Topic: Persons Of The Bible - Jael

The name "Jael" is from the Hebrew name יָעֵל (Ya'el) meaning "mountain goat."

Jael was the wife of Heber the Kenite (Judg. 4:17-22) (B.C. 1316.) When the Canaanites were defeated by Barak, at Megiddo on the plain of Esdraelon, Sisera, the general or captain of Jabin's army, fled and sought refuge with the friendly tribe of Heber, beneath the oaks of Zaanaim at Kedesh in Naphtali, four miles northwest of Lake Merom.

As Sisera drew near, Jael invited him to enter her tent. When thirst prevented sleep, and Sisera asked for water, she brought Sisera buttermilk in her choicest vessel. She flung a mantle over Sisera as he lay wearily on the floor. As Sisera lay wearied on the floor he fell into a deep sleep. Jael then took in her left hand one of the great wooden pins ("nail") which fastened down the cords of the tent, and in her right hand the mallet, or "hammer," used for driving the wooden pin into the ground, and stealthily approaching her sleeping guest, with one well-directed blow drove the nail through Sisera's temples into the earth (Judg. 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.

Derived from Easton's and Smith's Bible Dictionaries

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