Judges 4:22

And, behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said unto him, Come, and I will shew thee the man whom thou seekest. And when he came into her tent, behold, Sisera lay dead, and the nail was in his temples.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(22) Behold, Sisera lay dead.—Thus the glory, such as it was, of having slain the general of the enemy passed to a woman (Judges 4:9). The scene which thus describes the undaunted murderess standing in the tent between the dead and the living chieftains—and glorying in the decision which had led her to fling to the winds every rule of Eastern morality and decorum—is a very striking one.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

4:17-24 Sisera's chariots had been his pride and his confidence. Thus are those disappointed who rest on the creature; like a broken reed, it not only breaks under them, but pierces them with many sorrows. The idol may quickly become a burden, Isa 46:1; what we were sick for, God can make us sick of. It is probable that Jael really intended kindness to Sisera; but by a Divine impulse she was afterwards led to consider him as the determined enemy of the Lord and of his people, and to destroy him. All our connexions with God's enemies must be broken off, if we would have the Lord for our God, and his people for our people. He that had thought to have destroyed Israel with his many iron chariots, is himself destroyed with one iron nail. Thus the weak things of the world confound the mighty. The Israelites would have prevented much mischief, if they had sooner destroyed the Canaanites, as God commanded and enabled them: but better be wise late, and buy wisdom by experience, than never be wise.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

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 of Israel to possess the land in which they were now slaves, her zeal for the glory of Yahweh as against the gods of Canaan, and the heroic courage and firmness with which she executed her deadly purpose, we shall be ready to yield to her the praise which is her due. See Judges 3:30 note.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

21. Then Jael took a nail of the tent—most probably one of the pins with which the tent ropes are fastened to the ground. Escape was almost impossible for Sisera. But the taking of his life by the hand of Jael was murder. It was a direct violation of all the notions of honor and friendship that are usually held sacred among pastoral people, and for which it is impossible to conceive a woman in Jael's circumstances to have had any motive, except that of gaining favor with the victors. Though predicted by Deborah [Jud 4:9], it was the result of divine foreknowledge only—not the divine appointment or sanction; and though it is praised in the song [Jud 5:24-27], the eulogy must be considered as pronounced not on the moral character of the woman and her deed, but on the public benefits which, in the overruling providence of God, would flow from it.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And, behold, as Barak pursued Sisera,.... Knowing the way he took, at least as he supposed:

Jael came out to meet him; as she did Sisera, but with greater pleasure:

and said unto him, come, and I will show thee the man whom thou seekest; for she full well knew whom he was in pursuit of:

and when he came into her tent; at her invitation:

behold, Sisera lay dead, and the nail was in his temples: which she did not attempt to draw out, but left it there, that it might be seen in what way she had dispatched him.

Geneva Study Bible

And, behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said unto him, Come, and I will shew thee the man whom thou seekest. And when he came into her tent, behold, Sisera lay {l} dead, and the nail was in his temples.

(l) So he saw that a woman had the honour, as Deborah prophesied.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

22. And, behold, as Barak pursued] hardly does justice to the original, ‘lo Barak, in pursuit of Sisera’; a remarkable coincidence! cf. Jdg 11:34, Genesis 29:6. According to Jdg 4:16 Barak with his tribesmen pursued the Canaanites to Harosheth; Sisera’s hiding-place must have lain more or less on the route. On the difficulties of the narrative as it stands see above Jdg 4:17 n.

23, 24 give Rd’s conclusion of the story; Jdg 5:31 b is the finishing touch.

God subdued] Instead of God (Elohim) the narrative uses regularly the Lord (Jehovah). For subdued see on Jdg 3:30. It is generally supposed that the stories of the Judges were closed with a brief notice of the subjugation of the oppressors, before the Dtc. redactor expanded these conclusions in his own manner; perhaps the words Elohim subdued … formed part of this pre-Deuteronomic editorial work.

Jabin the king of Canaan] See on Jdg 4:2.

prevailed more and more against] bore harder and harder upon, cf. Jdg 3:10.

Judges 4:22

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

When Barak, who was in pursuit of Sisera, arrived at Jael's tent, she went to meet him, to show him the deed which he had performed. Thus was Deborah's prediction to Barak (Judges 4:9) fulfilled. The Lord had sold Sisera into the hand of a woman, and deprived Barak of the glory of the victory. Nevertheless the act itself was not morally justified, either by this prophetic announcement, or by the fact that it is commemorated in the song of Deborah in Judges 5:24. Even though there can be no doubt that Jael acted under the influence of religious enthusiasm for the cause of Israel and its God, and that she was prompted by religious motives to regard the connection of her tribe with Israel, the people of the Lord, as higher and more sacred, not only than the bond of peace, in which her tribe was living with Jabin the Canaanitish king, but even than the duties of hospitality, which are so universally sacred to an oriental mind, her heroic deed cannot be acquitted of the sins of lying, treachery, and assassination, which were associated with it, by assuming as Calovius, Buddeus, and others have done, that when Jael invited Sisera into her tent, and promised him safety, and quenched this thirst with milk, she was acting with perfect sincerity, and without any thought of killing him, and that it was not till after he was fast asleep that she was instigated and impelled instinctu Dei arcano to perform the deed. For Jehovah, the God of Israel, not only abhors lying lips (Proverbs 12:22), but hates wickedness and deception of every kind. It is true, He punishes the ungodly at the hand of sinners; but the sinners whom He employs as the instruments of His penal justice in carrying out the plans of His kingdom, are not instigated to the performance of wicked deeds by an inward and secret impulse from Him. God had no doubt so ordered it, that Sisera should meet with his death in Jael's tent, where he had taken refuge; but this divine purpose did not justify Jael in giving to the enemy of Israel a hospitable reception into her tent, making him feel secure both by word and deed, and then murdering him secretly while he was asleep. Such conduct as that was not the operation of the Spirit of God, but the fruit of a heroism inspired by flesh and blood; and even in Deborah's song (Judges 5:24.) it is not lauded as a divine act.