Deborah & Jael

Since both Deborah and Jael are mighty warrior women of the Bible and their stories are part of the same larger story, might as well study them together. Their story begins something like this. The Israelites were ruled by a series of Judges for many years. The Israelites also kept repeating the same cycle of doing well with God and then “the Israelites once again did evil in the eyes of the Lord” (Judges 4:1, and many other places in Judges.) It was a vicious sin cycle that they were caught in. Deborah was ruling as judge of the land at one of those times when the people had turned away from God. Deborah herself was a righteous, Godly woman. The Israelites, because of their wickedness, had been oppressed by a king of Canaan for something like twenty years. They were especially afraid of the commander of the king’s army, Sisera.

So the Lord sold them into the hands of Jabin, a king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who lived in Harosheth Haggoyim. Because he had nine hundred iron chariots and had cruelly oppressed the Israelites for twenty years, they cried to the Lord for help. Judges 4:2, 3

The Israelites had good reason to be afraid of Sisera, he was a bad dude.

Deborah knew that it was time to take on Sisera. To do this, she enlisted a man by the name of Barak. She gave him the message that God had given to her for what to do.

“The LORD, the God of Israel, commands you: ‘Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead the way to Mount Tabor. I will lure Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his troops to the Kishon River and give him into your hands.’”  Judges 4:6, 7

Barak said that he would go, but only if Deborah would go with him. Now when I read this it seems a bit strange. Why would Barak need Deborah, a woman, to go with him into battle? It wasn’t common practice at that time for woman to fight in battles alongside the men. I read a few commentaries on this and they seemed to reference the fact that since at the time Deborah was the Judge and leader of the land, Barak would want her with him. Another commentary put it sort of in this way; Barak didn’t want to go where Deborah was not willing to go herself. It would be like when a friend dares you to do something, and you say, “Ok, I’ll do it if you do it with me.” Deborah agreed to go with Barak into battle. She warned him that it would cost him the honor of victory, instead that would go to a woman (Judges 4:9.)

During the battle, Sisera managed to escape by foot. He ran right into the tent of Jael. She welcomed him in.

Sisera, however, fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there were friendly relations between Jabin king of Hazor and the clan of Heber the Kenite. Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Come, my lord, come right in. Don’t be afraid.” So he entered her tent, and she put a covering over him. Judges 4:17, 18

Sisera was tired and thirsty from having been on the run. Jael took him in, gave him a place to lay down to rest, and a drink of milk. This would be when Jael steps into the role of a mighty warrior woman.

But Jael, Heber’s wife, picked up a tent peg and a hammer and went quietly to him while he lay fast asleep, exhausted. She drove the peg through his temple into the ground, and he died. Judges 4:21

Jael was a woman not to be messed with. I bet her husband didn’t want to get on her bad side after this incident. I can only imagine the amount of force it would take to put a peg through someone’s head. Because of what Jael did, the words of Deborah came to pass in that Barak wasn’t the one to get the credit for conquering Sisera.

Barak came in pursuit of Sisera, and Jael went out to meet him. “Come,” she said, “I will show you the man you’re looking for.” So he went with her, and there lay Sisera with the tent peg through his temple – dead. Judges 4:22

The death of Sisera was also a key in the Israelites becoming stronger over the Canaanites. Without Deborah and Jael this may not have happened. They were both honored in Judges 5 in the Song of Deborah. Both of these women were honored in their land for their heroic deeds and Godly character.