Jael

Her name means a wild or mountain goat. Decisive and courageous are two words that best describe Jael. She is mentioned in scripture alongside Deborah the judge. Barak is in pursuit of Sisera's army and Sisera flees the battle. He comes to the tent of Jael who is the wife of Heber the Kenite, an ally of the king of Canaan. Jael meets him at the door, tells him to not be afraid and to come inside. She offers him a place to lie down and gives him something to drink. Sisera falls into a deep sleep because he is exhausted. While he sleeps, Jael drives a tent-peg through his temple all the way into the ground! Barak was in pursuit and arrives at her tent. Jael comes out to meet him and then takes him to see Sisera lying there dead. Exactly the way Deborah had prophesied! Jael is appraised as having made the land safe.Her name means a wild or mountain goat. Decisive and courageous are two words that best describe Jael. She is mentioned in scripture alongside Deborah the judge. Barak is in pursuit of Sisera's army and Sisera flees the battle. He comes to the tent of Jael who is the wife of Heber the Kenite, an ally of the king of Canaan. Jael meets him at the door, tells him to not be afraid and to come inside. She offers him a place to lie down and gives him something to drink. Sisera falls into a deep sleep because he is exhausted. While he sleeps, Jael drives a tent-peg through his temple all the way into the ground! Barak was in pursuit and arrives at her tent. Jael comes out to meet him and then takes him to see Sisera lying there dead. Exactly the way Deborah had prophesied! Jael is appraised as having made the land safe. Jael was not an Israelite. She was a Kenite woman. The battle that was being fought belonged to the Israelites, yet it was won partly because a foreigner allowed God to use her. There was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. Jabin and the captain of his army, Sisera, were not enemies to Jael and her family. In fact, they were on pretty friendly terms. To keep the peace between them, Jael could have taken Sisera in and hid him safely. She could have lied for him and told Barak who was looking for him, ‘No, there is no man here.’ She could have feared what Sisera or Jabin might do to her if she betrayed them. She could have feared what her husband would think of her when he found out about her deed. Jael could have feared, but Jael chose to have faith. She knew that the people of Israel were in trouble and she placed herself squarely on their side. When Sisera appeared at her tent, it was Jael’s duty to make sure he was properly welcomed, fed, and made to feel comfortable. At first glance, it appears that this is what Jael did but we soon learn that she had something far different in mind and threw all sense of hospitality out the window. Never in a million years, did Sisera think that he would suffer his fate at the hands of a woman. Jael’s job might have been easier if she had a sword on hand or some other weapon of war. But Jael did not wait around for the “perfect” object to arrive. She used what she had. When you know that God is telling you to do something, do not wait for the perfect time or the perfect tools. Use whatever you have available. Don’t cry because you don’t have a sword. Begin working with your peg and hammer. Turn your focus away from what you don’t have and on to what you do have. When God sees that you are serving Him with what He has given you – no matter how small or crude it may be – He will make up for what you don’t have. Most blessed of all women is Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite, most blessed of homemaking women. He asked for water, she brought milk; In a handsome bowl, she offered cream. She grabbed a tent peg in her left hand, with her right hand she seized a hammer. She hammered Sisera, she smashed his head, she drove a hole through his temple. He slumped at her feet. He fell. He sprawled. He slumped at her feet. He fell. Slumped. Fallen. Dead. You cannot allow your hands to lie idle. No. Both hands have to be hard at work. One hand to slay and the other to protect. Wake up and work with those hands. May your hands be ever full. Whatsoever your hands find to do may it prosper. Go on woman and slay the giants in your life. Use the tools at your disposal to do so. Israel experienced 40 years of peace because of Jael's bravery. Jim Laffoon writes something so powerful pertaining Jael and her role as a home maker: If you are a stay-at-home mom today, or simply considering that as an option for your future, the message of this story is critical for you. One of the great lies of the enemy is that your role as a mother doesn’t really matter. He has tried to convince you that it is simply a menial task that anyone can do. This, however, is far from the truth. Even as God brought Sisera to Jael’s door, so there are a number of enemies standing at the door of your home which He has called you to kill. Whether it is the tide of immorality and amorality that it is flooding the airwaves, the deceptive lies that are shaping our society’s perspective of motherhood, or the loneliness and depression that seems to be the constant companion of many young mothers, your ability to defeat these enemies will have an incredible impact on more people than you can even imagine. That’s right, whether you realize it or not, you have an audience. Other mothers are watching the way you raise your children. The very fact that you live your life joyfully has caused them to question the enemy’s lies—lies that tell them that their only hope for lasting fulfillment lies outside the confines of home and family. Do you see it yet? Your willingness to stay at home and raise your children while they are young has put you at the very forefront of the battles that are raging in the cultures of our world. Far from limiting your destiny, staying at home has placed you in the very center of God’s will for your life. You have been given the opportunity to shape the lives of kingdom warriors who will continue to change the world long after you are gone. Furthermore, your joyful acceptance of God’s will for your life and the fulfillment you find through it endangers the enemy’s kingdom, because they contradict all the lies he has sown into the vulnerable hearts of mothers around the world. May God give you the grace to defeat the enemies that are knocking at your door, as you ponder these words today.