Who was the first female judge of Israel?

The first female judge of Israel was Deborah.

The Book of Judges presents Deborah as a prophetess and a judge who settled disputes beneath a palm tree in the hill country of Ephraim. She is the only woman explicitly identified as a judge in the Hebrew Bible and is described as the fourth judge in the biblical sequence.

Deborah summoned Barak, a military leader from Kedesh in Naphtali, and told him to gather troops against Jabin, king of Canaan, whose commander was Sisera. According to the narrative, Israel’s forces defeated Sisera’s army near the Kishon River. Sisera later died at the hands of Jael, another woman whose actions complete the story.

Deborah is sometimes confused with Miriam, Huldah, or other prominent biblical women. Miriam was a prophet and Moses’ sister, while Huldah was a prophet consulted during King Josiah’s reign. Deborah’s distinctive role combines prophecy, judicial leadership, and military direction in the pre-monarchic period.