The text relating to Deborah and Jael contains four main sections:
1 Deborah, a judge of Israel, summoned Barak (Judges 4:1-11, 5:1-18).
When war and oppression come, Deborah acted as a leader of the people. She chose the most able military general and told him what he must do.
2 The battle was fought: Sisera fled  (Judges 4:12-16, 5: 19-23).
The superior enemy forces were routed, their troops were slaughtered, and the Israelites were jubilant. Their faith in their God was strengthened. Sisera, the enemy general, fled from the battlefield towards the encampment of Jael the Kenite woman.
3 Jael met Sisera, and killed him (Judges 4:17-24, 5:24-27).
Jael called Sisera into her tent, hid him and fed him. After he fell asleep Jael killed him by driving a tent peg through the side of his head. She was hailed as a national heroine by the pursuing Israelite forces, led by Deborah and Barak.
4 The mother of Sisera (Judge 5:28-30).
Sisera’s mother and the noblewomen who surrounded her waited for her son to return. But as the reader knows, he was already dead by Jael’s hand.

The Song of Deborah (Judges 5) is dated at about 1125BC. It was written about the time these events happened. It is a vivid picture, giving more details than Judges 4. For example, it contains a series of curses on those tribes who did not help in the battle, planting the seed for a later separation of the northern and southern tribes of Israel.
The narrative version (Judges 4) was written at a later date.  

'Deborah Under The Palm Tree', Adriene Cruz

DEBORAH, A JUDGE OF ISRAEL, SUMMONS BARAK
(Judges 4:1-11, 5:1-8)

The story of Deborah occured in approximately 1125BC, when Deborah was a judge of Israel. The word ‘judge’ did not mean then what it means now. A judge in Israel was a tribal leader who

• in times of peace had authority to settle disputes and problems

• in times of war acted as a rallying point to gather the tribes and organize resistance.

Deborah is the only woman judge mentioned in the Book of Judges. The people of her time had no difficulty in accepting her as a judge. This suggests that judges were seen as ‘God’s people’, and their gender was not important.

‘At that time Deborah, a prophetess, wife of Lappidoth, was judging Israel. She used to sit under the palm of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim; and the Israelites came up to her for judgment.'
(Read Judges 4:1-5 and 5:1-11)

Deborah is introduced as a ‘prophetess’, but a prophet was not someone who foretold the future. They ‘heard’ a message from God in some way and passed it on. Often the message was about staying apart from the surrounding cultures and maintaining the unique identity and beliefs of Israel. The judges of Israel did not impose their authority on the Israelite people - they did not need to. They were representatives of God, transmitting direct messages from God.

Deborah also acted as an  oracle when, sitting under a special palm tree in the hill country of Ephraim, she gave judgment on particular matters. This palm tree was the ancient equivalent of a judge's courthouse, a place where people went when they needed a dispute settled. But it was more than that, too.  Certain places were seen as sacred, as having some special aura that linked them to God. Mount Carmel in northern Israel, for example, gets its name from the word kerymail or vineyard of El, the high god. This place must once have been dedicated to the god El, and used by his priests and priestesses for worship.

An image of the oracle at the Greek shrine of Delphi

 Oracles were common in the ancient world. People believed they had special wisdom given by God. Oracles could give advice on difficult problems. An oracle listened, considered the problem or question, then spoke words of advice. These words might be in the form of a riddle, which the listener had to interpret, or they might be more direct.

Deborah was inspired to speak out about the deteriorating state of the country around Ephraim. Law and order had broken down, and it was no longer safe to travel on the highways.

It has to be said that the Israelite settlers in the hill-country of Canaan were largely to blame for these problems. They continually raided the Canaanite farms and villages on the prosperous plains below their hill settlements, and of course the powerful city-states retaliated and ‘oppressed’ the Israelites.

The Canaanites were led by King Jabin of Hazor. He ruled a large, fortified city-state in upper Canaan, and may have been the leader of a confederation of Canaanite city-states. His aim was to restore Canaan’s power by exterminating the Israelite invaders (Judges 4:6-11 and 5:12-18).

                             Mount Tabor from Nazareth ridge; it is
also the site of the Transfiguration of Jesus

Now threatened with the might of King Jabin's army, the Israelites turned to Deborah. She summoned Barak, an able military leader and spoke very direct words to him. He must go to Mount Tabor with as many fighting men as he could assemble, and so draw King Jabin out. She in turn would draw out Jabin's fearsome general, Sisera, and taunt him into fighting at the Wadi Kishon.

At first, Barak was reluctant to enter into battle against Sisera, the military commander of the substantial troops of King Jabin of Hazor. His hesitation is hardly surprising, since the Canaanites possessed vastly superior military technology. Sisera had a disciplined, professional army, and his troops were armed to the teeth with iron weapons and chariots in large numbers.

Barak knew that his own forces were fewer in number, comparatively untrained, and with inferior weapons. Against such odds, it was unlikely that he could succeed. To an onlooker his reluctance must have seemed common sense rather than fear. He did not wish to enter into a battle he could not win.

There are, however, rare figures in human history who inspire such loyalty in the people around them that they can achieve what seems impossible. Sometimes they are military leaders, sometimes leaders in government, sometimes cult figures. Deborah seems to have been such a person. She had the charisma needed to convince people they could take extraordinary risks and succeed. The force of her personality and her complete faith in God gave Barak the courage to face odds that he knew to be overwhelming.

THE BATTLE IS FOUGHT, AND SISERA FLEES
(Judges 4:12-16 and 5:19-23)

Deborah’s army, led by Barak, assembled at Mount Tabor, a brave but motley force.
There was no standing army in pre-monarchic Israel, and defense depended on the response of the tribes, rallied by a leader such as Deborah.

Sisera, on the other hand,  assembled a terrifying force. He had 900 iron-trimmed chariots at his disposal, and they could do fearsome damage. Their weight and velocity as they charged into an opposing army could plough a dreadful furrow through the ranks of soldiers.

 The Canaanites had the technology to build this sort of military equipment; the Israelites did not. All they had were poorly equipped foot soldiers now pitted against the magnificent chariots of the Canaanites, and their complete faith in God.

‘Then Deborah said to Barak “Up! For this is the day on which the Lord has given Sisera into your hand. The Lord is indeed going out before you.” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand warriors following him. And the Lord threw Sisera and all his chariots and all his army into a panic before Barak.’
Read Judges 4:12-16 and 5:19-23.

The Canaanites ought to have won the battle easily. They did not. There was a tremendous downpour and the 900 chariots, meant for quick maneuvering on firm ground, became bogged in the mud. The flash flood swelled the nearby wadi Kishon and turned the battleground into deep mud, giving the Israelite foot soldiers the advantage over the Canaanite chariots.

There was a wonderful irony in this. Baal, the main god of the Canaanite forces, was god of storms and weather. He was worshipped by the Canaanites, with Anat, a fierce goddess who fought vigorously to protect her family. Yet the Canaanites lost the battle because of a storm! The Israelites could hardly believe their luck. Yahweh, their god, was clearly superior to the god of the Canaanites.

Abandoning his army, Sisera fled on foot away from the battlefield, towards the encampment of Jael, the Kenite woman (Judges 4:12-16).

                                                                          'Jael and Sisera', Artemisia Gentileschi

  JAEL MEETS SISERA AND KILLS HIM
(Judges 4:17-24 and 5:24-27)

‘Most blessed of women be Jael,
The wife of Heber the Kenite,
Of tent-dwelling women most blessed.’

Jael was a tent-dweller. Her family were tinsmiths who made farming utensils, domestic items, and weapons. They traveled whenever they could find work. Her campsite must have been close to the battlefield because her family was making and supplying weapons for the army.

Through her husband Heber, Jael had kinship ties with the Israelites. Heber was descended from Jethro, who had been the father of Moses’ wife. She was therefore bound to the Israelites by kinship obligations.
Nevertheless Heber, a sensible business-man if ever there was one,  was on good terms with the Canaanites, so Sisera saw the encampment of Jael and Heber as a refuge.

Jael had her own tent, separate from her husband’s tent. At this period in Israelite history it was still  common for several women to be married to one man. In such a case, each wife had her tent which she made, pitched and maintained herself. When she had children, they lived with her in this tent.
‘So he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug. Then he said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink; for I am thirsty”. She opened a skin of milk and gave him a drink and covered him. He said to her “Stand at the entrance of the tent, and if anybody comes and asks you “Is anyone here?” say “No”.
Read Judges 4:17-20 and 5:24-25.

When Sisera arrived at the encampment in the last stages of exhaustion and terror, Jael saw him and called him to her tent.

It is important that Sisera went into Jael’s tent, not the tent of Heber her husband. The ancient laws of hospitality in the Middle East were very strict. A guest, once ritually invited into the home, had to be protected and cared for, even at the expense of everyone else in the house. But only the chief man of the household could offer ritual hospitality. Jael offered  help to a fleeing enemy general, but not  ritual hospitality.

Sisera went into Jael’s tent. She covered him with a rug, which suggests that he was afraid and wanted to hide. He asked for water. She gave him a drink of goat’s milk. Exhausted from the battle and his flight, he fell asleep.

Then occurred one of the most graphically described killings of the Hebrew Scriptures:
   She put her hand to the tent peg
   And her right hand to the worker’s mallet;
   She struck Sisera a blow,
   She crushed his head,
   She shattered and pierced his temple.
   He sank, he fell,
   He lay still at her feet.’

Read Judges 4:21-24 and 5:26-27.

 Faced with a man who was far superior to her in physical strength, Jael used her wits and courage. She took the wooden hammer used to put up her tent and one of the pegs that held the tent ropes, then with one expert blow she drove the peg deep into the side of Sisera’s head.

                                                     Wooden mallet and tent peg

The story does not tell us Jael’s motive for killing Sisera. Whatever her reasons, the Israelites celebrated her as a national heroine, who together with Deborah had saved them from their mortal enemies. They also relished the irony of the situation: Sisera the mighty general fell  not into Barak's hands, but Jael's.

There are extraordinary similarities between the stories of Jael and the young boy David, when he killed the giant Goliath. Both of them

• were physically weak and smaller than their opponent
• employed unusual weapons
• used their wits rather than orthodox military methods
• exacted bloody slaughter on their enemies, David hacking off the head of Goliath and Jael piercing Sisera’s skull.

THE MOTHER OF SISERA
(Judges 5:28-30)

In the last part of the Song of Deborah is a sketch of a third woman, not Israelite like Deborah and Jael but a Canaanite enemy.
‘Out of the window she peered
the mother of Sisera gazed through the lattice:
“Why is his chariot so long in coming?
Why tarry the hoof-beats of his chariots?”’
Read Judges 5:28-30.

Sisera’a mother stood at a window, watching the road and waiting anxiously for her son to return with the spoils of battle. As the reader knows, he will never return. Jael has killed him.

The image of a woman watching at a window had special significance for the people who listened to this story. It was a common image of the goddess in Canaanite religion. Clay statues dug up at the archaeological site of Ugarit show a woman's face looking out from a lattice window, and showing Sisera’s mother at a latticed window linked her with the Canaanite goddesses.

She is the mother of something that is already dead, although she does not realize it. Even the wisest of the princesses around her, the priestesses of the goddess, do not realize the truth. The text implies that Canaanite religion is also dead, though its followers have not yet realized the fact.

Summary
The story of Jael had a political motive. It ridiculed the Canaanite enemy and boosted the morale of the embattled Israelite tribes. Death at the hands of a lone woman was a particularly shameful way for a warrior general to die.

To drive the point home, there was an element of sexual derision in the story: male sexual symbols such as the hammer and nails were used, but by a woman against a man. This ridiculed the virility of Sisera. In the ancient world, jubilation at the defeat and humiliation of an enemy was a way of releasing pent-up fear.

The story showed that a seemingly invincible enemy could in fact be defeated, if the Israelites put their complete faith in Yahweh.

Apart from Deborah, the Judges were hardly role models for the Israelites. Jephthah sacrificed his daughter, Samson murdered his first wife, Gideon promoted the worship of fertility gods, etc. Deborah stands out from them for her wisdom, courage and faith in God. She had authority rather than power, and people respected her for the qualities she had, rather than for her military might or physical strength.

Ivory carving of a woman at a window,
from the north-west palace of Ashurnasirpal II at Nimrud

THE SETTLEMENT OF CANAAN

Until the period of settlement in Canaan, the people of the Bible were called ‘Hebrews’. After settlement they were called ‘Israelites’.

The story of Deborah and Jael is described in the Book of Judges. This Book covers the years between the death of Joshua who succeeded Moses as leader of the Israelites, and the beginning of the kingships of Saul, David and Solomon.

It was a time of social turmoil. All over the Mediterranean and the Middle East, people and nations were on the move and the Hebrew tribes, coming up from Egypt, were among these migratory groups.

The land  they entered was already occupied by Canaanites, who held the area now covered by Israel and Lebanon. The Canaanites governed the land, particularly the fertile plains, through a sophisticated system of city-states. The Israelite tribes attempted to gain a foothold in the sparsely populated, less fertile hill territories of Canaan.

Archaeological research shows that their occupation of Canaan happened not by sudden conquest, as the Bible describes, but by gradual infiltration. The Canaanites naturally resisted this intrusion, as the stories of Deborah and Jael show only too well. They were more technologically advanced than the Israelites, who for a long time had only a precarious hold on the territory.

But over a period of time the Israelites gained control of the extreme north and south of the country. Jerusalem and the fertile plain of Esdraelon still remained under the control of the Canaanites, and the Philistines controlled the coastal area.

A wooden plough, and an iron one: the iron
plough was easier to use and more efficient

As they put down roots, the Israelites gave up their nomadic life. Instead of being wanderers, they became farmers and herders of animals. At this time (the beginning of the Early Iron Age), the following advances in technology were made:

• iron was introduced for household and farm tools, which was a major technological breakthrough; iron was harder, less likely to break than bronze, and blades would keep sharp for a longer time
•  stone-lined tanks or cisterns were built to conserve water during dry periods; this made agriculture and life in general more predictable
• terracing made it possible to farm hillsides that had previously been unsuitable for farming; it also solved problems of land erosion and soil loss.        

Canaanite bronze weapons like these were being superceded by iron weapons

All of this meant that

• land previously used for grazing of flocks became available for farming

• with improved farming techniques more food could be produced

• with more food, a larger population could be supported

• forests and scrub had to be cut down

• houses, barns and villages had to be built.

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