I was wondering about Jael. Was what she did right? It’s shocking to our modern sensibilities (or at least to mine) to read the story as presented in Judges 4. And yet Deborah and Barak (who seem to be relatively moral people?) praise her for everything she did in Judges 5.24-27. Just curious how you interpret the story.<\/p>\n
When I hear people talk about the strong, godly women of the Bible, Jael’s name doesn’t come up. But when it comes to showing strength, at least, few could match Jael’s achievement. If (and only if) what she did was morally right, too, then she could be a very interesting example of a woman who pleased God that most people overlook.<\/p>\n\t
Deborah and Barak’s song, recorded in Judges 5 is more than just their thoughts. It is a message inspired by God. So Jael is praised for what she did. “Most blessed among women is Jael, The wife of Heber the Kenite; Blessed is she among women in tents<\/em>” (Judges 5:24).<\/p>\n Sisera was an enemy soldier on the run. “So the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who dwelt in Harosheth Hagoyim. And the children of Israel cried out to the LORD; for Jabin had nine hundred chariots of iron, and for twenty years he harshly oppressed the children of Israel<\/em>” (Judges 4:2-3). The destruction of Sisera and his army was punishment by God for their mistreatment of Israel. Sisera’s death was prophesied, “for the LORD will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman<\/em>” (Judges 4:9). While this was a slight to Barak because he would not lead Israel’s army without Deborah, at the same time this was a total embarrassment to a warlord to die, not in battle, but at the hands of someone considered weaker. But it must be noted that Sisera is specifically under a death sentence by God.<\/p>\n “And the LORD routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army with the edge of the sword before Barak; and Sisera alighted from his chariot and fled away on foot<\/em>” (Judges 4:15). The route was so complete that Sisera abandoned his post, his superior weapons, and ran away. He took refuge with the Kenites. “However, Sisera had fled away on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite<\/em>” (Judges 4:17). This does not necessarily mean there was a peace treaty, only that there were no prior hostilities between the two parties.<\/p>\n Jael did offer him a place to rest and something to drink. Perhaps her initial plans were to offer aid to any Israelite coming from the battle. One thing that should be noted is that Jael is a Hebrew name meaning “mountain goat.” It is strongly possible that Jael is an Israelite woman married to a Kenite man. Seeing Sisera, she perhaps thought to delay him until Israel’s army caught up with him. Instead, when the hateful man was asleep, she took the opportunity to strike back at Israel’s enemy.<\/p>\n We can’t say that what Jael did was wrong. While she did offer him comfort, she made no promises about his continued safety. When Sisera commanded her to lie about his presence, she made no reply.<\/p>\n She didn’t take personal revenge as far as we know. Sisera was under a death sentence by God and I would not be surprised if Jael had heard about Deborah’s prophecy. The fact that she received inspired praise is further evidence that she acted as God’s executioner in this particular case.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: I was wondering about Jael. Was what she did right? It’s shocking to our modern sensibilities (or at least to mine) to read the story as presented in Judges 4. And yet Deborah and Barak (who seem to be relatively moral people?) praise her for everything she did in Judges 5.24-27. Just curious how…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[1391,38],"class_list":["post-30975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-judges","tag-morality"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":90692,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-are-we-told-the-story-of-jael\/","url_meta":{"origin":30975,"position":0},"title":"Why Are We Told the Story of Jael?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 23, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18549,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-jael-give-sisera-milk-and-not-water-as-he-requested\/","url_meta":{"origin":30975,"position":1},"title":"Why did Jael give Sisera milk and not water as he requested?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 29, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why did Jael give Sisera milk and not water as he requested? Answer: \"However, Sisera had fled away on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. And Jael\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":63193,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-do-we-do-with-deborah-as-a-judge\/","url_meta":{"origin":30975,"position":2},"title":"What Do We Do with Deborah as a Judge?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 10, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Perry Hall Deborah is a conundrum. And we shouldn't be surprised because she is a woman! Joking aside, there is still the fact that Deborah is an aberration when it comes to judges because she is a woman. So much so is this true, that proponents on both sides\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27021,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-god-have-some-people-killed-if-murder-is-wrong\/","url_meta":{"origin":30975,"position":3},"title":"Why did God have some people killed if murder is wrong?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 3, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: in Judges, some people were risen up by God to bring Israel out of the hands of other nations.\u00a0 But why do so many of them murder other people? Ehud stabs a king and Jael drives a post through Sisera's head.\u00a0 I thought God wasn't allowed to lead people\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":35445,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-deborah-lead-worship-and-preached\/","url_meta":{"origin":30975,"position":4},"title":"Did Deborah lead worship and preached?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 30, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have read that Deborah did not offer sacrifices as the men did but did lead worship and preach. Can you provide scriptures to clarify this? Answer: I can't provide Scriptures because the claims are not based on Scripture. Deborah was a prophetess and served as a judge in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":63086,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/neglect\/","url_meta":{"origin":30975,"position":5},"title":"Neglect","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 4, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Judges 4:4-16 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The story of Deborah and Barak is one that many remember \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In part it is because it involved a woman who was both a prophetess and a judge \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0She didn\u2019t fight the battle, that was left to Barak, but she did travel\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30975"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30975\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}