Judges 4:21

Then Jael, Heber's wife, took a nail of the tent,.... When she perceived he was fast asleep, and it being now put into her heart to kill him, having an impulse upon her spirit, which she was

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.

A nail of the tent; wherewith they used to fasten the tent, which consequently was long and sharp, being headed with iron: these weapons she chooseth, either, 1. Because she had no better weapons at hand, this being only the woman’ s tent, where arms use not to be kept, and these people being wholly given to peace, and negligent of war, or Sisera having disarmed them before this time. Or, 2. Because she had more skill in the handling these than other weapons, being probably accustomed to fasten the tents herewith. Or, 3. Because this was very proper for his present posture, and which she knew would be effectual. Into his temples; which is the softest part of the skull, and soonest pierced. This might seem a very bold attempt; but it must be considered that she was encouraged to it, partly, by observing that the heavens and all the elements conspired against him, as against one devoted to destruction; partly, by the fair opportunity which God’ s providence put into her hands; and principally, by the secret instinct of God inciting her to it, and assuring her of success in it. Quest. What shall we judge of this act of Jael’ s? It is a difficult question, and necessary to be determined, because on the one hand there seems to be gross perfidiousness, and a horrid violation of all the laws of hospitality and friendship, and of the peace which was established between Sisera and her; and on the other side, this fact of hers is applauded and commended in Deborah’ s song, , &c. And some who make it their business to pick quarrels with the Holy Scriptures, from hence take occasion to question and reject their Divine authority for this very passage, because it commends an act so contrary to all humanity, and so great a breach of faith. And whereas all the pretence of their infidelity is taken from the following song, and not from this history, wherein the fact is barely related, without any reflection upon it, there are many answers given to that argument; as, 1. That there was no league of friendship between Jael and Sisera, but only a cessation of acts of hostility; of which See Poole "". 2. That Deborah doth not commend Jael’ s words, , Turn in, my lord; fear not; in which the great strength of this objection lies; but only her action, and that artifice, that he asked water, and she gave him milk; which, if impartially examined, will be found to differ but little from that of warlike stratagems, wherein a man lays a snare for his enemy, and deceives him with pretenses of doing something which he never intends. And Sisera, though for the time he pretended to be a friend, yet was in truth a bitter and implacable enemy unto God, and all his people, and consequently to Jael herself. But these and other answers may be omitted, and this one consideration following may abundantly suffice to stop the mouths of these men.

Judges 4:21 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.Ver. 21. Took a nail of the tent.] Which was long and strong enough for her purpose to pierce his skull, and to fasten him to the ground. And smote the nail into his temples.] Lo, there lay this proud worms’ meat sprawling, with his head fastened to the ground, as if it had been now listening what was become of the soul. In Ezekiel 32:27, it is said, that such as cause terror in the land of the living, are tumbled together into hell. For he was fast asleep and weary.] Fright, and flight, and grief, and perhaps long watching, had cast him into a deep sleep: which made way to that somnus ferreus, as the poets call death.

(21) Then.—Many commentators have ventured to assume that at this instant Jael received a Divine intimation of what she was to do. To make such an assumption as a way of defending an act of assassination peculiarly terrible and peculiarly treacherous seems to be to the last degree unwarrantable. If any readers choose to adopt such methods for themselves they ought not to attempt the enforcement of such “private interpretations” on others. The mind which is unsophisticated by the casuistry of exegesis will find little difficulty in arriving at a fair estimate of Jael’s conduct without resorting to dangerous and arbitrary interpolations of supposition into the simple Scripture narrative. Heber’s wife.—This addition, being needless, might be regarded as emphatic, and as involving an element of condemnation by calling prominent attention to the “peace between Jabin and the house of Heber,” which has been mentioned where last his name occurs (Judges 4:17). It is, however, due in all probability to the very ancient and inartificial character of the narrative. A nail of the tent.—Probably one of the great tent-pegs used to fasten down the cords which keep the tent in its place (Exodus 27:19; Isaiah 22:23; Isaiah 54:2, &c). Josephus says an iron nail, but there is nothing to show whether it was of iron or of wood, and the LXX., by rendering it passalon (“a wooden plug “), seem to have understood the latter. An hammer.—Rather, the hammer. The ponderous wooden mallet kept in every tent to beat down the cord-pegs. The word is Makkebeth, from which is derived the word Maccabee. The warrior-priests, to whom that title was given, were the “hammers” of their enemies, and Karl received the title of Martel for a similar reason. Went softly unto him.—So as not to awake him. The description of Sisera’s murder is exceedingly graphic, but as far as the prose account of it is concerned, the silence as to any condemnation of the worst and darkest features of it by no means necessarily excludes the idea of the most complete disapproval. The method of the narrative is the same as that found in all ancient literature, and is a method wholly different from that of the moderns, which abounds in subjective reflections. Thus Homer sometimes relates an atrocity without a word of censure, and sometimes indicates disapproval by a single casual adjective. Smote.—With more than one blow, if we take the poet’s account (Judges 5:26) literally. Fastened it into the ground.—Rather, it (the nail) went down into the around. The verb used is rendered “lighted off” in Judges 1:14. For he was fast asleep and weary.—The versions here vary considerably, but the English version seems to be perfectly correct. The verb for “he was fast asleep” is the same as in the forcible metaphor of Psa 76:6 : “The horse and chariot are cast into a deep sleep.” The description of his one spasm of agony is given in Judges 5:27. There is no authority in the original for the gloss found in some MSS.

Verse 21. A nail of the tent] One of the spikes by which they fasten to the ground the cords which are attached to the cloth or covering. He was fast asleep and weary.] As he lay on one side, and was overwhelmed with sleep through the heat and fatigues of the day, the piercing of his temples must have in a moment put him past resistance.

21. a tent-pin] a wooden peg, used for fastening the ropes, and driven in with the mallet, both of them instruments which Bedouin women are accustomed to use. and it pierced through] and it descended; the verb only again in Judges 1:14, Joshua 15:18, where it means alight, descend from. for he was in a deep sleep; so he swooned and died] The word for swooned is uncertain. With a slight change, but following the Hebr. accents, AV. reads ‘for he was in a deep sleep and weary; so he died.’ This makes smoother grammar. In Judges 5:26-27 Jael murders Sisera while he is standing and drinking out of the bowl. Some have explained the different account given here as due to a misunderstanding of the parallelism of Jdg 5:26, as though peg and hammer meant two different implements, seized, the one by her hand, the other by her right hand. But it is more probable that the whole account of Jael’s action in ch. 4 is founded on a slightly different tradition, which made Jael murder Sisera in his sleep.

If we can overlook the treachery and violence which belonged to the morals of the age and country, and bear in mind Jael’s ardent sympathies with the oppressed people of God, her faith in the right

21. A nail of the tent — Or, a tent-pin, sometimes made of iron, but commonly of wood, to which, when driven into the ground, the ropes of a tent are fastened.