Not One Woman

King Solomon found one upright man among a thousand but not one upright woman among them all. This reference is found in verse 28 in the scriptures below:

Ecclesiastes 7:27-29 (7KB)

²⁷ “Look,” says the Teacher, “this is what I have discovered: “Adding one thing to another to discover the scheme of things—

²⁸ I searched a long time without finding it: I found one upright man among a thousand, but not one upright woman among them all.

²⁹ This only have I found: God created mankind upright, but they have gone in search of many schemes.”

In verse 29 above, it says that God created mankind upright but they have gone in search of many schemes. This speaks of the fact that God intended for humans to be upright and made them for this purpose however they have drifted away from God’s plans and sought out many schemes.

Humans Scheming Against God's Plans

The word "scheme" speaks of humans having their own plans and doing their own thing and thus "scheming" against the will of God.

Isaiah 53:6 (NIV)

⁶ We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Whenever humans go their own way then this is sin because they are exercising their own human self-will to resist God and resist God's plan for their lives. This can be compared to a sheep that has gone astray away from the good shepherd and who falsely assume that they can make their own decisions for own their life. This means they are not submitted to the lordship of Christ and so they go off on their own like a sheep gone out from under the protection of the good shepherd.

Female Scheming

Female scheming can come in many forms including using the Name of the Lord in vain. It is scheming against the Lord whenever a woman says, "Thus says the Lord...." and then inserts her own plans and ideas into the same sentence. This is using the Name of the Lord in vain in order to justify their own human plans. They think that no one will resist them when they attach God's endorsement to their own human-made plans by saying, "Thus says the Lord..." and then giving out their own human devices.

Another form of female scheming is when a Levite woman marries a layman husband and then finds herself without any ministry outlet. Often such Levite women will proceed to drag their layman husband into the ministry that they themselves have invented and in this way, they hope to gain "male-endorsement" for themselves. But all the while it is the Levite woman herself who is running the fake church which she has started because she has cohersed her layman husband into endorsing her as the pastor. Thus, she can have her cake and eat it too by running everything herself while still claiming submission to her husband (when in fact he is submitted to her and she is running everything)!

See the link "Levite Woman" for more details.

Not One Woman in a Thousand

Genesis 3:6 (NIV)

⁶ When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

Not finding one upright woman in a thousand can be applied to the fact that all women have been born with the fallen sin nature of Eve who sought to manipulate her own husband and assumed authority over him when she assumed leadership to be the first to eat the forbidden fruit and then also gave the fruit to her husband to eat.

This type of scheming of controlling husbands can even be found even among believing women who have not renewed their minds to obey the word of the Lord which commands them to submit to their own husbands as the leader of the home.

Colossians 3:18 (NIV)

¹⁸ Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.

The bible commands that believing wives are to submit to their own husbands as is fitting in the Lord. When they submit to the male authority placed over them by God then it is as if they are submitting to Christ who has placed this authority over them.

But there are many women who will resist male leadership in the home and employ feminine tricks to try and manipulate or control their own husbands.

Young men must be informed of this before they marry and be trained how to deal with rebellious wives because typically most women will try to control and manipulate them according to their fallen sin nature (as was inherited from Eve).

Women have many ways of controlling husbands and this can be accomplished by numerous means. Often such women will slam doors and bang pots and pans and stomp around in "stiff-legged" manner only to remove peace from the home. If their husband is passive then the woman can gain her objectives when her husband finally gives into them just to have some peace. In this manner many married believer women have manipulated their husbands using feminine tricks. Those men who permit this to happen are actually allowing their wives to assume leadership in the home so that their husbands are now serving their wives! This is all disorder and goes against the divine order of God which requires that all wives submit to their husbands in everything rather than manipulating or controlling them using feminine tricks.

Moses Disobeying God to Keep Peace with Wife

Exodus 4:24-26 (NIV)

²⁴ At a lodging place on the way, the LORD met [Moses] and was about to kill him.

²⁵ But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son's foreskin and touched [Moses'] feet with it. "Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me," she said.

²⁶ So the LORD let him alone. (At that time she said "bridegroom of blood," referring to circumcision.)

It is interesting that God sent Moses to Egypt but when Moses was on the way to Egypt then God met Moses and was about to kill him. Evidently what happened here was that Moses circumcised his first-born son in obedience to God's commands. But when his pagan wife Zipporah witnessed this bloody-rite she said that she would never permit this to ever happen again! So, when the second son was born Zipporah refused to allow Moses to circumcise this boy. Zipporah probably played all of the typical feminine tricks which women play in order to control their husbands by removing peace from the household. After having a lot of trouble with his wife Moses must have given up and decided to just leave his second son uncircumcised in order to keep peace with Zipporah. But in trying to keep peace by compromise with his pagan wife, Moses was in direct disobedience to God. Therefore, God sought to kill Moses because of his passivity by disobeying God to circumcise his second son. Zipporah knew full-well why she was about to be made into a widow so she went ahead and circumcised the boy herself. She then threw the severed foreskin at the feet of Moses with great disdain and said you are a husband of blood to me! This pagan woman despised the religion of Moses and despised his God and despised his Jewish rite of circumcision. This is why Moses sent her back to her father and proceeded on to Egypt on his own. He did not need this pagan woman hindering him anymore from obeying God because any such disobedience could cost Moses his life!

There is a lesson to be learned here for all married men and they should be aware that God will judge them first before the judgment will come upon their rebellious wives. The man is the head of the household so therefore God will hold the man accountable first before his wife for any disorder that exists within the household. After the man is killed off then the judgment will come upon his rebellious widow who has refused to submit to her own husband as God had commanded!

Therefore, men must understand that if they permit disorder in their home by the bad behavior of an unrestrained rebellious woman then the man will be the first to be judged for this disorder.

Monkey on the Back

There is however a method that men can employ to save their own necks from God's judgment. They can sit their rebellious wives down and read to them the clear scriptural commands that they are to submit to their own husbands in everything. Then the man can outline all of the bad rebellious behavior of his wife that she is required to change. From that point forward the husband has delivered himself from God's judgment and now all of the responsibility rests upon the wife for her failure to submit to her husband as God commanded.

See the link "Divine Order for Women" for more details.

Then the man can tell God that he has made his "will" as a husband clear to his wife and has also given her the clear scriptural command to submit to him and now, he places his rebellious wife into the hands of God for judgment. From this time forward the judgment of God will come upon the rebellious wife instead of upon the husband (as the head of the home). This technique could also be called, "Placing-The-Monkey-On-Her-Back" because the man will put the ball in her court when he informs her what is required of her. She will then have to make a decision to either submit to her husband and obey or experience the judgment of God! If God's judgment comes upon the rebellious wife and she still continues to stubbornly refuse to submit then she could perish under the judgment. The man could then remarry a submissive wife and be done with the rebellious woman who has refused to submit to him.

But it should be noted that if the man does nothing whatsoever with the disorder that exists within his own household then he is in danger of having his own life cut short! Moses was in danger of death when God sought to kill him because Moses feared his wife more than God! Moses was lying on his back near death when his rebellious wife decided to do the job that she had resisted her husband from doing and so she circumcised the boy herself. After the boy had been circumcised then God let Moses go and he recovered from his near-death experience!

Moses however learned a valuable lesson in that he should never disobey God in order to please humans (including his own wife)!

This same thing can be seen in the life of the priest Eli who failed to discipline his sons according to biblical command. As a result, his sons grew up to be wicked and evil but Eli never did anything to correct them or discipline them for their bad behavior.

1 Samuel 2:22-25 (NIV)

²² Now Eli, who was very old, heard about everything his sons were doing to all Israel and how they slept with the women who served at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.

²³ So he said to them, "Why do you do such things? I hear from all the people about these wicked deeds of yours.

²⁴ No, my sons; it is not a good report that I hear spreading among the LORD's people.

²⁵ If a man sins against another man, God may mediate for him; but if a man sins against the LORD, who will intercede for him?" His sons, however, did not listen to their father's rebuke, for it was the LORD's will to put them to death.

The wicked sons of Eli the priest were taking the offerings of the people (by force) who came to worship God at the tabernacle. These wicked men were even sleeping with the women at the tent of meeting and committing wickedness in God's sight. But Eli did not discipline his sons but only said that he was not hearing a good report about them.

1 Samuel 2:29 (NIV)

²⁹ Why do you scorn my sacrifice and offering that I prescribed for my dwelling? Why do you honor your sons more than me by fattening yourselves on the choice parts of every offering made by my people Israel?'

God's message to Eli was that Eli was honoring his sons more than God by seizing the best of the offerings of the people by force and thus making the worship of God repulsive to the people! The sons of Eli were self-indulgent and immoral and gluttons and God was going to judge them but was waiting for Eli to take action as a father and set his own household in order.

Whenever a man does nothing about the disorder that exists within his household then it shows he is honoring those who cause disorder more than he honors God!

1 Samuel 2:34-35 (NIV)

³⁴ "'And what happens to your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, will be a sign to you--they will both die on the same day.

³⁵ I will raise up for myself a faithful priest, who will do according to what is in my heart and mind. I will firmly establish his house, and he will minister before my anointed one always.

The prophetic word of rebuke given to Eli predicted that the two wicked sons of Eli would be put to death on the same day! If a man fails to judge his own household then a time will come when God's judgment will fall upon those who cause disorder and evil.

1 Samuel 3:12-13 (NIV)

¹² At that time I will carry out against Eli everything I spoke against his family--from beginning to end.

¹³ For I told him that I would judge his family forever because of the sin he knew about; his sons made themselves contemptible, and he failed to restrain them.

The young prophet Samuel also received a message from God for Eli that God would judge his entire family line because of the sin Eli knew about when his sons made themselves contemptible in God's sight by their vile behavior and Eli failed to restrain them. This passivity of Eli showed that he honored his wicked sons more than he honored God!

1 Samuel 4:14-18 (NIV)

¹⁴ Eli heard the outcry and asked, "What is the meaning of this uproar?" The man hurried over to Eli,

¹⁵ who was ninety-eight years old and whose eyes were set so that he could not see.

¹⁶ He told Eli, "I have just come from the battle line; I fled from it this very day." Eli asked, "What happened, my son?"

¹⁷ The man who brought the news replied, "Israel fled before the Philistines, and the army has suffered heavy losses. Also your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been captured."

¹⁸ When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell backward off his chair by the side of the gate. His neck was broken and he died, for he was an old man and heavy. He had led Israel forty years.

What happened was that the two sons of Eli died on the same day and when their father heard the bad news, he fell off his chair and broke his neck and he also died on the same day as his wicked sons. God purged both the passive father and his two evil sons on the same day of judgment!

This leaves a hard message for all married men that they are to put their own households in order. Their wives must be submissive and their children obedient and any disorder is to be set back into order according to biblical principles for living. If the man is passive with his leadership and allows a wife to be rebellious or control him then he is in danger of being killed (as Moses himself was almost killed by God). If a man is passive with rebellious children and has vile sons or daughters then he is in danger of being executed by God (like Eli) for this passivity and not using his God-given authority to put things right within his own household!

1 Kings 2:27 (NASB)

²⁷ So Solomon dismissed Abiathar from being priest to the LORD, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD, which He had spoken concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh.

Later in the days of King Solomon, Abiathar the priest (belonging to the lineage of Eli) was removed from office and replaced. This was the end of the lineage of Eli serving as priests in fulfillment of God's word to reject the entire family line of Eli from the Priesthood because of his sin of passivity as a father.

Nothing can anger God more than a man being passive and not taking leadership and using his God-given authority to set things in order within his own household! The entire family line of Eli was rejected from serving God because of the sin of passivity displayed by Eli who honored his wicked sons more than God and failed to restrain them!

1 Timothy 3:5 (NLT2)

⁵ For if a man cannot manage his own household, how can he take care of God’s church?

Even under the New Testament era all leaders within the church were required to have their own households in order with their wives under submission and their children obedient.

1 Timothy 3:4 (NIV)

⁴ He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect.

The church leader was required to manage his own family well and see to it that his children obey him with proper respect.

1 Timothy 3:11-12 (NIV)

¹¹ In the same way, their wives are to be women worthy of respect, not malicious talkers but temperate and trustworthy in everything.

¹² A deacon must be the husband of but one wife and must manage his children and his household well.

Even the lowest position of natural service in the church required that a man have his household in order. If he could not do this most basic thing, he was unfit even from sweeping the floor as a deacon in the church. The wives of deacons (as well as Fivefold Minister and Elders) were to be women worthy of respect and submissive to their own husbands. If there was disorder displayed in the behavior of the wife then this disqualified the man from leadership (and also from natural service) within the church.

Titus 2:4-5 (NLT2)

⁴ These older women must train the younger women to love their husbands and their children,

⁵ to live wisely and be pure, to work in their homes, to do good, and to be submissive to their husbands. Then they will not bring shame on the word of God.

Older women were to train the younger women how to love their husbands and their children and to be submissive to their own husbands at home. This was the standard set forth for all godly women within the church and if a woman was not in order and submissive then her husband was disqualified from leadership or service in the church. It was in fact a shame if a believing man's wife is not submissive and this wayward behavior brings reproach to the kingdom of God and reveals that such a man does not know how to be a leader and how to keep his wife under submission as God commanded him.

This standard also applies for all of the Fivefold Ministry as well as elders (and even the deacons). All church leaders were to be an example to other men of the church in now to put their households in order according to the principles of God’s word.

1 Peter 5:2-3 (NASB)

² shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness;

³ nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock.

Those who were in leadership within the church were compared to shepherds who watch over and care for the flock. These leaders from top to bottom (including the Fivefold Ministry as well as elders and deacons) were all supposed to be men who had their own households in order. They were to serve as examples to the flock and this good example included having their wives under submission and their children obedient and orderly. If a man did not know how to rule his own household then how could he rule the church of God?

This means that any man who has a household that is out of order with a rebellious wife (like Zipporah) or wayward sons (like Eli) were unqualified for the ministry and even unfit to do natural service in the church as deacons! Having any type of disorder at home reveals that such a man is a novice and spiritually immature like a baby wearing diapers. No toddler wearing diapers is qualified to lead or instruct anyone else when they themselves have to be bottle-fed and have their diaper changed and be carried around everywhere! And so, a believing man whose household is out of order is unfit for any leadership position and even unfit for doing natural service in the church!

It is God's goal to have every man (as head of households within the church congregation) to come into full maturity. Therefore, the leadership of the church were to be mature men with their families in order because they were to be examples for the rest of the men of the congregation to follow. The leadership and the mature believing men of the congregation were to have their households in order according to the divine order of God. This most certainly includes having their own wives under submission and their own children obedient and orderly.

Men must put their households in order because they can be held accountable for it by God and face death if they do not fulfill their role as men to be leaders over their own households.

Joshua 24:15 (NIV)

¹⁵ But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."

Joshua was a real man of God and he kept his own household in order seeing to it that his own family members were serving the Lord. It was mandatory that his family serve God because no doubt Joshua would not hesitate to put any rebel to death who refused to serve the Lord (even if it was his own family member). Joshua could speak with confidence that as for he and his own household they would serve the Lord. As long as Joshua was alive, he saw to it that his family would serve God and honor God. Joshua displayed none of the passivity (that Eli did with his own sons) and Joshua would not be passive with his wife like Moses was with Zipporah. He would command his family members to serve God and they had no choice in the matter!

This is an example of what a “real man of God” is because Joshua used his God-given authority to put his own household in order. There was nothing negligent or passive found in Joshua's behavior! He was a strong leader and a real man and his family knew what was expected of them!

If a man passively does nothing and allows his family to run away like wild-chickens then he will be judged for it. God requires all men to put their own households in order and this is the essence of what manhood is all about. Believing married men are no longer to live for themselves but live to train their own sons to be future leaders and teach their own daughters to be submissive wives and they themselves are to live as a good example before them.

This teaching lesson is about how women are born with the fallen sin-nature of Eve and it warns the men in advance about how to deal with women who seek to control or manipulate them. Men are to be strong leaders like Joshua and refuse to be intimidated. Women are to obey their husbands and not rebel and resist like Zipporah and the children are to be obedient to their parents. Real men will discipline their children and correct their bad behavior when they are young so they do not grow up to be worthless and vile like the sons of Eli.

Not One in a Thousand

Ecclesiastes 7:28 (7KB)

²⁸ I searched a long time without finding it: I found one upright man among a thousand, but not one upright woman among them all.

This thing about Solomon not being able to find even one woman in a thousand who was upright speaks of the fallen sin nature of women which they have inherited from their fore-mother Eve. All women have a tendency to usurp authority over their own husbands and they have a natural tendency to try to control their own husbands and usurp their authority away from them. Even believer women are guilty of this so believer men have to be aware of the fallen sin nature of women including their believing wives.

Genesis 3:16 (NLT2)

¹⁶ Then he said to the woman, “I will sharpen the pain of your pregnancy, and in pain you will give birth. And you will desire to control your husband, but he will rule over you.”

The NLT2 translation got it right here when it speaks of the fact that women have a desire to control their husbands but the husband is commanded by God to rule over their wives.

This is because God does not see men and women as separate individuals. Instead God joins the man and woman together to become “one-complete" person in marriage. This means that everything feminine within Adam was removed from him and placed within his wife Eve. When God brought Eve to the man, she contained everything that was missing in her husband. Adam become a complete and was made into a "whole-person" again when he was joined as “one-person” together with his wife Eve in marriage!

See the link "Genders Not Equal" for more details.

Therefore, it is abnormal for a woman to be exerting leadership over a man because she is to be joined to her husband as "one-complete" person in marriage. She is not to retain her own individualism which resists the “one-flesh” relationship ordained by God! There can only be one head and God has ordained that the man should be the one to lead using his masculine logic while the woman is required to submit to her husband in everything.

Ephesians 5:24 (NLT2)

²⁴ As the church submits to Christ, so you wives should submit to your husbands in everything.

The reason that wives are to submit to their husbands in "everything" is that if they do not then there can be no unity in marriage. If women are constantly resisting and rebelling against the God-ordained authority placed over them then they are in fact resisting and rebelling against God.

God’s Divine Chain-Of-Command

1 Corinthians 11:3 (NIV)

³ Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.

God has ordained a divine “chain-of command” with God being the head of Christ and Christ being the head of the man and the man being the head of his wife. This also includes the parents as being head over their own children. Whenever there is rebellion within this divine chain-of-command then this is direct rebellion against the divine authority established by God.

Rebellion Against Established Authority

Deuteronomy 21:18-21 (NASB)

¹⁸ "If any man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey his father or his mother, and when they chastise him, he will not even listen to them,

¹⁹ then his father and mother shall seize him, and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gateway of his hometown.

²⁰ "They shall say to the elders of his city, 'This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey us, he is a glutton and a drunkard.'

²¹ "Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death; so you shall remove the evil from your midst, and all Israel will hear of it and fear.

Whenever there was rebellion against God’s established authority then the death penalty was given. The authority of the parents in the home over their children is the building block of all society. If children disrespect parental authority then they most certainly will disrespect all civil authority.

Romans 13:1-2 (NIV)

¹ Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.

² Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves.

Civil authority is also established by God and those who despise civil authority and hold it in contempt are worthy of death. This is because if there is no respect for established authority then all society will fall into anarchy and lawlessness and chaos! God offered the death penalty for disobedience to parental authority which also leads to disobedience to civil authority and this will result in destroying everything.

The home is the building block of all society because society is made of families. Therefore, if a man does not know how to put his own household in order and have his wife submissive and his children obedient and orderly then this rebellions and disorder will spill over into all society. Those who riot and burn down cities and wreak havoc are those who are from broken homes and from families who did not have a father serving as a leader in the home.

Breaking glass and setting fires and yelling and screaming are the behavior of children raised by women who themselves manipulate men by similar feminine tricks. These people suppose if they raise a ruckus, then they can get attention and get whatever they want by manipulating civil leaders to serve them in order to have some peace. But there is no lasting peace by catering to spoiled children rioting in the streets. Instead this only emboldens them to seek to take over the entire nation for themselves and proclaim themselves the kings to be served!

Both women and spoiled children will throw a fit and break things and cause disturbance only to get what they want. Never should a real man grant anything to anyone when they are behaving in such bad manner or it will only encourage them to do even more!

Isaiah 3:12 (NASB)

¹² 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.

Having children oppress people speaks of the spoiled children who are rebellious and have learned to manipulate parents at home by yelling and screaming and throwing a fit to get what they want. The same children then go out on the streets and do the same thing to intimidate weak civil leaders into catering to their demands.

Women ruling over people also can be applied to women in civil leadership positions who seek to grant protesters and terrorists whatever they want just to keep peace. Soon these rebellious children are ruling the society being empowered by weak and feminine women civil leaders which give them whatever they cry out for!

All of this disorder began at home when men failed to put their wives and children in order. It typically starts with women throwing a fit and controlling their own husbands. The children see this and then they also join in and raise trouble just to get what they want. Soon this spills over onto the streets with the same children rioting to intimidate civil leaders to give them what they want. All of this disorder starts at home and then multiplies to ruin entire cities as rebellious youth go out and burn the city down if their demands are not met!

This all could have been stopped if each man was a leader within his own home and he set his own household in order first with having his wife submissive and then his children obedient and orderly. If he does not do this then it can ruin the entire society if millions of households are in disorder and they multiply millions of rebellious youth to destroy all society like screaming spoiled children. The problem is made worse when women become civil leaders and cater to those who are screamers! This empowers the rebels to destroy all society and remove peace and order.

This is why men are be taught how to put their own households in order because if millions of them fail in this respect it can destroy an entire nation as rebellious youth burn down their own cities screaming for their selfish demands to be heard!

Weakness of Women

This thing about not finding one upright woman among them all, speaks of the universal weakness of women who pollute things with evil motives and with their own human designs. Typically, a woman has no power or authority whatsoever and only finds purpose and meaning by being married to a man. She draws her identity from her husband for this reason.

Therefore, women are prone to manipulation and often push husbands to do things only to glorify themselves as their wife. This can be seen in the case of Levite women dragging laymen husbands into the ministry but it also applies to any laywoman who is running the household and having the husband serve her.

I even know a layman who was prospering wonderfully because he was operating within his own "ordained-place" where God had assigned him. He made good money at this job and his disposable wealth was being invested and his investments were prospering greatly for his retirement. His wife however got a degree in nursing and wanted to take a job in a faraway city. The husband foolishly decided to serve his wife by quitting everything and selling his investments and moving his family thousands of miles to Kansas City so his wife could pursue her medical career.

This however had detrimental effects on the family in numerous ways and the husband ended up seeking employment out of state because he could not find suitable work in that city. He was working away from home most of the time and as a result his children were growing up without a father's guidance (as if they were orphans). Then later his wife contracted a life-threatening disease and nothing went well with his family living in Kansas City. He also lost his investments and was no longer prospering after their move. The move proved to be a general detriment to his entire family and this all occurred after he sold out everything and left his ordained place in order to serve his wife.

This is an example of a man submitting to and serving his wife and leaving his "ordained-place" where they had been previously be prospering tremendously! Everything seemed to take a down-turn for his entire family when they uprooted their family and moved to a faraway location upon the instigation of his wife (when he followed her ideas and plans).

The bible teaches that the woman is to submit to her husband and in fact the woman was created to be a "helpmeet" to her own husband and therefore she is to serve him not the other way around. Whenever a man abandons his "ordained-place" in order to serve his wife then they will become like a fish out of water! Nothing will go well for them when they leave the place where God has planted them.

Women Draw Identity from Man

The overriding bible principle here is that the woman draws her identify from the man because he is the head of the household. In fact, God has made the man and the woman as "one-person" together in marriage so nothing is lacking or incomplete. But the married couple is to be under the leadership of the man who is the head of the household. But when the woman schemes and controls her husband or pushes him or manipulates him or drags him into the ministry or pulls him out of his "ordained-place" then he is serving her and this is out of the divine order of God for man and wife. The woman is to serve her man in his ordained purpose as a helpmeet rather than him quitting everything to serve her.

Default Leadership in Sinking Ship

Judges 4:4-5 (NIV)

⁴ Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was leading Israel at that time.

⁵ She held court under the Palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites came to her to have their disputes decided.

The time of the book of Judges was a period of apostasy when men fell away from God and every man did what was right in his own sight. This was the time that Deborah was forced to take action because the nation was in fact like a sinking ship that lacked strong male leadership.

Judges 17:6 (NASB)

⁶ In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.

The time of the Judges was a time when men dropped their leadership and everyone did what was right in his own sight. This means that if they wanted anything you had they would simply kill you and take it. If they wanted your wife, they would just take her or anything they saw which belonged to you. There was no fear of God and therefore it was a time of lawlessness and anarchy and violence.

It was during such a time as this that Deborah rose up to be a judge in Israel. Normally a woman is not called to be a leader but when all the men have dropped their leadership then she had to do something to keep the boat from sinking. It is like being forced to bail out the water to stay afloat when no one else is doing anything.

Deborah rose up when men were passive and had dropped their leadership and had become self-indulgent males.

Judges 5:2 (NIV)

² "When the princes in Israel take the lead, when the people willingly offer themselves-- praise the LORD!

Deborah praised the Lord when strong godly men assumed leadership. Deborah was not a feminist trying to take over the role of leadership from men but instead she rejoiced when men took the lead and willingly offered themselves to the Lord as leaders. The only reason that Deborah was leading Israel at that time was that there was not one leader left among the men who took any action. All of them dropped out and did nothing while the entire country languished in poverty and anarchy!

Death of Godly Leadership

Joshua 24:31 (NIV)

³¹ Israel served the LORD throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him and who had experienced everything the LORD had done for Israel.

The Joshua-generation all died off and went to the grave of old age but apparently these men failed to mentor their own sons about how to be leaders. After the godly men died off the following generation did not know the Lord and this period of time was known as the time of the Judges. It was a time of lawlessness when everyone did what was right in their own eyes so anarchy and chaos prevailed.

It is surprising that there were no sons of Joshua to take leadership after he passed away. Maybe he did not mentor his sons as future leaders or possibly he had no surviving sons left after his own death? Whatever happened there was no leadership prepared after Joshua passed away and this dearth of leadership caused the country to languish under anarchy and lawlessness during the time of the Judges.

It is for this reason that men are to mentor their sons on how to become future leaders so that the same leadership can be carried on to the following generations.

Genesis 18:18-19 (NIV)

¹⁸ Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him.

¹⁹ For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, so that the LORD will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him."

God chose Abraham for the specific purpose that he would direct his children after him to keep the ways of the Lord by doing what is just and right in God's sight. If his sons would do the same then there was a potential of passing the knowledge of God onto all succeeding generations.

It is the God-given purpose for all men to lead their families in the way of the Lord and to do what is right in God's sight. They are to specifically mentor their own sons to become future leaders so that godly leadership will carry on to the following generations.

Women are to submit to their own husbands in everything and the only time that they are to assume leadership is if there is no more men willing to do the job and all men have dropped their leadership leaving them like Deborah to rise up to stand in the gap of a leadership void. But this is only to be a temporary thing until some strong men again assume their God-given leadership. Godly women like Deborah however always rejoice when strong men take the lead for the glory of God.

Women Created to be Helpmeets

Again, women are created to be helpmeets to men so this cancelled Deborah out for being a leader over the nation but rather she was like someone bailing water trying to keep the boat from sinking when the men were doing nothing. That is not leadership but only survival and existing hoping for better times to come when a male leader would rise up again and unify the nation.

Directions for Believing Men

This lesson is actually for believing men to instruct them how to put their own households in order with their wives under submission to their authority and their own children obedient and orderly. This lesson also encourages men to spend the needed time to mentor their own sons as future leaders. They have to also train their sons before marriage and teach them about the fallen sin nature of Eve because their son's own future wives will most certainly seek to usurp authority away from them or control them using feminine tricks (unless these girls were raised properly by God-fearing parents who taught them how to honor male authority). It is the sin nature of women to seek to control their husbands at home so young men must be taught how to deal with women before they are married. Also, young girls are to be taught how to honor male authority and respect their future husbands within their own future households.

If these things are accomplished there will be peace and order within the households of believers and this peace and order will carry on into the future generations when their own sons and daughters grow up to have families and households of their own.