Steps one and two of the cycle in the judges is Israel’s oppression and their crying out. These two have happened. Next we would expect a deliverer, and a male at that. We are expecting an upright man like Othniel, or at least, a crafty man like Ehud, or even a non-Israelite like Shamgar. But what we get is Deborah.
4 Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel at that time.