets within the Early Church
In the Early Church, we read that Luke and St Paul stayed with Philip the Evangelist in Caesarea. Philip was considered one of the seven deacons of the Jerusalem church. Luke notes that he and Paul met his 4 single daughters who had the gift of prophecy (Acts 21:8-9).
In his first letter to the Corinthians Paul writes that ‘Every man who prays or prophesies along with his head covered dishonours his head, but every wife who prays or prophesies along with her head uncovered dishonours her head…’ (1 Corinthians 11:4-5 ESV). St Paul’s objection was to not women prophesying, but to them doing it when their heads weren’t covered.
In Revelation, in instructions to the church in Thyatira (Rev. 2:18–29), there’s criticism of a girl who calls herself a prophet, because she is deceiving individuals with immorality and eating food sacrificed to idols (Rev 2:20). The criticism shouldn’t be for being a female leader, but for being an immoral leader.
Conclusion
When we predict of the nice prophets of the Bible most of them are men, and in an ancient patriarchal society possibly that’s to be expected, but we must always not overlook all the nice female prophets too. The role of prophet was never restricted to men. There were female prophets within the Old Testament, no less than one within the intertestamental period, and examples of ladies prophesying within the Early Church.
