Woman Up Sample

Let us return to the story of Deborah as found in the book of Judges. She was a judge in Israel, one whom men and women sought for counsel. We also read that Deborah was a prophetess, one who could speak forth what the Spirit of God put in her heart. It was in both of these roles that Deborah called Barak and told him that the Lord wanted him to raise an army to go into battle against Israel’s enemy. Barak was willing to obey as long as Deborah would go with him. Judges 4:9 (author’s paraphrase) gives her reply:

“I will go with you, but this venture will bring you no glory, because the Lord will leave Sisera to fall into the hands of a woman.”

You might be thinking, and Barak probably did, that Deborah meant herself. But Deborah didn’t mean she was the women who would do this. Then just who was the woman who would deal with Sisera? It was Jael, whose name means “mountain goat.” Jael was the wife of Heber, a Kenite and a metalworker.

We read about Heber in Judges 4:11: “Now Heber the Kenite had separated from the Kenites, the descendants of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, and had pitched his tent as far away as the oak in Zaanannim, which is near Kedesh.”

Heber was a descendent of Moses’ father-in-law, and thus a friend of the Israelites. He was also on friendly terms with Jabin and pitched his tent about halfway between Israel and Jabin’s kingdom in Canaan. He had “separated” from his ancestral tribe, the Kenites. Many translations make this seem like a natural thing for Heber to do. Maybe he moved away from his relatives to have more space. However, the Hebrew word used here for separate – padar – means to be scattered or alienated, perhaps by force. In other words, Heber had a past, something that caused him to fall out of grace with his family. He could have moved to avoid accusations or interrogations of what he had done. And if Heber was tainted by what he had done, this strain was attached to his wife. Yet, Jael overcame this past to be used by God at just the right time.

Barak’s army routed the Canaanite army, making Sisera run for his life. Sisera came to the village of Heber and Jael with Barak hot on his trail. Judges 4:18-19 describes how Jael spotted Sisera and waved him toward her tent.

When Sisera asked for water, Jael instead gave him some milk – a treat for sure, but with a characteristic Jael was well aware of: milk can make someone very sleepy. On top of Sisera’s exhaustion from battle and from running as fast as he could to escape Barak, the milk no doubt cast him into an even deeper sleep. Jael, just like her namesake – the mountain goat – was very nimble on her feet and a fast thinker.

When Sisera fell asleep, Jael found the tools she was skilled in using – a hammer and tent pegs. These were tools Jael had handled often when putting up tents. In that nomadic culture, the men would take care of gathering and herding livestock to the next location while the women would oversee the packing of household goods and taking down the tents. When they arrived at the next spot, the women – in this case, Jael – would erect the tents, stretch the cords and drive in the pegs with hammers to keep the tent secure in the face of the desert winds. This was considered “women’s work” at that time. I doubt Jael ever thought that her skill at driving tent pegs would allow her to gain a great victory for Israel. Yet here she was, faced with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to kill a great enemy of God’s people.

Jael was accomplished with a hammer and tent pegs. She picked these up, crept up to the sleeping Sisera, and nailed his head to the floor – literally.

God never wastes an experience that leads to learning a skill. You may think that the experiences you have had are too commonplace and simplistic to offer for God’s use. We tend to think only those with a public platform, like preachers, teachers, or writers, can be used for God’s purposes. But He can and will use all that we do if we will make ourselves available to Him and rise to the occasion He places before us.