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Judges 4:1–9

Why Did Jael Kill Sisera With a Tent Peg?

The short answer

In Judges 4, Sisera fled after his army was defeated, but his escape took an unexpected turn. Deborah had already prophesied that Sisera would fall into the hands of a woman.

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Where this question sits in the Bible

Why would Jael kill a powerful commander with a tent peg? What can we make of this surprising story?

Below is the passage, the background the text gives, and how Bible commentators from three traditions have judged what Jael did. They do not agree.

Judges 4:1–9

Who was Sisera?

Sisera commanded the army of Jabin, a Canaanite king who had oppressed Israel for twenty years:

And the LORD sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, that reigned in Hazor; the captain of whose host was Sisera, which dwelt in Harosheth of the Gentiles.

And the children of Israel cried unto the LORD: for he had nine hundred chariots of iron; and twenty years he mightily oppressed the children of Israel.

Judges 4:2–3, KJV

What did Deborah prophesy?

Deborah, a prophetess who judged Israel (Judges 4:4), told Barak to gather an army against Sisera. Barak would only go if she went with him, and she answered:

And she said, I will surely go with thee: notwithstanding the journey that thou takest shall not be for thine honour; for the LORD shall sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose, and went with Barak to Kedesh.

Judges 4:9, KJV

Commentators read “a woman” in two ways. Adam Clarke asks whether it means that the victory would be credited to Deborah, “Or, is it a prediction of the exploit of Jael?”, and concludes: “It seems, however, more likely that Jael is intended.” Albert Barnes thinks “Barak would probably think the woman must be Deborah. The prophecy was only explained by its fulfillment.”

Judges 4:11–17

Why did Sisera run to Jael’s tent?

Jael’s husband Heber belonged to the Kenites, a people descended from Moses’ father-in-law, and his household was at peace with King Jabin:

Now Heber the Kenite, which was of the children of Hobab the father in law of Moses, had severed himself from the Kenites, and pitched his tent unto the plain of Zaanaim, which is by Kedesh.

Judges 4:11, KJV

Howbeit Sisera fled away on his feet to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite: for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite.

Judges 4:17, KJV

When the battle turned, Sisera left his chariot and fled on foot. Albert Barnes notes that he chose Jael’s tent rather than Heber’s, “as more secure from pursuit”, because “Women occupied a separate tent.” Clarke explains why that mattered: “no person ever intrudes into the apartments of the women.”

Judges 4:18–21

What happened in the tent?

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.

Judges 4:18, KJV

He asked for water and she gave him milk, and he asked her to stand at the door and say no one was inside (verses 19–20). Then:

Then Jael Heber’s wife took a nail of the tent, and took an hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died.

Judges 4:21, KJV

A tent peg and a mallet were ordinary tools in a tent household. Clarke describes the nail as “One of the spikes by which they fasten to the ground the cords”, and John Gill notes that “the Kenites used none” of the usual weapons, so she used what was at hand.

Judges 5:24–27

Why is Jael called blessed?

Deborah and Barak’s song after the battle praises her:

Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be, blessed shall she be above women in the tent.

Judges 5:24, KJV

She put her hand to the nail, and her right hand to the workmen’s hammer; and with the hammer she smote Sisera, she smote off his head, when she had pierced and stricken through his temples.

At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay down: at her feet he bowed, he fell: where he bowed, there he fell down dead.

Judges 5:26–27, KJV

How others have read it

Here the commentators part ways, which is part of why the story still prompts questions.

Matthew Henry (1662–1714), a Presbyterian minister, thinks it “probable that Jael really intended kindness to Sisera; but by a Divine impulse she was afterwards led to consider him as the determined enemy of the Lord and of his people”.

John Gill (1697–1771), a Baptist theologian, likewise speaks of “an impulse upon her spirit” and sees in her act “a concern for the glory of God”.

Adam Clarke (1762–1832), a Methodist scholar, reads the song’s blessing more cautiously: “I do not understand these words as expressive of the Divine approbation towards Jael.” In his view “bless” here means “to praise, to speak well of, to celebrate.”

Albert Barnes, an American Presbyterian minister, praises her courage, yet adds that “Deborah speaks of Jael’s deed by the light of her own age, which did not make manifest the evil of guile and bloodshed; the light in ours does.”

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Read Judges 4:17–22 and Judges 5:24–27.

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