Judges 1:16; 4:1-22; 5:24-27
Can you believe that Jael, in our last lesson, put a tent peg through Sisera's temple all the way through into the ground!
We're about to find out what happens to Jael as a result of her actions as we pick back up in Judges 4:22 ...
22 And then, as
Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said to him, “Come, I will
show you the man whom you seek.” And when he went into her tent, there lay
Sisera, dead with the peg in his temple.
Once Barak arrived
in the area where Heber and Jael lived, Jael went out to meet Barak. She told him that the man he was pursing was
inside her tent. Upon entering Jael’s
tent, there indeed lay Sisera … dead … just as Deborah had prophesied … by the
hand of a woman.
We have referred
to parts of Judges 5:24-27 earlier to give more details of the events that
happened, but now let’s take a look at it in its entirety with its purpose in
mind which was to praise Jael for her actions.
Deborah led them in song …
“Most blessed
among women is Jael,
The wife of
Heber the Kenite;
Blessed is she
among women in tents.
He asked for
water, she gave milk;
She brought out
cream in a lordly bowl.
She stretched
her hand to the tent peg,
Her right hand
to the workmen’s hammer;
She pounded
Sisera, she pierced his head,
She split and
struck through his temple.
At her feet he
sank, he fell, he lay still;
At her feet he
sank, he fell;
Where he sank,
there he fell dead.
One has to wonder
if Deborah’s words to Barak, when he told her that he would not go if she did
not go with him, played through his mind as he and Deborah, along with all
the others, sang and witnessed the praise being heaped upon Jael.
Judges 4:23 So
on that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan in the presence of the children of
Israel.
Another promise
made and kept by God!
24 And the hand
of the children of Israel grew stronger and stronger against Jabin king of
Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.
This victory was
the first of many until God, via the Israelites, had destroyed Jabin king of
Canaan.
Why did God want
the Canaanites destroyed? Because they
were a threat physically and spiritually to the Israelites whom God had chosen
to bring His Son to earth through.
How were the
Canaanites a threat to the Israelites?
The Israelites would intermingle with the Canaanites and be drawn away
from God and His purpose. The Canaanites
also wanted “their land” back … the land God had given to the Israelites, so
they were a physical threat as well.
Today, we are in
the world but are not to be a part of it (John 17:15-17) as God wanted the Israelites to be. Why?
Because we too can be drawn away from God and His purpose for our lives.
In closing, let’s
address the fact that Deborah, appointed by God to be prophetess and judge of
His chosen people, gave praise to Jael for killing Sisera. Both Deborah and Jael were of God’s people,
Jael killed a man, and Deborah praised her for it. Was this wrong in the eyes of God?
Let’s look at it
this way …
Sisera was an
enemy of God and in Deuteronomy 7:1-2 …
“When the Lord
your God brings you into the land which you go to possess, and has cast out
many nations before you, the Hittites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and
the Canaanites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, seven
nations greater and mightier than you, and when the Lord your God delivers them
over to you, you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them.
and in Numbers 33: 51-56 …
“Speak to the
children of Israel, and say to them: ‘When you have crossed the Jordan into the
land of Canaan, then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from
before you, destroy all their engraved stones, destroy all their molded images,
and demolish all their high places; you
shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land and dwell in it, for I have given
you the land to possess. And you shall
divide the land by lot as an inheritance among your families; to the larger you
shall give a larger inheritance, and to the smaller you shall give a smaller
inheritance; there everyone’s inheritance shall be whatever falls to him by
lot. You shall inherit according to the tribes of your fathers. But if you do
not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall be
that those whom you let remain shall be irritants in your eyes and thorns in
your sides, and they shall harass you in the land where you dwell. Moreover it shall be that I will do to you as
I thought to do to them.’ ”
God had commanded
the Israelites to wipe out and destroy the people of the land. They knew what they were supposed to do! Could this be why Jael was praised for her
act instead of condemned? Jael did
what Barak should have stepped up to the plate and done, but his moment of
weakness cost him the glory that would have been his had he had faith in God’s
command.
When we refuse to
do what God wants us to do, He will give the role to another. His will, will be accomplished whether we
choose to participate or not. Jael got
the glory because she obeyed God’s command.
Barak saw another get the glory that should have been his because he
only partially obeyed. I do believe
there is a lesson in that for us!
In closing, what
can we learn from this account of Jael …
God is in control
and is sovereign.
We can trust God
to do what He says He will.
God uses the
unlikely and sometimes overlooked.
Stay faithful to
God regardless (Jael stayed faithful even though her husband did not.)
God fights for His
faithful followers.
God goes before
His children and prepares the way.
Partial obedience
is not obedience.
One more ... God’s will, will
be accomplished whether we choose to obey God’s commands or not.
Can you think of
other lessons we can learn from Jael?
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I hope you’ve enjoyed this study and found something in it that will help you in your Christian walks.
Until the next
study!
patsy @ From This Heart of Mine
~ a place for women to gather and study God's Word ~
Sources used for this study:
Various translations of the Holy Bible
Various commentaries
Several trusted and biblically sound online sources
Dictionary of New Testament Background, Editors: Craig A Evans & Stanley E. Porter
Archaeological Study Bible
All the Women of the Bible by Edith Deen
Daughters of Eve by Lottie Beth Hobbs
Halley’s Bible Handbook by H. H. Halley
