Sisera

The captain of Jabin’s army. (Judges iv - v.) Some derive his name from Susraah, to see an horse.

Sisera (Battle-array) the general in command of the mighty army of the Canaanitish King Jabin. As this is the only instance in those early times of armies being commanded by other than kings in person, the circumstance, taken in connection with others, intimates that Sisera was a general eminent for his abilities and success. He was, however, defeated by Barak, and slain (Jdg 4:2-22), under the circumstances which have been described in the article Jael.

A general in the army of Jabin king of Hazor, sent by his master against Barak and Deborah, who occupied Mount Tabor with an army. Being defeated, he fled on foot, and was ingloriously slain by Jael, Jdg 4:1-5:31. See JAEL.\par

Sis’era. (battle array).

1. Captain of the army, of Jabin, king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. He himself resided in Harosheth of the Gentiles. The particulars of the rout of Megiddo, and of Sisera’s flight and death are drawn out under the heads of Barak, Deborah, Jael, Kishon. (B.C. 1296).

2. After a long interval, the name appears in the lists of Nethinim, who returned from the captivity, with Zerubbabel. Ezr 2:53; Neh 7:55. It doubtless tells of Canaanite captives, devoted to the lowest offices of the Temple. (B.C. before 536).

1. Captain of the host of Jabin, the Canaanite king who reigned in HAZOR. (See JABIN; JAEL; BARAK; DEBORAH; KISHON.) Sisera resided in Harosheth of the Gentiles. (See HAROSHETH.) His doom was a standing reference in after times (1Sa 12:9; Psa 83:9). The "curdled milk", still offered by Bedouin as a delicacy to guests, is called leben.

It is not only refreshing to the weary, but also strongly soporific, and Jael’s aim would be to cast Sisera into a sound sleep. In Jdg 5:20, "the stars in their courses fought against Sisera," the reference is not only to the storm of hail beating in the enemy’s face which Josephus describes, but also to the falling meteoric stars of autumn which descended as the defeated host fled by night. (Palestine Exploration Quarterly Statement, July 1878, p. 115-116.) The divine approval of the faith of Jael in killing Sisera involves no approval of her treachery. So in the case of Gideon, Samson, Jephthah, God in approving their faithful zeal in executing His will gives no sanction to the alloy of evil which accompanied their faith (Heb 11:32). From this great enemy sprang Israel’s great friend, Rabbi Akiba, whose father was a Syrian proselyte of righteousness; he was standard bearer to Bar Cocheba in the Jewish war of independence (Bartolocci 4:272).

2. One of the Nethinim who returned with Zerubbabel (Ezr 2:53; Neh 7:55). Canaanite captives were dedicated to help the Levites in the heavier work of the temple.

[Si’sera]

1. Captain of the army of Jabin king of the northern Canaanites. His army was overthrown with great destruction, through God’s intervention, by Deborah and Barak. Sisera, thirsty and weary, sought shelter in the tent of Jael, who killed him with a tent peg driven through his head with a hammer - showing how God can energise a feeble instrument to work out His deliverance. See JAEL. Jdg 4:2-22; Jdg 5:20-31; 1Sa 12:9; Psa 83:9.

2. Ancestor of some Nethinim who returned from exile. Ezr 2:53; Neh 7:55.

By: Joseph Jacobs, Schulim Ochser

General of the army of King Jabin of Hazor. According to Judges iv. 9 et seq., he invaded the northern part of Judea in the time of Deborah, the prophetess and judge. Upon Deborah's order Barak took 10,000 men and went out to meet Sisera, going as far as the river of Kishon. Sisera suffered defeat, and while Barak pursued the enemy as far as "Harosheth of the Gentiles," Sisera fled alone and on foot. Arrived at the settlement of the Kenites, who, according to legend, were the descendants of Jethro, he was invited by a Kenite woman named Jael, wife of Heber, into her tent. Sisera accepted the invitation and asked for water, but instead she gave him milk. When Sisera had fallen asleep, Jael took a hammer and drove a "nail," or tent-pin, into his temple.

The position of Sisera's army is not specifically mentioned in Judges v. 19, where the battle is said to have taken place at Taanach by the waters of Megiddo. The identity of Sisera has not yet been established (see M. Müller, "Asien und Europa," p. 332; Budde, "Die Bücher Richter und Samuel").

According to the Midrash (Yalḳuṭ Shim'oni on Judges iv. 3), Sisera hitherto had conquered every country against which he had fought. His voice was so strong that when he called loudly the most solid wall would shake and the wildest animal would fall dead. Deborah was the only one who could withstand his voice and whom it did not cause to stir from her place. Sisera caught fishenough in his beard when bathing in the Kishon to provision his whole army. According to the same source (lii., end), thirty-one kings followed Sisera merely for the opportunity of drinking, or otherwise using, the waters of Israel. The descendants of Sisera, according to Giṭ. 57b, were teachers of the young in Jerusalem. See Deborah; Jael.

SISERA.—1. In Jdg 4:2 ff. Sisera is represented as captain of the host of Jabin, a Canaanite king; his army is overcome by the Israelites under Barak. In his flight after the battle, Sisera, overcome by fatigue, seeks refuge in the tent of Jael, who treacherously kills him while asleep. In another account (Jdg 5:1-31, the older account) Sisera appears as an independent ruler, and Jabin is not even mentioned; the two accounts differ in a number of subsidiary details, but in two salient points they agree, namely, as to the defeat of Sisera and as to the manner of his death. It is clear that two traditions, one concerning Jabin and another concerning Sisera, have been mixed up together; in order to harmonize them Sisera has been made Jabin’s captain (see Barak, Deborah, etc.). 2. A family of Nethinim (Ezr 2:53 = 1Es 5:32 Samerar).

W. O. E. Oesterley.

sis´ẽr-a (סיסרא, ṣı̄ṣ^erā’, of doubtful meaning; Σ(ε)ισάρα, S(e)isára):

(1) Given in Judges 4 as the captain of the army of Jabin, king of Hazor. The accounts given of the battle of Sisera with Barak, as found in Judges 4 and 5, have important points of difference. The first is a prose, the second a poetic narrative. In the first only Naphtali and Zebulun are mentioned as being under the command of Barak; in the second 6 tribes are given as being under his command. In Judges 4 Sisera is known as the captain of Jabin’s forces, while in Judges 5 he seems to have been an independent leader. There is also a difference as to the scene of the battle and as to the manner in which Sisera met his death at the hand of Jael. Because of these points of difference, added to the fact that this is the only account, in these early times, where a king did not lead his own forces, it is thought by many that there is here the combination of two traditions dealing with different and distinct events.

Sisera resided in Harosheth of the Gentiles, a place identified with el-Ḥarithı̄yeh, on the right bank of the Kishon and commanding the way from the Central Plain to the sea. Taking the versions in the two chapters of Judges as being the account of a single campaign, we find Deborah urging Barak to combine the forces of Israel to wage war with Sisera as the representative of Jabin, the king of Hazor. The scene of the battle was on the plain at the foot of the slopes of Mt. Tabor (Jdg 4:12-14), or at the foot of the Carmel heights (Jdg 5:19). The attack of Barak and Deborah was so furious, animated as it was by the hatred of Sisera and the Canaanites, that the hosts of Sisera were put to rout, and Sisera, _ deserting his troops, fled on foot to the Northeast. He took refuge in the tent of Heber, near Kedesh, and here met death at the hands of Jael, the wife of Heber (see JAEL). Sisera’s name had long produced fear in Israel because of his oppression of the people, his vast army and his 900 chariots of iron. His overthrow was the cause of much rejoicing and was celebrated by the song in which Deborah led the people. See DEBORAH.

It is interesting to note that the great rabbi Aqiba, who fought so valiantly in the Jewish war for independence as standard bearer to Bar-cocheba, was descended from the ancient warlike Sisera of Harosheth.

(2) In Ezr 2:53 and Neh 7:55 the name Sisera, after a long interval, reappears in a family of the Nethinim. There is no evidence that the latter Sisera is connected by family descent with the former.