Judges 4:19-24

Judges 4:19

And he said unto her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink; for I am thirsty. And she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink, and covered him.

 

Not only was he very tired from his escape but he was also hungry and thirsty so he asked her for a drink of water but she instead gave him a glass of milk which she hoped would probably put him into a deeper sleep.  Then after she gave him to drink, she then covered him with the mantle so he went to sleep.  Some think that she gave him an alcoholic beverage but the Kenites did not drink any type of strong drink.  Milk contains tryptophan which is a natural relaxant and will help a person sleep better.

 

Judges 4:20

Again he said unto her, Stand in the door of the tent, and it shall be, when any man doth come and inquire of thee, and say, Is there any man here? that thou shalt say, No.

 

Sisera then gives her orders to stand as a sentinel at the door of her tent.  He tells her that in case any man inquires whether there is a man here, then she is to deny it.  Sisera thought that he would be pursued by Barak and the army once they realize that Sisera’s body was not among the dead.  He wanted Jael to be his buffer and back then no man would enter the tent of a woman who was a wife of another man out of courtesy.  This is what Sisera counted on.

 

Judges 4:21

Then Jael Heber's wife took a nail of the tent, and took an hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died.

 

Then Jael took a nail which would have been a tent peg that was used for securing a tent to the ground.  So it was not just a small nail as we see today but literally a tent peg which was pretty big.  He must have been fast asleep on his side because she took the nail and hammered the nail into his temple which would have went right through the other temple and into the ground thus securing his head to the ground.  He was so sleepy and weary that he did not feel the initial penetration of the nail into his head and this caused him to die on the spot.  The hammer was the type of hammer which was used in a quarry so it would not have been a small hammer like a ball-peen hammer which could anywhere from 8-24 Oz (227-680 grams) but would have been a pretty heavy instrument which means Jael was a pretty strong woman.

 

Judges 4:22

And, behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said unto him, Come, and I will shew thee the man whom thou seekest. And when he came into her tent, behold, Sisera lay dead, and the nail was in his temples.

 

Sisera was correct in that he knew that Barak would eventually track him down and when he finally did, the Lord had gone before him on the manner of Jael’s nail.  Jael had met Barak and she knew instantly that it was Sisera that he was chasing.  She invited Barak into her tent and told him that the man he was chasing was in her tent dead.  He came in and saw that the nail was still in both of his temples.  Now a question arises as to why did she kill him if the Kenites were at peace with King Jabin?  What had driven her to kill Sisera since they were not enemies?  The answer is that the Lord went ahead of Barak and placed into Jael the desire or compulsion to finish the battle of the two armies completely by killing Sisera, so the Lord would get the glory for the victory of freeing the people of Israel from a cruel king.

 

Judges 4:23

So God subdued on that day Jabin the king of Canaan before the children of Israel.

 

On that same day, King Jabin also became humbled or subdued as the army of Barak had now attacked him.  Since his army was completely destroyed, he had no one to protect him except maybe a few guards but it was not enough.  Once the commander of the army was dead, to completely fulfill the promise of God, King Jabin had to be dealt with because he was a very cruel king and now he faced the physical judgment of God.

 

Judges 4:24

And the hand of the children of Israel prospered, and prevailed against Jabin the king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.

 

The word “prospered” carries with it the meaning of “proceeding” which means that the children of Israel continued their onslaught against King Jabin and nothing could stop their advance.  The word “prevailed” carries with the meaning of “harsh or severe.”  So just as King Jabin treated the Israelites, he was now facing the severity of the Israelites.  They continued their unyielding pursuit until finally King Jabin was also killed and deliverance of the Israelites was total without any worry of retribution because the enemy all lay dead.

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