Why Are We Told the Story of Jael?

by Perry Hall

There is only one woman in the Bible who directly killed a man. Her name was Jael. She hammered a tent peg into the skull of Sisera (Judges 4). Why are we told this story? Considering she is the only woman in the Bible to have killed a man, such an anecdote does argue for it being meaningful.

While Jael is the only woman in the Bible who directly killed a man, there are several women who indirectly are responsible for the deaths of men.

• The Wise Woman of Abel-Beth-Maacah (II Samuel 20:22) convinced her city to cut off the head of Sheba, who was in rebellion against King David. This was to save the city.
• Jezebel arranged for Naboth to be murdered (I Kings 21). He was stoned to death. This was to steal Naboth's vineyard.
• Athaliah, the daughter of Jezebel and Ahab, ordered all the royal seed - her own grandsons - to be murdered (II Kings 11). This was to steal the throne for herself.
• Herodias convinced her daughter to request that Herod have John the Baptist beheaded (Matthew 14:8-10). This was because he had preached against the marriage of Herod and Herodias.
• There is one other woman who almost killed a man, and that is the unnamed woman of Thebez. Abimelech had besieged the city, and the citizens ran to the tower. A woman dropped a millstone on his head and almost killed Abimelech. This was in self-defense. To keep it from being said that a woman killed him, he ordered his armorbearer to finish him off (Judges 9:50-54). To be killed by a woman was culturally dishonorable.

Speaking of honor, this brings us back to Jael. Why are we told of the only time in the Bible a woman directly killed a man? It is because a man was being dishonored.

Many misinterpret the narrative of Deborah. While the text states that she was "judging" Israel at that time (Judges 4:4), Deborah was not the Judge, as the other Judges in the book of Judges were. That was Barak. How do we know this?

• From Othniel to Samson, these Judges were called to free the people from their oppressors. All were military leaders who raised armies, except for Samson. He freed Israel through his divinely given strength. Deborah's judging was not as a military leader to free God's people.
• Deborah's "judging" was of a different ilk. She was giving divinely given advice to the Israelites as a prophetess. None of the other Judges are called Prophets. Deborah was already judging between people before Barak was called to be the Judge to free the people.
• Deborah tells Barak that God had called him to be the Judge. “Has not Yahweh, the God of Israel, commanded, ‘Go and march to Mount Tabor, and take with you 10,000 men from the sons of Naphtali and from the sons of Zebulun?" (Judges 4:6). This could be interpreted as a divine rebuke. God did not call Deborah to march into battle. Barak was! That Barak was the Judge is confirmed in Hebrews 11, where he is listed among the other Judges (and Deborah is not).

While eventually Barak does act in faith (Hebrews 11), Barak had a problem before that. He wouldn't go into battle unless Deborah went with him (Judges 4:8). Why? To help us answer this question, let's ask other questions:

• Is there any Biblical account of a woman leading an army into battle? No. That was the burden of men. In fact, women were excluded from being soldiers.
• Is there any other Biblical account of a woman being required by a man to accompany him into battle, or else he wouldn't go? No. This is the only time. This would be comparable to a man not confronting the burglar unless his wife accompanied him!

Barak's refusal to lead leads to Deborah condemning him by removing the honor originally given to him by God: "So she said, 'I will surely go with you; nevertheless, the honor shall not be yours on the journey that you are about to take, for Yahweh will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman'” (Judges 4:9). The unamed woman would be Jael. The honor taken away from Barak was given to her.

So why is Jael the only woman in the Bible who directly killed a man? It is for the same reason why Deborah is the only woman to go into battle. That reason is a lack of leadership that was supposed to be evident in Barak. And that is just part of the narrative of Judges, where men are becoming weaker and weaker instead of leading in strength and protecting women. Judges begins with a man going into battle to win a wife, and ends with women being stolen to become wives. In between is a man who refuses to go into battle unless a woman accompanies him, and so God uses Jael to receive the honor that Barak had lost.