Judges 4:22
And, behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said unto him, Come, and I will shew thee the man whom thou seekest. And when he came into her tent, behold, Sisera lay dead, and the nail was in his temples. And, behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said unto him, Come, and I will shew thee the man whom thou seekest. And when he came into her tent, behold, Sisera lay dead, and the nail was in his temples.
As Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him and brought him into her tent to see Sisera lying dead with the tent peg in his temples. Sisera had fled on foot from the rout by Mount Tabor and the Kishon to the tent of Heber the Kenite, where Jael gave him shelter and rest and then slew him, completing Israel's deliverance from twenty years of oppression. In this she fulfilled Deborah's word that the honor Barak might have had would go to a woman, in a victory won by faith when leaders led and the people offered themselves willingly and then sang for joy. That defeat at Megiddo stands as a lesson of the final gathering of the nations at Armageddon under the sixth and seventh plagues and as a pattern for the work at the close of the third angel's message. The deed shows the honor God has bestowed on women in public service and testimony without ruling over men, and calls for Deborahs and Jaels today to strike with courage the death-blow to sin in the home where the greatest battle is waged.
Story and Historical Setting
As Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, invited him in, and showed him Sisera lying dead in her tent with the nail or tent peg in his temples. Sisera had left his chariot when his army was defeated and fled on foot as a common soldier to seek shelter at the tent of Heber the Kenite, a descendant of Jethro. In Heber's absence his wife Jael courteously gave the weary general a refreshing draught and opportunity for repose until he fell asleep. At first ignorant of her guest's character and resolving to conceal him, when she afterward learned that he was Sisera the enemy of God and of His people her purpose changed, and she overcame natural reluctance to such an act and drove the nail through his temples, pinning him to the earth. Then as Barak passed that way she called him in to behold the vain-glorious captain dead at his feet, slain by the hand of a woman.
The battle took place near Mount Tabor and the Kishon River, where the Canaanite chariots and forces were swept away, and Jael, Heber the Kenite's wife, killed Sisera. Through the victory of Barak and Deborah the Israelites first gained possession of the Plain of Jezreel, whose strategic roads and commercial importance made it a frequent cause of conflict, though several Canaanite towns there remained in Canaanite hands until the time of the kings. The verse records the completion of Israel's deliverance from Jabin's oppression after twenty years by unexpected means, a victory of God through Barak and Deborah over Israel's oppressors.
Victory and Prophetic Pattern
The overthrow of Sisera and his iron chariots under Deborah and Barak came after their faith. It was a victory in which the leaders took the lead and the people willingly offered themselves, and it was followed by a song of joy. As Barak pursued Sisera, Jael met him and led him into her tent, where he found Sisera dead with the tent peg in his temples. By driving the tent peg through his temples to kill him and then directing Barak to him, Jael completed the defeat of Israel's enemy. In so doing she fulfilled Deborah's prediction that a woman would receive the honor Barak himself might have gained had he trusted God's word and gone to battle in faith.
Jael's meeting Barak and leading him to Sisera's body in her tent, where Sisera lay dead with the tent peg in his temples, belongs to the battle in which Sisera was defeated at Megiddo. That battle serves as an object lesson connected with the final gathering of the nations at Armageddon under the sixth plague and with the sixth and seventh plagues. The same account of Sisera's defeat is set forth as a pattern for the work at the closing of the third angel's message.
Women's Honor and Application
The chapter to which the verse belongs shows the honor God the Father has bestowed upon women. Courageous Jael, into whose hands was delivered Sisera the captain of the enemy bands, stands alongside Deborah leading the hosts of God in war and Dorcas making coats for the poor. These stand among the good works of woman with which the Bible teems, proving that God has honored woman in all ages and placed her as a beacon-light in every avenue of life.
The silence enjoined on women in 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 and 1 Timothy 2:12 concerns governmental and ruling matters in the church. It does not forbid humble, modest and faithful women from taking part in the worship of God and public service, or from bearing testimony for God in public, without assuming to rule or control or usurping authority over men. This is seen in Deborah the prophetess helping Barak.
The fearlessness and courage of Jael in striking the death-blow to the enemy shows that Deborahs and Jaels are needed today. They are needed not on the field of worldly strife but in the home. The home is where the greatest battle of the universe is being waged, the war against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world and spiritual wickedness in high places. Mothers need her courage to strike the death-blow to sin in the home in the closing struggle between the forces of good and evil.