jael Summary and Overview

mountain-goat, the wife of Heber the Kenite (Judg. 4:17-22). When the Canaanites were defeated by Barak, Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army, fled and sought refuge with the friendly tribe of Heber, beneath the oaks of Zaanaim. As he drew near, Jael invited him to enter her tent. He did so, and as he lay wearied on the floor he fell into a deep sleep. She then took in her left hand one of the great wooden pins ("nail") which fastened down the cords of the tent, and in her right hand the mallet, or "hammer," used for driving it into the ground, and stealthily approaching her sleeping guest, with one well-directed blow drove the nail through his temples into the earth (Judg. 5:27). She then led Barak, who was in pursuit, into her tent, and boastfully showed him what she had done. (See SISERA T0003452; DEBORAH T0000996.)

(mountain goat), the wife of Heber the Kenite. (B.C. 1316.) In the headlong rout which followed the defeat of the Canaanites by Barak, at Megiddo on the plain of Esdraelon, Sisera, their general, fled to the tent of the Kenite chieftainess, at Kedesh in Naphtali, four miles northwest of Lake Merom. He accepted Jael's invitation to enter, and she flung a mantle over him as he lay wearily on the floor. When thirst prevented sleep, and he asked for water, she brought him buttermilk in her choicest vessel. At last, with a feeling of perfect security, he feel into a deep sleep. Then it was that Jael took one of the great wooden pins which fastened down the cords of the tent, and with one terrible blow with a mallet dashed it through Sisera's temples deep into the earth. #Jud 5:27| She then waited to meet the pursuing Barak, and led him into her tent that she might in his presence claim the glory of the deed! Many have supposed that by this act she fulfilled the saying of Deborah, #Jud 4:9| and hence they have supposed that Jael was actuated by some divine and hidden influence. But the Bible gives no hint of such an inspiration.

JA'EL (mountain-goat), the wife of Heber the Kenite. Jud 4:17. After the defeat of Jabin's army by Deborah and Barak, Sisera, the general, fled toward her tent, because Heber and Jabin were at peace. It was not unusual for the women to have a tent separate from the men, as in Sarah's case, Gen 24:67, and Leah's. Gen 31:33. This was a place of security, for then as now among the Arabs a stranger would not venture into the women's tent unasked. Jael invited him in, and concealed him. Fatigued and thirsty, he asked for water, and she gave him buttermilk, which greatly refreshed him. After instructing Jael to stand at the door of the tent, and to deny that he was within if any one should inquire for him, he fell into a sound sleep. She then took a tent-pin, and with a hammer drove it through his temples into the ground. Jud 4:21. Her act was treacherous, cowardly, and inhuman. It causes only a momentary perplexity, as we have no warrant for supposing her divinely commissioned. Hence, although Deborah appears to praise her in her song, Jud 5:24-27, she does not express any approval of the act upon moral grounds. Jael was a murderess from the Christian standpoint, and at best we can only justify her act by emphasizing the barbarity of her time and the usage of warfare, which is organized cruelty.

(See DEBORAH on the "blessing" pronounced on her notwithstanding the treachery of which she was guilty in slaying Sisera who sought refuge with her. Besides the commendation of her real faith, though not of the treachery with which her act was alloyed, we should remember that the agents who execute God's righteous purposes are regarded in Scripture as God's "sanctified ones," not in respect to their own character and purposes, but in respect to God's work; so the Medes who executed His vengeance on Babylon (Isaiah 13:3; Psalm 137:9). Moreover Deborah anticipates a fact, namely, that Jael would be regarded as a heroine and praised asa public benefactress above her fellow women). Wife of see HEBER the Kenite, head of a nomad elan who, migrating from S. Canaan where his brethren had settled at the conquest of Canaan by Joshua, had encamped under the oaks named the "oaks of the wanderers" (KJV "plain of Zaanaim,"Judges 4:11), near Kedesh Naphtali in the N. (See ISSACHAR ). He kept a neutral position, being at peace with both Jabin and Israel (ver. 17) Her tent, not Heber's, is specified as that to which Sisera fled, because the women's tent seemed a more secure asylum and Jael herself "went out to meet" and invite him. She covered him with the mantle (ver. 18, Hebrew), and allayed his thirst with curdled milk or buttermilk (Judges 5:25), a favorite Arab drink. Often Palmer found in asking for water none had been in an encampment for days; milk takes its place. The "nail" with which she slew him was one of the great wooden pins which fastened down the tent cords, and the "hammer" was the mallet used to drive the nails into the ground. In Judges 5:6 "Jael" is thought (Bertheau) to be a female judge before Deborah; but as no other record exists of such an one the meaning probably is, "although Jael, who afterward proved to be such a champion, was then alive, the highways were unoccupied," so helpless was Israel, "until I Deborah arose."