the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
Click here to learn more!
Bible Dictionaries
Jael
Smith's Bible Dictionary
or Ja'el. (mountain goat). The wife of Hebe, r the Kenite, (B.C. 1316). In the headlong rout which followed the defeat of the Canaanites by Barak, at Megiddo on the plain of Esdraelon, Sisera, their general, fled to the tent of the Kenite chieftainess, at Kedesh in Naphtali, four miles northwest of Lake Merom.
He accepted Jael's invitation to enter, and she flung a mantle over him as he lay wearily on the floor. When thirst prevented sleep, and he asked for water, she brought him buttermilk in her choicest vessel. At last, with a feeling of perfect security, he feel into a deep sleep.
Then it was that Jael took one of the great wooden pins which fastened down the cords of the tent, and with one terrible blow with a mallet, dashed it through Sisera's temples deep into the earth. Judges 5:27.
She then waited to meet the pursuing Barak, and led him into her tent that she might, in his presence, claim the glory of the deed! Many have supposed that, by this act, she fulfilled the saying of Deborah, Judges 4:9, and hence, they have supposed that Jael was actuated, by some divine and hidden influence. But the Bible gives no hint of such an inspiration.
These files are public domain.
Smith, William, Dr. Entry for 'Jael'. Smith's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/sbd/j/jael.html. 1901.
