Jael
One day Jael was the wife of Heber the Kenite, a Bedouin, and the next she became a heroine of the Israelites because of her murderous deed. Her name means “wild goat,” “gazelle,” or “mountain goat.” She lived at a time when Israel suffered under the foreign rule of Jaban, king of Canaan. Jaban's fiercest Canaanite warrior was Sisera. Jael certainly knew of Sisera, army commander and oppressor of the children of Israel. She must also have heard of Deborah, the Hebrew prophetess and patriot. But Jael may not have known she would play a role in the battle between Sisera and Deborah.
In biblical times, the land of Canaan was divided among twelve tribes: Naphtali, Asher, Manasseh, Zebulon, Land of Tob, Sachar, Ephraim, Dan, Reuben, Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin.
Deborah had a plan to throw off the Canaanite's yoke of oppression on the Israelites. Summoning Barak, a Jewish military leader from the north, Deborah told him to assemble his troops, go to Mt. Tabor, and take Sisera and his men by force. Barak feared Sisera's well-equipped army with its iron chariots. He told Deborah he would go, but only if she would join him; he needed her presence and faith to sustain him in a battle against Sisera. Deborah agreed, but replied that because of his lack of faith, God would deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman.
The battle ensued, and Barak's men overcame Sisera's; however, Sisera escaped and came upon the tent of Heber the Kenite. Jael greeted him in a friendly, hospitable manner, as was the custom among the desert people. She invited him into the tent, encouraged him to sleep, and covered him with a blanket.
Jael seemed to be an ally: Sisera had no reason to suspect that she harbored murder in her heart toward him, a man she saw as the cruel enemy of God's children. When she said she would watch the door of the tent for enemies or strangers, Sisera believed her and drifted off to sleep. Jael moved toward him ever so quietly, her fingers clutching a hammer and tent peg. As the weary Sisera lay sleeping, Jael hammered the tent peg into his brain, fastening it into the ground.
The killing of Sisera finished the freeing of Israel from the Canaanites, inspiring Deborah and Barak to sing a triumphal ode in which Deborah praised Jael. “Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be, blessed shall she be above women in the tent” (Judges 5:24).
Women of Jael's time did all of the work associated with tent life in the desert. They learned how to make tents, pitch them, and pull them down. Jael would have known how to handle a hammer and tent nail, her weapons in the murder of Sisera.
