Jael

Then Deborah said to Barak, “Go! This is the day the LORD has given Sisera into your hands. Has not the LORD gone ahead of you?” So Barak went down Mount Tabor, with ten thousand men following him.  At Barak’s advance, the LORD routed Sisera and all his chariots and army by the sword, and Sisera got down from his chariot and fled on foot.

  Barak pursued the chariots and army as far as Harosheth Haggoyim, and all Sisera’s troops fell by the sword; not a man was left

~Judges 4:14-16

How did God accomplish this great victory?  Compare Judges 5:4-5.

• This is what Judges 5:4-5 says:
  
  “When you, LORD, went out from Seir,
     when you marched from the land of Edom,
  the earth shook, the heavens poured,
     the clouds poured down water.
  The mountains quaked before the LORD, the One of Sinai,
     before the LORD, the God of Israel.
  
  "At Barak’s advance, the LORD routed Sisera and all his chariots and army by the sword, and Sisera got down from his chariot and fled on foot."  I think that Judges 5:4-5 is a more poetical form of how God accomplished the great Victory over Sisera

God has proven over and over again that he can do what we think is impossible.  What impossible things has he accomplished in your life?

• The one thing I can think of is that he helped me to get into a great college that I knew I would enjoy being a part of

Sisera, meanwhile, fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was an alliance between Jabin king of Hazor and the family of Heber the Kenite.

  Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Come, my lord, come right in. Don’t be afraid.” So he entered her tent, and she covered him with a blanket.

  “I’m thirsty,” he said. “Please give me some water.” She opened a skin of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him up.

  “Stand in the doorway of the tent,” he told her. “If someone comes by and asks you, ‘Is anyone in there?’ say ‘No.’”

~Judges 4:17-20

Use three adjectives to describe Sisera.  Think about the fact that he was running away from the slaughter of his men.  But also think about the fact that he was the sole survivor.

• cowardly, needy, demanding

Use three adjectives to describe Jael.  Pretend you don't know what she is going to do.  Pick your adjectives based only on these four verses.

• friendly, kind, compassionate

Which characteristics of Sisera and Jael are worth imitating?  Which are worth forgetting?

• I would say that Jael's characteristics are more worth imitating and Sisera's characteristics are more worth forgetting

But Jael, Heber’s wife, picked up a tent peg and a hammer and went quietly to him while he lay fast asleep, exhausted. She drove the peg through his temple into the ground, and he died.

  Just then Barak came by in pursuit of Sisera, and Jael went out to meet him. “Come,” she said, “I will show you the man you’re looking for.” So he went in with her, and there lay Sisera with the tent peg through his temple—dead.

~Judges 4:21-22

What made Jael able to do what she did?  Fear?  Bravery?  Desperation?  How much did the more brutal culture she was a part of have to do with her actions?

• I would say bravery.  Even in a land riddled with constant war, the individual needs to know how to survive on there own.  There can't be any room for fear or desperation.  This was a time where if you believed something needed to be done, it had to be taken care of right away.

“Most blessed of women be Jael,
   the wife of Heber the Kenite,
   most blessed of tent-dwelling women.
He asked for water, and she gave him milk;
   in a bowl fit for nobles she brought him curdled milk.
Her hand reached for the tent peg,
   her right hand for the workman’s hammer.
She struck Sisera, she crushed his head,
   she shattered and pierced his temple.
At her feet he sank,
   he fell; there he lay.
At her feet he sank, he fell;
   where he sank, there he fell—dead.

~Judges 5:24-27

Why do you think Deborah praised Jael for such a savage deed?

• Because Sisera was oppressing her people, the Isrealites and that such an action is not normaly seen being done by the hand of a woman

What is the ultimate lesson behind the story of Deborah and Barak and Jael and all of the death woven within it?

• always trust God to make something happen when you think it might be impossible to take care of yourself