Judges 4:22 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And behold, as Barak was pursuing Sisera, Jael went out to meet him and said to him, "Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking." So he went in to her tent, and there lay Sisera dead, with the tent peg in his temple.

NIV: 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.

NASB: And behold, while Barak was pursuing Sisera, Jael came out to meet him and said to him, 'Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking.' So he entered with her, and behold, Sisera was lying dead with the tent peg in his temple.

CSB: When Barak arrived in pursuit of Sisera, Jael went out to greet him and said to him, "Come and I will show you the man you are looking for." So he went in with her, and there was Sisera lying dead with a tent peg through his temple!

NLT: When Barak came looking for Sisera, Jael went out to meet him. She said, 'Come, and I will show you the man you are looking for.' So he followed her into the tent and found Sisera lying there dead, with the tent peg through his temple.

KJV: And, behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said unto him, Come, and I will shew thee the man whom thou seekest. And when he came into her tent, behold, Sisera lay dead, and the nail was in his temples.

NKJV: And then, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said to him, “Come, I will show you the man whom you seek.” And when he went into her tent, there lay Sisera, dead with the peg in his temple.

Sisera, the commander of King Jabin's army, was the only remaining Canaanite survivor from a battle with the Israelites (Judges 4:15–16). The Lord selected a man named Barak to deliver Israel from her oppressors, leading fighting men to victory over Sisera and his forces (Judges 4:4–7). When the battle turned against him, Sisera ran away from his army to the tents of a supposed ally: Heber the Kenite (Judges 4:11, 17). There, Heber's wife, Jael, fed him and covered him to hide from the Israeli troops.

Then, in an unexpected moment, she snuck up on Sisera while he slept and hammered a wooden stake through his skull, killing him (Judges 4:21). Her exact motives are unknown. Her ancestors were friendly to Israel (Judges 1:16). Sisera had a poor reputation for his treatment of women (Judges 5:30). She might have suddenly feared what would happen to her family if Sisera was discovered. For one or all those reasons, she brutally and efficiently slays the Canaanite general.

Now the Israelites arrive, looking for Sisera. They are led by Barak, who likely hopes to capture or kill the enemy commander to seal a glorious victory. Instead of hiding her action, Jael goes out to meet Barak and invites him to see the man he is looking for. Barak enters her tent to find Sisera dead, with his head nailed to the ground.

This exactly fulfills the words of Deborah the prophetess from earlier in the chapter (Judges 4:8–9). Barak would not obey the Lord's command to recruit and lead fighting men against Sisera unless Deborah came along. She agreed but told Barak he would not get the glory for defeating Sisera. Instead, the Lord would make Sisera fall at the hands of a woman.

When the prediction was first given, most readers would assume it meant Deborah, not Barak, would get the glory for defeating Sisera. That is still true, at least in part. Barak wouldn't go without her (Judges 4:8) and she gave the crucial attack order (Judges 4:14). But "glory" for killing the Canaanite general isn't Deborah's, nor Barak's. It now becomes clear that God, speaking through the prophetess Deborah, predicted Jael's slaughter of the general as he slept.

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).