Judges 4:18 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And Jael came out to meet Sisera and said to him, "Turn aside, my lord; turn aside to me; do not be afraid." So he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug.

NIV: 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.

NASB: And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, 'Turn aside, my master, turn aside to me! Do not be afraid.' So he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug.

CSB: Jael went out to greet Sisera and said to him, "Come in, my lord. Come in with me. Don’t be afraid." So he went into her tent, and she covered him with a blanket.

NLT: Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, 'Come into my tent, sir. Come in. Don’t be afraid.' So he went into her tent, and she covered him with a blanket.

KJV: And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said unto him, Turn in, my lord, turn in to me; fear not. And when he had turned in unto her into the tent, she covered him with a mantle.

NKJV: And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me; do not fear.” And when he had turned aside with her into the tent, she covered him with a blanket.

Sisera, the once-feared commander of the army of Canaan, is on the run. His forces have been thoroughly defeated by the Lord through Barak and his army (Judges 4:12–15). Sisera likely does not know that every single one of his soldiers has been killed and all their vaunted iron chariots have been defeated (Judges 4:16).

Scripture indicates that Barak's Israeli forces pursued the Canaanite army in one direction, while Sisera fled in another. He likely recognized the impending defeat as soon as the battle started and ran for his life on foot. He bolted toward the dwelling place of a man called Heber (Judges 4:11), who had some formal alliance with the Canaanite king, Jabin. As Sisera approaches, Heber's wife Jael sees the general and comes out to meet him. She urges him to "turn aside" into her tent and not to be afraid. She wants him to trust her to hide him from the Israelites.

Barak's forces may have been close behind. Once Sisera enters Jael's tent, she immediately covers him with a rug to hide him from anyone else who might approach. As far as Sisera knows, he's found a safe place to stay until the Israeli army has passed by. Instead, he's about to be tricked and brutally killed by this otherwise-hospitable woman.

Judges 4:17–24 reveals the fulfillment of Deborah's prophecy. As Israel routs and destroys an army, the enemy commander flees on foot. Sisera runs to the home of a man allied with his king, Jabin. Heber's wife, Jael, reassures Sisera and hides him under a rug inside a tent. However, when Sisera falls asleep, she kills him by driving a tent peg through his skull and into the ground. She then tells Barak, the Israeli judge in pursuit of Sisera, what has happened. The people of Israel follow through on this victory until Jabin is also defeated.

In response to their sin, God allows Israel to fall into oppression under Jabin, king of the Canaanites. Sisera, commander of Jabin's army, cruelly abuses the Israelites for twenty years. Through His prophetess Deborah, the Lord raises up Barak to lead a massive Israeli army. This force wipes out Canaan's army. Sisera flees on foot and hides in the tent of Heber's wife Jael. Once he is asleep, she kills him and then shows Barak the body. The Israelites soon destroy King Jabin and are freed from Canaanite oppression.

Judges 4 begins with the death of Ehud, the assassin-leader of chapter 3 who freed Israel from the Moabites. After the Israelite people return to wickedness, God submits them to Jabin and the Canaanites. After twenty years, the Lord raises up a deliverer called Barak through His prophetess Deborah. Israel obliterates the enemy army, and the general is slaughtered in his sleep by a woman. Jabin and the Canaanites are defeated. The next chapter poetically retells these events, followed by the introduction of an especially famous judge in chapter 6: Gideon.

The Book of Judges describes Israel's history from the death of Joshua to shortly before Israel's first king, Saul. Israel fails to complete God's command to purge the wicked Canaanites from the land (Deuteronomy 7:1–5; 9:4). This results in a centuries-long cycle where Israel falls into sin and is oppressed by local enemies. After each oppression, God sends a civil-military leader, labeled using a Hebrew word loosely translated into English as "judge." These appointed rescuers would free Israel from enemy control and govern for a certain time. After each judge's death, the cycle of sin and oppression begins again. This continues until the people of Israel choose a king, during the ministry of the prophet-and-judge Samuel (1 Samuel 1—7).