He asked water, and she gave him milk; she brought forth butter in a lordly dish.
He asked for water in her tent after fleeing Barak's army, and Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite covered him with a mantle and gave him milk in a lordly dish, then drove a nail through his temples while he slept and afterward showed him dead to Barak. She gave milk rather than water as an act of wisdom and policy to bring quicker and deeper sleep. The deed belongs to Israel's deliverance from twenty years of oppression under Jabin, when Barak met Sisera's nine hundred chariots of iron near Mount Tabor and the Kishon with only ten thousand men of Zebulun and Naphtali, pursued the host to Harosheth until not a man was left, and gained the Plain of Jezreel so the land had rest forty years. The account is one of the two great victories associated with Megiddo, given as an object lesson for the final battle of Armageddon under the sixth plague, and it shows Israel overcoming chariots of iron through faith. Deborah and Barak's triumphant song recounting the deed ascribes all honor and power to God for His wonderful works, celebrates God using women in public capacity to His glory, and blesses Jael above women in the tent for discerning the time and destroying Israel's enemy at the jeopardy of her life.
Narrative and Historical Setting
Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, gave Sisera milk to drink when he asked for water after fleeing from Barak's army and stopping to rest in her tent. She covered him with a mantle, and he asked her to stand in the tent door and turn away pursuers. When he fell asleep she drove a tent nail through his temples, and afterward she showed Barak his enemy lying dead. Giving milk instead of the requested water was a special act of wisdom and policy, because milk would bring quicker and deeper sleep than water.
The act belongs to Israel's deliverance from Jabin's oppression, which had lasted twenty years after negligence and backsliding let the heathen repossess the land, re-established Baalism, and brought Israel into great distress and helplessness. Barak of Kedesh in Naphtali met Sisera, captain of Jabin's army, near Mount Tabor and the Kishon valley with only ten thousand men of Zebulun and Naphtali, where Sisera's nine hundred chariots of iron became an encumbrance. Barak pursued the host to Harosheth of the Gentiles until all fell by the sword and not a man was left, while Sisera fled on foot over or around the mountain to Heber on the opposite side, where Jael struck him and he perished. Through this victory Israel first gained possession of the Plain of Jezreel, and the destruction effectually subdued the Canaanites. The land then had peace forty years, though prosperity did not bring Israel nearer to God.
The verse is part of the triumphant song of Deborah and Barak recounting Jael's role and celebrating Israel's victory over Sisera and the Canaanites.
Prophetic and Doctrinal Teaching
The account of Barak's victory over the Canaanites is one of the two great victories associated with Megiddo. That battle at Megiddo serves as an object lesson for the final battle of Armageddon under the sixth plague, so the chapter is important to study in connection with the sixth and seventh plagues. As part of the account in Judges 4 and 5 of Sisera's defeat by Israel under Deborah and Barak, it shows Israel overcoming chariots of iron through faith.
Deborah's most sublime and impassioned song celebrates the triumph of Israel and ascribes to God all the glory of the deliverance, bidding the people praise Him for His wonderful works. It shows that honor and power belong to God and not to men or to their idols. It calls upon the kings and princes of surrounding nations to hear what God wrought for Israel and to take warning not to do them harm. It portrays the awful exhibitions of divine power and majesty displayed at Sinai, and sets before Israel their helpless and distressed condition under the oppression of their enemies and relates in glowing language the history of their deliverance.
The song in Judges 5:1-31 shows God using women in a public capacity to His glory. Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite gave Sisera milk to drink when he stopped to rest at her tent while fleeing from Barak's army, and she covered him with a mantle while he asked her to stand in the tent door and turn away pursuers. When he fell asleep she drove a tent nail through his temples with a strong arm rather than incur wrath for hiding him, then showed Barak his enemy lying dead with the pin still in his head. Deborah and Barak then sang praise for Jael as the woman who destroyed Israel's enemy, and by this God established her sex on an equality with the men of Israel.
Deborah the prophetess helping Barak is an example of a woman's role in Israel. Women may bear testimony for Christ, help in His work, and proclaim His truth and speak publicly for God in womanly, Christian ways without usurping authority or acting arrogantly. The command for women to keep silence in the churches does not forbid such public part but was given to correct blameworthy disorders of women out of place assuming authority to teach and rule in a way that is unwomanly and unscriptural.
Jael defended the cause of God by killing the enemy of Israel, though she was a tender-hearted woman of a tender-hearted family on friendly terms with the enemy. For discerning the importance of the time and accepting God's message and bringing salvation to herself and the people, she was blessed above women in the tent. She stands with Zebulun and Naphtali who jeoparded their lives unto death in the high places of the field, in contrast to those who could not discern God's providence and came not to the help of the Lord against the mighty and brought a curse upon themselves.
Literary Beauty and Application
The verse belongs to the earliest poetry of Israel, which rose among the hills of Galilee to celebrate the triumph of Barak of Naphtali over the Canaanites. It is part of Deborah's most sublime and impassioned song, a triumph poem celebrating the victory of Israel over Sisera and ascribing to God all the glory of the deliverance. The song bids the people praise Him for His wonderful works, calls upon the kings and princes of surrounding nations to hear what God wrought for Israel and to take warning not to do them harm, and shows that honor and power belong to God and not to men or to their idols. It portrays the awful exhibitions of divine power and majesty displayed at Sinai, sets before Israel their helpless and distressed condition under the oppression of their enemies, and relates in glowing language the history of their deliverance. It is presented as an example of the Bible's poetic beauty, rhetorical force, and vivid imagery, and it vindicates the honor of Galilee for the intellectual vigor, mental freshness, and force of its people. The destruction of Sisera and his forces told in the song effectually subdued the Canaanites, and after this the land had peace forty years, but prosperity did not bring Israel nearer to God.
Jael served milk to her guest in a notable lordly dish that drew attention. That vessel illustrates that care should be given to the dishes used to serve food as well as to the food itself, though this does not mean the dishes must be expensive.
The verse shows how sin approaches a person as Jael approached Sisera. Sin offers something rich and costly in a noble dish and bids high for the soul, fascinating and lulling its victim into unwatchfulness, and then sudden destruction follows with the nail and the hammer behind the kindness. In the same way the generous gift of milk in a lordly dish before the killing is an image of riches that seem to honor and benefit the wicked but lead them toward death and judgment.
He asked for water in her tent after fleeing Barak's army, and Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite covered him with a mantle and gave him milk in a lordly dish, then drove a nail through his temples while he slept and afterward showed him dead to Barak. She gave milk rather than water as an act of wisdom and policy to bring quicker and deeper sleep. The deed belongs to Israel's deliverance from twenty years of oppression under Jabin, when Barak met Sisera's nine hundred chariots of iron near Mount Tabor and the Kishon with only ten thousand men of Zebulun and Naphtali, pursued the host to Harosheth until not a man was left, and gained the Plain of Jezreel so the land had rest forty years. The account is one of the two great victories associated with Megiddo, given as an object lesson for the final battle of Armageddon under the sixth plague, and it shows Israel overcoming chariots of iron through faith. Deborah and Barak's triumphant song recounting the deed ascribes all honor and power to God for His wonderful works, celebrates God using women in public capacity to His glory, and blesses Jael above women in the tent for discerning the time and destroying Israel's enemy at the jeopardy of her life.
Narrative and Historical Setting
Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, gave Sisera milk to drink when he asked for water after fleeing from Barak's army and stopping to rest in her tent. She covered him with a mantle, and he asked her to stand in the tent door and turn away pursuers. When he fell asleep she drove a tent nail through his temples, and afterward she showed Barak his enemy lying dead. Giving milk instead of the requested water was a special act of wisdom and policy, because milk would bring quicker and deeper sleep than water.
The act belongs to Israel's deliverance from Jabin's oppression, which had lasted twenty years after negligence and backsliding let the heathen repossess the land, re-established Baalism, and brought Israel into great distress and helplessness. Barak of Kedesh in Naphtali met Sisera, captain of Jabin's army, near Mount Tabor and the Kishon valley with only ten thousand men of Zebulun and Naphtali, where Sisera's nine hundred chariots of iron became an encumbrance. Barak pursued the host to Harosheth of the Gentiles until all fell by the sword and not a man was left, while Sisera fled on foot over or around the mountain to Heber on the opposite side, where Jael struck him and he perished. Through this victory Israel first gained possession of the Plain of Jezreel, and the destruction effectually subdued the Canaanites. The land then had peace forty years, though prosperity did not bring Israel nearer to God.
The verse is part of the triumphant song of Deborah and Barak recounting Jael's role and celebrating Israel's victory over Sisera and the Canaanites.
Prophetic and Doctrinal Teaching
The account of Barak's victory over the Canaanites is one of the two great victories associated with Megiddo. That battle at Megiddo serves as an object lesson for the final battle of Armageddon under the sixth plague, so the chapter is important to study in connection with the sixth and seventh plagues. As part of the account in Judges 4 and 5 of Sisera's defeat by Israel under Deborah and Barak, it shows Israel overcoming chariots of iron through faith.
Deborah's most sublime and impassioned song celebrates the triumph of Israel and ascribes to God all the glory of the deliverance, bidding the people praise Him for His wonderful works. It shows that honor and power belong to God and not to men or to their idols. It calls upon the kings and princes of surrounding nations to hear what God wrought for Israel and to take warning not to do them harm. It portrays the awful exhibitions of divine power and majesty displayed at Sinai, and sets before Israel their helpless and distressed condition under the oppression of their enemies and relates in glowing language the history of their deliverance.
The song in Judges 5:1-31 shows God using women in a public capacity to His glory. Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite gave Sisera milk to drink when he stopped to rest at her tent while fleeing from Barak's army, and she covered him with a mantle while he asked her to stand in the tent door and turn away pursuers. When he fell asleep she drove a tent nail through his temples with a strong arm rather than incur wrath for hiding him, then showed Barak his enemy lying dead with the pin still in his head. Deborah and Barak then sang praise for Jael as the woman who destroyed Israel's enemy, and by this God established her sex on an equality with the men of Israel.
Deborah the prophetess helping Barak is an example of a woman's role in Israel. Women may bear testimony for Christ, help in His work, and proclaim His truth and speak publicly for God in womanly, Christian ways without usurping authority or acting arrogantly. The command for women to keep silence in the churches does not forbid such public part but was given to correct blameworthy disorders of women out of place assuming authority to teach and rule in a way that is unwomanly and unscriptural.
Jael defended the cause of God by killing the enemy of Israel, though she was a tender-hearted woman of a tender-hearted family on friendly terms with the enemy. For discerning the importance of the time and accepting God's message and bringing salvation to herself and the people, she was blessed above women in the tent. She stands with Zebulun and Naphtali who jeoparded their lives unto death in the high places of the field, in contrast to those who could not discern God's providence and came not to the help of the Lord against the mighty and brought a curse upon themselves.
Literary Beauty and Application
The verse belongs to the earliest poetry of Israel, which rose among the hills of Galilee to celebrate the triumph of Barak of Naphtali over the Canaanites. It is part of Deborah's most sublime and impassioned song, a triumph poem celebrating the victory of Israel over Sisera and ascribing to God all the glory of the deliverance. The song bids the people praise Him for His wonderful works, calls upon the kings and princes of surrounding nations to hear what God wrought for Israel and to take warning not to do them harm, and shows that honor and power belong to God and not to men or to their idols. It portrays the awful exhibitions of divine power and majesty displayed at Sinai, sets before Israel their helpless and distressed condition under the oppression of their enemies, and relates in glowing language the history of their deliverance. It is presented as an example of the Bible's poetic beauty, rhetorical force, and vivid imagery, and it vindicates the honor of Galilee for the intellectual vigor, mental freshness, and force of its people. The destruction of Sisera and his forces told in the song effectually subdued the Canaanites, and after this the land had peace forty years, but prosperity did not bring Israel nearer to God.
Jael served milk to her guest in a notable lordly dish that drew attention. That vessel illustrates that care should be given to the dishes used to serve food as well as to the food itself, though this does not mean the dishes must be expensive.
The verse shows how sin approaches a person as Jael approached Sisera. Sin offers something rich and costly in a noble dish and bids high for the soul, fascinating and lulling its victim into unwatchfulness, and then sudden destruction follows with the nail and the hammer behind the kindness. In the same way the generous gift of milk in a lordly dish before the killing is an image of riches that seem to honor and benefit the wicked but lead them toward death and judgment.