“Then Jael, Heber’s wife, took a tent peg and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple, and it went down into the ground; for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died.” Judges 4:21 (NKJV)
Sisera fled when he saw his army being defeated. He came to the area of Jael’s tent, expecting that he was in ally territory. She provided him with water and a blanket. When he fell asleep, she took a tent peg and drove it into his head and killed him.
As Barak and his men finally got to the area where Jael’s tent was, Jael told him that the man he was seeking was there in her tent – dead. Deborah’s prophecy came true. Barak and his men did fight the battle that God had asked them to do, but they didn’t get the glory of capturing Sisera. A woman not only captured him, but single-handedly killed him.
While this story is gruesome by today’s standards there is still a message for us to learn in this story. God is who routed Sisera and his men to their fate that day (Judges 4:15). Whatever I have to face, God has the power to route those who would do me harm to go to their own fate. Now, that doesn’t mean that God always chooses to do what I think He should, but He has the power, the ability.
Another lesson in this story is that Jael was courageous and obedient to God’s leading her. I think the angels of heaven helped Sisera to fall into a deep sleep so that when Jael drove the tent peg into his head he didn’t wake up and overtake her.
Another lesson is that God’s Word is always true. God had told Deborah that a woman would get the glory and not Barak and it happened just that way.
Listen to Nathan Taylor as he sings “Your Word Is True.”
Published on MyBibleRoom.com 1/27/25, 5:00 pm