KNOWN OF ALL TENT DWELLING WOMEN
TO BE MOST BLESSED
Judges 4:17-22; 5:6, 24-27
IMAGINE: Being a Nomadic, tent dweller who seizes the opportunity to save Israel from their cruel oppressor taking “all is fair in love and war” to a whole new level.
Jael was a Nomadic, tent dweller. She would have had no settled home, moving from place to place as a way of obtaining food, finding pasture for livestock, or otherwise making a living. It is believed they served customers wherever they traveled in the way of metalworkers.
She was married to Heber, the Kenite. The Kenites were a Nomadic tribe of people who lived near Canaan. (Gen. 15:18, 19). The Israelites and Kenites were always friendly to one another.
Heber was a descendant of Jethro, the priest of Midian and the father-in-law of Moses. When Moses fled Egypt and went to Midian he met Jethro and eventually married his daughter Zipporah, thus marrying into the tribe of Kenite. Moses lived among the Kenites in Midian until he was called by God to deliver the Israelites from Egypt.
Midian has been referred to as a geographical area, a tribe or a confederation of tribes brought together for worship purposes. The term Midianites is derived from Midian who was a son of Abraham and Keturah. (Gen. 25:1, 2).
During the time of the Exodus the Kenites acted in kindness to Moses and the Israelites. The Kenites, being Nomadic, lived near Jericho but moved south to the region of Negev. However, Heber, along with his wife Jael, stayed in Canaan living north near Kedesh in the tribal territory of Naphtali. Kedesh was a “fenced city” of Naphtali, a city of refuge.
Jael lived in the days of the Judges. She was accustomed to setting up and tearing down camp. In that age women were the responsible party for making and setting up the tents in which they would live, wherever they settled. Thus, Jael was very capable of holding a tent peg in one hand and utilize the use of a hammer, or maul, in the other.
Heber, Jael’s husband, was a smart enough businessman so as to keep peace with Jabin, the king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor and who had oppressed the Israelites for the past twenty years.
Deborah, the prophetess, was judging Israel at this time. She calls for Barak from Kedesh in Naphtali to go up against Jabin and his army as the Lord will turn him over to Barak.
Barak said to her, “If you will go with
me, I will go. But if you will not go with
me, I will not go.” “I will go with you,”
she said, “but you will receive no
honor on the road you are about
to take, because the Lord will
sell Sisera into a woman’s hand.”
Judges 4:8, 9
Deborah does accompany Barak, an Israelite general, to fight the Canaanites. As a Judge in Israel, it was her obligation to save the Israelites from their enemies and restore peace and prosperity to the land. Israel’s Judges actually had the responsibility to act as a military leader and thus when war came Deborah led the out-numbered, badly equipped Israelite troops to a miraculous victory.
Just before the battle had begun a downpour caused the battleground to become deep mud and Deborah took advantage of the circumstances, thus the Israelite foot soldiers were able to overtake the Canaanite iron chariots. She managed to lead the enemy’s iron-wheeled chariots onto the marshy land where they became bogged down, useless and helpless. This enabled the Israelite army to defeat the Canaanites one person at a time.
The irony of this battle was Baal, the main god of the Canaanites was considered god of storms and weather. The Israelites were clearly able to see their God, Yahweh, was superior to the Canaanite god, Baal.
Sisera, the commander of the Canaanite army, knew of Heber and the peace he lived with Jabin, the king of Canaan. Thus, after his defeat by the Israelite forces, Sisera fled to the tents of Heber.
Jael probably had her own tent separate from her husband’s living quarters. Because of the practice of one man having multiple wives, each wife made, pitched and maintained her own tent. Sisera appears to have gone into Jael’s tent, at her beckoning, instead of her husband Heber’s tent. Because men were never allowed to enter a women’s tent, no one would think to look for him there.
Hospitality laws in the middle east, at that time, were very strict. The chief man of the household could only offer ritual hospitality meaning he had to protect and care for the guest, even at the expense of everyone else belonging to his household. Jael could offer to help a fleeing enemy, as she did, but was not obligated to the ritual hospitality law.
Sisera was, however, unaware that Heber’s wife, Jael, whose tent he ran to, sympathized with the Israelites because of the twenty years of oppression by Jabin, his commander Sisera, and his 900 iron chariots. It is unknown if Jael, like Rahab, acted out of loyalty to Israel and Israel’s God, or reacted to Sisera’s arrogant and domineering behavior. Jael appears bound to the Israelites because of her husband’s kinship through the Midianites.
Feeling secure once inside her tent he appears to proceed giving her orders to tell anyone asking whether there is a man within her tent to tell them no. She feeds him some milk and hides him under a rug. Running to a woman’s tent and laying under a rug suggests he felt the need to hide either from Jabin because he lost the battle or from the Israelites, his enemy.
Once Sisera was asleep, from shear exhaustion, Jael puts her tent building expertise to work. Jael takes her wooden hammer used to erect her tent and a tent peg which held the tent ropes and with one expert blow drives the peg into the side of Sisera’s head pinning him to the ground as he dies.
We do not know if Jael was concerned for her safety once Sisera awoke from his sleep, or if she was just doing the will of God with the action she took. Her action appears to show her faithfulness to the Covenant people of Israel which, as mentioned, the Kenite clan had identification through Moses.
Whatever her motive was for killing Sisera the Israelites celebrated her as a national heroine. Deborah’s prophesy was fulfilled in that a woman did indeed defeat Israel’s enemy. As Barak was passing by the tent of Jael, in pursuit of Sisera, she shows him the corpse of the dead Canaanite general inside her tent. Being killed by a woman would shame both the dead Canaanite general and the live Israelite general, who should have been the one to slay the enemy.
Deborah started the battle to defeat the enemy of Israel and Jael finished it. God gave the Israelites a seemingly impossible defeat against the superior Canaanite army thus giving them access to the fertile plains of Jezreel and Esdraelon. On the day Sisera died, Deborah and Barak honor Jael with song:
Jael is most blessed of women,
the wife of Heber the Kenite,
she is most blessed among
tent-dwelling women.
Judges 5:24
Deborah arose to become “a mother in Israel.” Jael shamed the enemy and helped deliver God’s people from their oppressors. After this victory, Israel enjoyed peace for forty years. According to Jewish tradition, Deborah, Barak, Jael, and Heber are buried near the spring beneath the town of Kedesh.
Jael saw an opportunity to help God’s people. The task set before her took a large amount of courage. We would hope our calling would not be as dramatic as Jael’s duty was. But, any job God gives us to do He will pour out the courage and ability to do it. Faith, not fear, wins.
We too can and must be instruments of deliverance for others. We cannot and must not be passive in our struggle against our enemy and, more importantly, the enemy of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Something to consider:
The devil whispered in my ear,
“You’re not strong enough to withstand the storm.”
Today I whispered in the devil’s ear, “I am the storm.”
BIBLICAL PEOPLE 