Saturday Sisters: Jael

  Some things haven't changed.
  In battle, the weaker ones
don't fare well.  Often, this will be the women.

  In the Song of Deborah, the mother of the defeated general Sisera is imagined to wonder what delays her son. little thinking he has been killed.  In the verse, she consoles herself, thinking the soldiers, led by her son Sisera, are dividing the spoilsof battle, including "a woman or two for every soldier."

  In one of the ironies of Scripture, "a woman or two," working with God, have defeated the marauding general.  
 

Who is Jael?

   Deborah is a relatively popular Bible person, a woman who nobly attained prominence in her own right.   But Jael is a shady lady.  She worked undercover.
  Like a deadly spy.
  Sisera, worn out and discouraged from the battle and the thunderstorms, seeks shelter in the tent of someone he thinks of as an ally.  
  Jael killed him with kindness. 
  Then turned his body over to the Israelites.

It Doesn't Pay to Forget History

  Sisera's king had alliance with Jael's family, so surely, he thought, this was a safe refuge.  But the older alliance was thrrough Moses' family, and this perhaps played into Jael's decision.
  Maybe her men were being politically expedient, while Jael remembered family ties?
  We don't know her motives, but we have no doubt where her loyalties ultimately lay.
  How about you & me?  Is there enough evidence to convict us of our faith?