Women of the Word: Jael

Scripture References 

Judges 4:17-22; Judges 5:6; Judges 5:24-27

Name Meaning

Wild or mountain goat

Family

Wife of Heber the Kenite

Introduction 

Jael’s story is not long, but she played a very important role in the history of the Israelites. She lived in the years that Deborah was a judge in the lands, long before the first kings ruled. It was her actions regarding Sisera that cemented Jael in the annals of history. There are many questions we still have about Jael, about who she was, her family, her life, what happened to her after this short story. But there is also great truth we can learn from her actions, from her obedience and bravery.

Lesson

We first meet Jael when Sisera, a captain in the army of Canaanite King Jabin, flees from Deborah and Barack’s attack at the Battle of Mount Tabor.  Sisera fled from the battle and found himself at the tent of Heber the Kenite. The Kenites were a nomadic tribe who lived near the Israelites and had been witness to the oppression they had faced from Canaan. Because they were such close neighbors, there were numerous marriages between the groups.

Jael, being a woman and a wife, was responsible for their home. She pitched their tent under the sacred tree of Zaananim, the land being in the portion allotted to the tribe of Naphtali. It is this tent that Sisera finds himself at. And it was here that Jael urged Sisera not to be afraid and invited him in to rest.

The laws of hospitality dictated that once a guest was invited in, he was to be fed and cared for. It did not matter what their status was or what circumstances the guest might have experienced. Once inside the host had the obligation of protecting and providing for the guest. Sisera had no reason to fear from being in Jael’s tent and assumed he would be cared for.

Jael acted like the perfect hostess. She fed Sisera (he asked for water, she provided milk) and then encouraged him to rest, covering him with a blanket. She promised him she would look after him and wouldn’t disclose his location to anyone who might be searching for him. And with that assurance, he fell asleep.

Once asleep, Jael did the unimaginable. She took a tent stake and a mallet and drove it through his head, pinning him to the ground and killing him.

We do not know what relationship Jael might have had with the Israelites, and we are not told of any previous interactions between Deborah and Jael. The only other mention of Jael is when Deborah included her in the song she sang. It is unknown if there was contact between the two women before Sisera arrived at her tent. Could Deborah have sent word ahead of them that Sisera was to be stopped? Did Deborah, a judge and prophetess, know Jael would be the executioner beforehand? We know that Deborah informed Barack that Sisera would be delivered into the hands of a woman rather than to him. But did she know exactly which woman it would be? Did she have time to reach out to her before the fateful battle?

The Bible is silent on these questions. We simply do not know and can only speculate.

It is interesting to note that Jael was not an Israelite yet acted on behalf of them. It was her actions, treacherous as they seem to us, that helped the Israelites succeed. She demonstrated a faithfulness and belief in their God and the promises He had made to them. It is doubtful that she was a believer, but again we do not know the relationship she had with the Israelites and whether she was a proselyte of neighboring clans.

We do not know anything more about Jael after that. She is not mentioned again and disappeared from all records. She is absent from secular literature, as well. There is simply no further mention of her in any histories or books. It would be nice to have some of our questions answered or to at least know what happened in her life after this event.  What did her husband say? How did Deborah find Jael and the dead Sisera? Did Jael receive anything as a result of her actions? Did she become a true follower of the God of the Israelites or did she remain a pagan?  So many questions remain.

Final Thoughts 

The thought of murdering someone with a tent stake through the head seems heartless and cruel to our modern way of thinking. But her actions were memorialized in the Song of Deborah who called her blessed. Jael deceived Sisera, lulled him to sleep and then took his life when she was supposed to protect him according to the laws of hospitality.

History, ancient literature, and medieval art all speak of Jael. They speak of her actions, but nothing more. Yet even in those sources, it is all speculation and not necessarily fact. The only factual information we have is from the Bible, found in the book of Judges.