Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time.This verse jumped out at me because of the timeline it implies. I always thought that the judges were people who God raised up when the nation had gone astray and been subdued, and He called them up from relative obscurity to rescue the people and then lead them. First they beat the oppressor, then they would judge and lead the people. However, this verse suggests that Deborah was a judge before being called to lead. It appears that she had been leading the people for some time before God called her to start the uprising against the Canaanites.
This makes me wonder, was there always a judge, and they simply weren't always called to rebel against the outsiders? Did they have judges when times were good, even after the previous liberating judge had died? Did God call them up specifically, or were at least some already in positions of power and God afterwards directed them? Was the position of judge the lower equivalent of king, where the people always had one, and if so, was it normally a person selected/appointed by God or the people? Were some judge positions inherited, as would later be the case with Samuel, or did the people/God appoint from all possibilities? This small verse makes me reconsider the entire purpose of the position.
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