Introduction

Jael is approached by Sisera when he lees a battle with Deborah and Barak (Israelite judges). She offers him refuge in her tent, but when he falls asleep, she kills him with a tent peg. No one would expect a woman to be the killer in one of the more shocking and gruesome stories of the Bible, but here we are. There are quite a few interesting points to be made about Jael and her actions. For starters, she fulfills a prophecy given by Deborah that due to Barak's fear, a woman will be the one to bring Israel victory. Another interseting point is that because she fulfills the work God called the judges to do, she is praised in the text, despite her actions being a bit questionable.

Like the other women I've studied in April, Jael seems to be acting of her own accord, without any direction, agreement, or involvement of her husband. Her actions made a major impact on Israel and their success in battle.

Genealogy & Etymology

Jael means mountain goat.[1] I'm not sure if mountain goats are vastly different from typical domestic goats, but without that information I liken it to a domesticated cat versus a feral cat. In that way, the name is very fitting.

No genealogy is given for Jael; the most information we have is that she is married to a Kenite. According to Judges 1:16, the Kenites are related to Moses' father-in-law. There's a bit of controversy over Moses' wife's origin (and even how many wives he had)—see the page on Zipporah for more on that—but it gives us two choices for how we trace the Kenites. They could be related to the Midianites and also therefore also descended from Abraham, making them Hebrew. However they also could be Ethiopian and descended from Ham. Either way, this is the origin of Jael's husband, there is no indication that this is also her heritage.

Questions

About the Passage

1. What was the deal between Jael's husband and the king?
   • Did her husband know what she was going to do?
   • Was her husband present?
   • Did he approve of her actions?
2. Why did she kill Sisera?
3. Why didn't she send for the army to handle the situation?
4. Did she know there was a battle happening?
5. Did she have children?
   • Where were they when this was happening?
   • Were they part of the motivation for her actions?
6. Did she know Deborah and/or Barak?
   • Did she know about the prophecy Deborah had given that a woman would be given the victory?
7. Was she loyal to Israel or have unrelated motives?
8. Was she an Israelite?
9. Does the El in her name mean it has a meaning relating back to God (Elohim)?
10. Where did she learn to kill?
11. Was she afraid? angry? sad? ashamed?
12. Who did she tell first?
13. What did she do with the body? (She left it there until Barak and Deborah showed up.)
14. Were people angry with her?
15. Were there consequences for breaking the treaty her husband had with the king?
16. Did she respect her husband? Did he respect her?

If I could meet her

Jael is another Biblical woman I'd be intimidated to meet; she did kill a man with her bare hands, afterall.

Even though she is praised for her part in destroying Israel's enemies, she killed a man in cold blood and against cultural norms. She invited Sisera in and lulled him into a false sense of security before delivering the fatal blow. This doesn't sound like something God would tell us to do. One question I would have for her would be whether she felt called to kill Sisera from God or whether she acted on her own and it happened to fit God's plan.

Getting back to her ability to kill a man with a tent peg, I would be curious about her upbringing. Was she trained to fight? Did she grow up with brothers? Was she a master at putting up tent pegs and that's why she was able manuever it so well? If so, what did her husband do? All of these things seem in conflict with how women were "supposed to behave" during that time period. I would be curious if our assemessment was wrong or if she had a hard time fitting in to society.

Finally, I would want to talk to her about the aftermath. We know that Deborah and Barak praised her, but what about her family? Did this create any issues in her marriage? Was there fallout for breaking the treaty? Did she lose friends as people might have percieved her as untrustworthy? Did the king have a chance to seek out revenge before he was defeated by Israel?

Phototheology

Phototheology is a way of learning the Bible taught by Ivor Myers.[2] I am employing this technique in my weekly Woman of God study journal. The following three pormpts are the ones I drew from the card deck while studying Jael.

How does the text relate to the sanctuary?

Jael lived before the Temple was built, so the Israelites' sanctuary would have been in a tent often refered to as the tabernacle. Either way, the sanctuary's inner most location is called "The Most Holy Place" and no one was allowed there except the high priest.

Ironically, Aaron's sons are struck dead in this most Holy place. This is ironic because sanctuary typically means safety or profection. Instead of finding these things, Sisera found death.

How does the text relate to the church?

Women generally symbolize a church, and I can see Jael symbolizing the true Church or a false church...

The true Church is called to purge itself of false prophets, fake Christians, and the like. We see evidence of this in Numbers 25 when Phineas kills idolaters in the midst of Israel and in Revelation 2, when churches are praised for outsing false prophets.

A false church will lure you in and give you a false sense of security. Many churches today teach a watered down gospel, focusing on prosperity and ignoring truth. They are leading their paritioners to death, just as Jael led Sisera to death.

Connect with the mathematics of the 1260 day/year prophecy.

The 1260 year prophecy references a time of heavy and intense persecution of the Church before judgment day. During this time, God protects and hides His Church in the wilderness. This prophecy was written well after Jael lived, but the situation was similar in that Sisera's army was persecuting Israel. It seems that Jael's tent is in the wilderness (I doubt the battle was happening in the city or that many were around to see Sisera enter Jael's tent). Sisera isn't protected because he is the persecutor.

Journal Pages

Journal pages for Jael (March 19-25, 2025)
*Ignore the typo on page 48 (the leftmost page) it should read "Jael's husband and the king of Hazor"

References & Footnotes

1. "Strong's H3278. יָעֵל". Blue Letter Bible; visited April 2025
2. Pastor Ivor Myers' Phototheology Game Deck