Bible Names N-Z: Sisera
Sisera in Easton's Bible Dictionary
(Egypt. Ses-Ra, "servant of Ra"). (1.) The captain of
Jabin's
army (Judg. 4:2), which was routed and destroyed by
the army of
Barak on the plain of Esdraelon. After all was lost
he fled to
the settlement of Heber the Kenite in the plain of
Zaanaim.
Jael, Heber's wife, received him into her tent with
apparent
hospitality, and "gave him butter" (i.e., lebben, or
curdled
milk) "in a lordly dish." Having drunk the
refreshing beverage,
he lay down, and soon sank into the sleep of the
weary. While he
lay asleep Jael crept stealthily up to him, and
taking in her
hand one of the tent pegs, with a mallet she drove
it with such
force through his temples that it entered into the
ground where
he lay, and "at her feet he bowed, he fell; where he
bowed,
there he fell down dead." The part of Deborah's song
(Judg.
5:24-27) referring to the death of Sisera (which is
a "mere
patriotic outburst," and "is no proof that purer
eyes would have
failed to see gross sin mingling with Jael's service
to Israel")
is thus rendered by Professor Roberts (Old Testament
Revision):
"Extolled above women be Jael,
The wife of Heber the Kenite,
Extolled above women in the tent.
He asked for water, she gave him milk;
She brought him cream in a lordly dish.
She stretched forth her hand to the nail,
Her right hand to the workman's hammer,
And she smote Sisera; she crushed his head,
She crashed through and transfixed his temples.
At her feet he curled himself, he fell, he lay
still;
At her feet he curled himself, he fell;
And where he curled himself, there he fell dead."
(2.) The ancestor of some of the Nethinim who
returned with
Zerubbabel (Ezra 2:53; Neh. 7:55).
https://www.bible-history.com/eastons/S/Sisera/
Sisera in Fausset's Bible Dictionary
1. Captain of the host of Jabin, the Canaanite king who
reigned in HAZOR. (See JABIN; JAEL; BARAK; DEBORAH; KISHON.)
Sisera resided in Harosheth of the Gentiles.
frontHAROSHETH.) His doom was a standing reference in after
times (1 Samuel 12:9; Psalm 83:9). The "curdled milk", still
offered by Bedouin as a delicacy to guests, is called leben.
It is not only refreshing to the weary, but also
strongly soporific, and Jael's aim would be to cast Sisera
into a sound sleep. In Judges 5:20, "the stars in their
courses fought against Sisera," the reference is not only to
the storm of hail beating in the enemy's face which Josephus
describes, but also to the falling meteoric stars of autumn
which descended as the defeated host fled by night. (Israel
Exploration Quarterly Statement, July 1878, p. 115-116.) The
divine approval of the faith of Jael in killing Sisera
involves no approval of her treachery. So in the case of
Gideon, Samson, Jephthah, God in approving their faithful
zeal in executing His will gives no sanction to the alloy of
evil which accompanied their faith (Hebrews 11:32). From
this great enemy sprang Israel's great friend, Rabbi Akiba,
whose father was a Syrian proselyte of righteousness; he was
standard bearer to Bar Cocheba in the Jewish war of
independence (Bartolocci 4:272).
2. One of the Nethinim who returned with Zerubbabel
(Ezra 2:53; Nehemiah 7:55). Canaanite captives were
dedicated to help the Levites in the heavier work of the
temple.
https://www.bible-history.com/faussets/S/Sisera/
Sisera in Hitchcock's Bible Names
that sees a horse or a swallow
https://www.bible-history.com/hitchcock/S/Sisera/
Sisera in Naves Topical Bible
-1. Captain of a Canaanite army, defeated by Barak; killed by
Jael
Jud 4; 5:20-31; 1Sa 12:9; Ps 83:9
-2. One of the Nethinim
Ezr 2:53; Ne 7:55
https://www.bible-history.com/naves/S/SISERA/
Sisera in Smiths Bible Dictionary
(battle array).
1. Captain of the army of Jabin king of Canaan, who
reigned in Hazor. He himself resided in Harosheth of the
Gentiles. The particulars of the rout of Megiddo and of
Sisera's flight and death are drawn out under the heads of
BARAK, DEBORAH, JAEL, KISHON. (B.C. 1296.)
2. After a long interval the name appears in the lists
of Nethinim who returned from the captivity with Zerubbabel.
Ezr 2:53; Ne 7:55 It doubtless tells of Canaanite captives
devoted to the lowest offices of the temple. (B.C. before
536.)
https://www.bible-history.com/smiths/S/Sisera/
Sisera in the Bible Encyclopedia - ISBE
sis'-er-a (cicera', of doubtful meaning; S(e)isara):
(1) Given in Judges 4 as the captain of the army of Jabin,
king of Hazor. The accounts given of the battle of Sisera
with Barak, as found in Judges 4 and 5, have important
points of difference. The first is a prose, the second a
poetic narrative. In the first only Naphtali and Zebulun are
mentioned as being under the command of Barak; in the second
6 tribes are given as being under his command. In Judges 4
Sisera is known as the captain of Jabin's forces, while in
Judges 5 he seems to have been an independent leader. There
is also a difference as to the scene of the battle and as to
the manner in which Sisera met his death at the hand of
Jael. Because of these points of difference, added to the
fact that this is the only account, in these early times,
where a king did not lead his own forces, it is thought by
many that there is here the combination of two traditions
dealing with different and distinct events.
Sisera resided in Harosheth of the Gentiles, a place
identified with el-Charithiyeh, on the right bank of the
Kishon and commanding the way from the Central Plain to the
sea. Taking the versions in the two chapters of Judges as
being the account of a single campaign, we find Deborah
urging Barak to combine the forces of Israel to wage war
with Sisera as the representative of Jabin, the king of
Hazor. The scene of the battle was on the plain at the foot
of the slopes of Mt. Tabor (Jdg 4:12-14), or at the foot of
the Carmel heights (Jdg 5:19). The attack of Barak and
Deborah was so furious, animated as it was by the hatred of
Sisera and the Canaanites, that the hosts of Sisera were put
to rout, and Sisera,
deserting his troops, fled on foot to the Northeast. He took
refuge in the tent of Heber, near Kedesh, and here met death
at the hands of Jael, the wife of Heber (see JAEL). Sisera's
name had long produced fear in Israel because of his
oppression of the people, his vast army and his 900 chariots
of iron. His overthrow was the cause of much rejoicing and
was celebrated by the song in which Deborah led the people.
See DEBORAH.
It is interesting to note that the great rabbi Aqiba, who
fought so valiantly in the Jewish war for independence as
standard bearer to Bar-cocheba, was descended from the
ancient warlike Sisera of Harosheth.
(2) In Ezr 2:53 and Neh 7:55 the name Sisera, after a long
interval, reappears in a family of the Nethinim. There is no
evidence that the latter Sisera is connected by family
descent with the former.
C. E. Schenk
https://www.bible-history.com/isbe/S/SISERA/
Sisera in Wikipedia
Sisera (Heb. סיסרא) is mentioned in the Judges 4:2 in the
Hebrew Bible. In the times of the Israelite Judges, Sisera
was the captain of the army of Jabin, king of Canaan.
According to Judges 4:3 , Sisera had nine hundred iron
chariots and oppressed the Israelites for twenty years. The
leadership of the Israelite tribes at the time fell to the
prophetess Deborah. She persuaded Barak to face Sisera in
battle. This he did and Sisera was routed and destroyed by
an Israelite force of ten thousand under Barak on the plain
of Esdraelon. (Judges 4:10-13 )
His name is usually regarded as Philistine, Hittite or
Hurrian. Some speculated that its origins were Egyptian
(Ses-Ra, "servant of Ra").The Israeli scholar Zertal
identifies Sisera with the town of Sassari, arguing that he
came from the people of Shardana , or Sardinia.
After all was lost, he fled to the settlement of Heber the
Kenite in the plain of Zaanaim. Jael, Heber's wife, received
him into her tent with apparent hospitality and "gave him
milk" "in a lordly dish." Having drunk the refreshing
beverage, he lay down and soon sank into the sleep of the
weary. While he lay asleep, Jael crept stealthily up to him
and, taking in her hand one of the tent pegs, with a mallet
she drove it with such force through his temples that it
entered into the ground where he lay, and "at her feet he
bowed, he fell; where he bowed, there he fell down dead." (
Judges 4:18-21 and Judges 5:25-27 )...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisera
Sisera Scripture - Ezra 2:53
The children of Barkos, the children of Sisera, the children
of Thamah,
https://www.bible-history.com/studybible/Ezra/2/
Sisera Scripture - Judges 5:26
She put her hand to the nail, and her right hand to the
workmen's hammer; and with the hammer she smote Sisera, she
smote off his head, when she had pierced and stricken through
his temples.
https://www.bible-history.com/studybible/Judges/5/
Sisera Scripture - Judges 5:30
Have they not sped? have they [not] divided the prey; to every
man a damsel [or] two; to Sisera a prey of divers colours, a
prey of divers colours of needlework, of divers colours of
needlework on both sides, [meet] for the necks of [them that
take] the spoil?
https://www.bible-history.com/studybible/Judges/5/
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