זוהר ויקרא — דף יט ע”ב

These are called "the flame of the ever-turning sword" — not that they are the turning sword itself, but the flame of that sword, called "a sword avenging the vengeance of the covenant" (Leviticus 26) and "the sword of the Lord is filled with blood" (Isaiah 34). That flame of the turning sword is sometimes of the male aspect and sometimes of the female.<br />
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Woe to the world when those [supernal] women rule over it. When the prophet saw that Israel were twisting their ways and were found in sin before their Master, he said: "Complacent women, how can you be complacent? How do you sit without arousing yourselves in the world? Arise!" And as we find with Devorah, it is written, "she judged Israel at that time" (Judges 5) — woe to a generation in which no one can judge the people except a single woman.<br />
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Come and see: two women were found in the world who uttered praise of the Holy One, blessed be He, in a manner no man in the world could match — Devorah and Chanah. Chanah said, "There is none holy as the Lord, for there is none beside You" (1 Samuel 2), and she opened to the world the gate of faith: "He raises the poor from the dust" is the gate of faith, and "to seat me with nobles" is the faith above, the place where the Patriarchs dwell — the "nobles," as it is written, "the nobles of the peoples are gathered."<br />
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By another interpretation, "to seat with nobles" prophesied concerning Shmuel, destined to be equal in stature to Moshe and Aharon ("Moshe and Aharon among His priests, and Shmuel among those who call upon His name"). "And He gives them a throne of glory as inheritance" — this is Shmuel, who bequeathed the honor of kingship to two kings; by another interpretation, it is the Holy One, blessed be He, who bequeathed His throne to His servants. "The Lord shall shatter those who contend with Him" (written defectively as "merivav" — "merriv vav") alludes to the Holy King and to the secret of wisdom: when judgments are aroused, the rulers dominate over mercy and mercy is subdued; but when the Holy One, blessed be He, is blessed from the source of the stream, mercy prevails and judgments are subdued.<br />
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"Upon him, in the heavens, He shall thunder" — when the dew of the holy Ancient One rests upon him and fills his head in that place called "heavens," then he thunders and breaks the power of harsh judgments. "And He will give strength to His king" — this is the Holy One, blessed be He; "and He will raise the horn of His anointed" — this is the Community of Israel, called "the horn of the jubilee," "His anointed" in the sense of "the anointed of the God of Yaakov."<br />
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Devorah, who came to praise the praise of the Holy King, said: "Lord, when You went forth from Seir, when You marched from the field of Edom" — this teaches that the Holy One, blessed be He, invited all the other nations to receive the Torah, and they refused; not that He did not know they would refuse, but so that they would have no excuse. All of Devorah's verses belong to the secret of wisdom, until, in saying "until I, Devorah, arose, a mother in Israel," she praised herself, and at that moment the holy spirit departed from her — hence: "Awake, awake, Devorah, awake, awake, speak a song."<br />
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And all of this applies only when the men are found in sin and are not worthy of having the holy spirit rest upon them. "If the whole congregation of Israel errs" — the verse does not say "if all Israel," but "the whole congregation of Israel," meaning those found in Jerusalem, from where Torah goes out to the whole people; if they err, all Israel errs, since all are drawn after them. "And the matter is hidden from the eyes of the assembly" — the "eyes of the assembly" are the Sanhedrin, those appointed over Israel.