JAEL KILLING GENERAL SISERA
This event reportedly took place 1300 years before the birth of Christ.
The people of Israel at that time had been cruelly subjugated by King Jabin of Hazor for 20 years.
His General Sisera ruled over the Israelites from his cavalry fortress Harosheth Haggoyim, where he possessed thousands of horses as well as 900 iron chariots.
General Sisera had conquered every country he fought against.
His voice was so loud and commanding that walls would shake and wild animals would drop dead whenever he spoke.
It is said that when he bathes in the Kishin river, he would catch so many fish with his beard that he could feed his entire army.
These are of course typical Biblical exagerations.
Every Israelite was afraid of him except for Barak and Deborah.
Deborah was the prophetess of the God of the Israelites, the fourth Judge of premonarchic Israel and wife of Lapidoth.
Deborah persuaded Barak, a military general, to raise an army of 10,000 men and rise against the cruel and prolonged subjugation by General Sisera and his King Jabin of Hazor, also known as the King of Canaan.
Deborah prophesied that the Israelites would be victorious in battle and that General Sisera would be killed by a woman.
A grand battle took place at Mount Tabor, pitting 10,000 Isrealites under the leadership of General Barak and Prophetess Deborah against the cavalry and iron chariots of General Sisera.
There was thunderstorm and heavy rain during the battle, causing the river to rise and flood the battlefield, rendering General Sisera's 900 iron chariots unmaneuverable.
The 10,000 fighters of Israel prevailed in battle, routed and dispersed their ennemies while the river water flooded and drowned them.
General Sisera fled alone from the battle scene.
Exhausted and hungry, the defeated General Sisera escaped all the way to the Heber settlement on the plain of Zaaneim where he entered the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite.
Jael received General Sisera with hospitality, gave him milk to drink, promised to hide him and even covered him with a rug.
When the exhausted Gegeral Sisera fell asleep, Jael furtively and silently approached him holding a long tent peg in one hand and a mallet in the other.
She hammered the tent peg through the temples of General Sisera, so deeply that it fixed his head to the ground below.
Author Asarelah
The following is a translated passage composed by Deborah the Prophetess, known as Deborah's song:
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 lordy 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, let it be, there he fell dead.
Artist Palma il Giovane
In Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum or the Book of Biblical Antiquities, also wtitten long before the birth of Christ, the following translated passage describes the brave action of Jael:
Now Jael took a stake in her left hand and approached him, saying,
"If God will work this sign with me, I know that Sisera will fall into my hands."
Behold I will throw him down on the ground from the bed on which he sleeps; and if he does not feel it, I know that he has been handed over."
And Jael took Sisera and pushed him onto the ground from the bed.
But he did not feel it, because he was very groggy.
And Jael said, "Strenghen in me today, Lord, my arm on account of you and your people and those who hope in you."
And Jael took the stake and put it on his temple and struck it with a hammer.
And while he was dying, Sisera said to Jael,
"Behold pain has taken hold of me, Jael, and I die like a woman."
Artist james Tissot
And Jael said to him, "Go, boast before your father in hell and tell him that you have fallen into the hands of a woman."
Midrash, which is the homiletic method of biblical exegenesis, represents the jewish way of interpreting biblical stories.
In the biblical story of Jael, the Midrash explained further that before his death, the defeated General Sisera engaged in sexual intercourse with Jael seven times.
Because she was trying to render him totally exhausted before killing him, her sinful action was actually praiseworthy.
When General Barak arrived at the tent, Jael showed him the corpse of General Sisera with great pride.
Artist James Tissot
King Jabin of Hazor was subsequently also killed and the Israelites successfully liberated themselves from 20 years of subjugation and were able to live in peace for the following 40 years thanks to two courageous women Deborah and Jael.
Author Radbod Commandeur
Photo by Deror Avi
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