Jael
“A wild goat or mountain goat”
Summary
The wife of Heber the Kenite who killed the Canaanite general Sisera with a tent peg after he sought refuge in her tent.
☩Background
Jael was the wife of Heber the Kenite, whose clan had separated from the other Kenites and pitched their tents near Kedesh in Naphtali. Heber's tribe maintained neutrality in the conflict between Israel and Jabin king of Hazor, having made peace with both parties. This neutrality would prove significant when Sisera, Jabin's defeated general, sought refuge with them.
☩The Death of Sisera
After Barak's victory over the Canaanite army at the waters of Megiddo, Sisera fled on foot and came to Jael's tent. She invited him in, covered him with a rug, gave him milk to drink when he asked for water, and agreed to stand guard and deny his presence if questioned. When exhaustion overcame him and he fell into deep sleep, Jael took a tent peg and a mallet and drove the peg through his temple into the ground, killing him instantly. She then went out to meet the pursuing Barak and showed him the body of his enemy.
☩Moral Assessment
Jael's act has been much debated. Deborah's song calls her 'blessed above women' for killing the enemy of Israel. Her motives appear to have been prudential—seeing the Israelite victory, she likely calculated that harboring Sisera would bring disaster upon her clan. While Scripture does not explicitly condone the treachery involved, it records the deed as God subduing Jabin through an instrument of His choosing, even as Deborah had prophesied that the honor of Sisera's death would go to a woman.
References
- 1.F. N. Peloubet & M. A. Peloubet (ed.), "Jael," in Smith's Bible Dictionary (Porter & Coates, 1884).
- 2.James Orr (ed.), "Jael," in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. III (Howard-Severance Company, 1915).
- 3.John McClintock and James Strong, "Jael," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. IV (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 4.George Morrish, "Jael," in Morrish's Concise Bible Dictionary (George Morrish, 1898).