Jael, the Accidental Warrior: God Can Empower
Jael, the Accidental Warrior.
God can empower you to conquer
whatever your battle is today.
He will subdue the enemy like putty in your hands.
Jael, commonly pronounced “Jay – ell” but pronounced “Yah- ee – ell” in Hebrew, was a very unusual woman.
For one thing, she didn’t have a feminine name. Many names of women in the Bible ended with “ah” like Deborah, Rebekah or Hannah. Zipporah. Drusilla. Priscilla.
Jael actually means “mountain goat” which fits her persona, as it turns out. She was feisty, strong and practically had horns. (They say the American mountain goat horns look like tent pegs.)
But then, on the other hand, in Hebrew, “Yah” and “El” are both names for God. You wonder what her parents were thinking when they named her.
Jael, the Accidental Warrior
Let’s take a look at Jael’s story and the context of the world at that time.
The story isn’t long, found in Judges 4:17-22.
It’s takes up just a few short verses, but it’s the most violent story involving a woman in the entire Bible.
Israel was under constant harassment and lived in fear of the Canaanites at that time. The Canaanite king, Sisera, seemed intent on destroying them, and the Israelites were acting wimpy. Their leader, Barak, couldn’t incentivize them to fight for their beliefs. He was sincere, but insecure. Until Deborah came along with a message from God. As a judge, she knew there were people who didn’t want to put up with life the way they were living. It was like the Middle East with Isis around every corner. It wasn’t safe to travel the roads, and people cowered in their tents, hardly living.
Barak said, “But Sisera has 900 chariots and a trained army. We’re just a ragtag group of guerrillas.” He sounds like Moses, whining that he isn’t the man for the job and doesn’t have the right talents. But Deborah encourages him, and he finally agrees to fight, if she’ll go with him. Now what man makes a woman go with him to war? Probably a man who recognizes his need of a woman who can make him feel like he can do anything! And Deborah could.
She didn’t seem to think it was her place, but she agreed to go, saying that the victory would go to a woman. Barak likely thought this would be Deborah, but it turns out it wasn’t.
So the guerrillas go to war…
…worrying about those chariots all the way. Then it starts raining, and the chariots are worthless. They’re mired in mud, and Sisera’s army has to fight hand to hand against the Israelites. And the Israelites knew hand to hand combat. They always have, and they still do, today. The tiny country that holds its own in the midst of a world of enemies.
So God helped them win the battle, but Sisera got away. He fled to what he thought was a safe place, into a tribe of nomads sympathetic to the Canaanites.
This is where Jael comes on the scene.
Sisera staggers through their camp on his way to safety, and Jael offers him an AirBnB experience. She lures him to stop awhile and regain his strength.
Meanwhile, she’s got an agenda. She has no intention of letting him regain his strength. For whatever reason, she means to hurt him. Bad. She knows who he is, but she’s not an Israelite, and therefore not necessarily looking out for anyone but herself. With her name and its connotations, she may have been ill-used in her day, and have it in for men in general. At any rate, she is one angry woman. She may have thought if the Israelites were going to rule the land now, she could get into their good graces by acting on her impulse for revenge for herself. Play both sides of the coin, as it were.
Jael coaxes Sisera with a treat
– milk – which surely made him relax slightly, as it was such a mothering gesture. Then she works on him to go into her tent, with it’s luxurious rugs and soft pillows. And he’s exhausted from running, so he gives in. He says, “Watch the door while I rest, and wake me if anyone approaches.”
Jael closes the tent door and waits. She knows how to handle a tent peg. In her tribe, the women always put up the tents, and she’s pounded many a peg into hard ground. How hard could it be to pound a man’s head to the ground?
Doesn’t that give you chills? Do you wonder why Jael and her part in God’s plan aren’t the stuff of bedtime stories? When did you first learn about her? I’d guess it wasn’t at Family Devotions. (Check out Tom LaMothe’s drawing, a Precious Moments© parody of this story.)
God needs Accidental Warriors like Jael
This story shows us that God uses the willing person at the right place at the right time to complete His plan. You don’t have to be perfect. You don’t even have to be the Best Christian in the Church.
He wants our willingness to complete any task for Him, even if it’s unpleasant, even if it’s what others consider despicable.
He won’t ask us to be physically resistant in our day, but He will ask us to stand up for what we believe. In a quiet way. Prepare for battle by living like a warrior every day. A warrior against evil and sin.
Become strong on the inside,
and get ready to be God’s Accidental Warrior
when your battle comes.
For more essays on Bible Women read:
Drawing Living Water: Zipporah, A Fugitive and a Well
Postponed Living; A Study of Drusilla of Acts 24
Friday Preparation Day For The Sabbath Bible Tradition (Rebekah’s Journey Series)
