Judges 5:24

Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be, blessed shall she be above women in the tent.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(24) Blessed above women.—Jael would be regarded as a patriotic heroine, whose daring had secured to Israel the fruits of their victory. The morals of that early age were not sufficiently enlightened to understand that treachery and assassination are never justifiable, however good may be the end in view. But, as serious moralists, even in the nineteenth century, have held up to admiration the murder of Marat by Charlotte Corday, and have even given to her the title of “the Angel of Assassination,” we can hardly be surprised that Deborah should exult in Jael’s heroism, and her choice of the right side, without expressing—perhaps even without the degree of later moral enlightenment which would have led her to feel—any moral reprobation of the means by which the end was accomplished. But to compare this outburst of patriotic approval for such a deed with the salutation of “Blessed art thou among women,” addressed by the angel to the blessed Virgin Mary (as is done by some commentators), seems to me a most dangerous way of handling the mere words of Scripture, apart from their context and true significance.

Above women in the tent.—The honour paid to her because of her deed would raise her far above the common mass of ignorant and downtrodden nomad women. Instead of a Kenite woman, she would be lauded and honoured as a heroine of Israel.

Benson Commentary

Jdg 5:24. Blessed, &c. — This is a beautiful and striking transition, whereby the prophetess passes from the curse pronounced by the command of the angel on the Merozites to the blessing of Jael, on whom she passes the finest encomium, because, though only a sojourner in Israel, she had done them most signal service in taking off Sisera, their most inveterate enemy. Blessed above women — Celebrated and endowed with all sorts of blessings more than they. In the tent — In her tent and habitation; in her house and family, and all her affairs. The Kenites lived not in houses, but in tents. But the tent is here mentioned as an allusion to the place where the fact was done.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

5:24-31 Jael had a special blessing. Those whose lot is cast in the tent, in a low and narrow sphere, if they serve God according to the powers he has given them, shall not lose their reward. The mother of Sisera looked for his return, not in the least fearing his success. Let us take heed of indulging eager desires towards any temporal good, particularly toward that which cherishes vain-glory, for that was what she here doted on. What a picture does she present of an ungodly and sensual heart! How shameful and childish these wishes of an aged mother and her attendants for her son! And thus does God often bring ruin on his enemies when they are most puffed up. Deborah concludes with a prayer to God for the destruction of all his foes, and for the comfort of all his friends. Such shall be the honour, and joy of all who love God in sincerity, they shall shine for ever as the sun in the firmament.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The blessing here pronounced is in strong contrast with the curse of Meroz. Deborah speaks of Jael's deed by the light of her own age, which did not make manifest the evil of guile and bloodshed; the light in ours does.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

24-27. is a most graphic picture of the treatment of Sisera in the tent of Jael.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Blessed above women; celebrated, and praised, and endowed with all sorts of blessings more than they. But of this fact of Jael’s, See Poole "Judges 4:21".

In the tent; in her tent or habitation, in her house and family, and all her affairs; for she and hers dwelt in tents. The tent is here mentioned in allusion to the place where this fact was done.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be,.... Under the same influence that Meroz was cursed, Jael is blessed, the one for not helping Israel in a public way, the other for doing it in a private manner; this blessing is pronounced, either in a way of prayer that it might be, or in a way of prophecy that it should be, and indeed in both:

blessed shall she be above the women in the tent; above all women that dwell in tents: this being a proper description of a woman, whose character it is to abide in her tent, dwell at home, and mind the business of her family; and may have respect to the manly action she performed in her tent, equal, if not superior, to what was done in the field.

Geneva Study Bible

Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be, blessed shall she be above women in the tent.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

24. The courageous devotion of Jael is set effectively against the unpatriotic selfishness of Meroz. Jael here receives enthusiastic praise for what strikes us as nothing less than a treacherous murder. According to the standards of the times, however, it would not appear in this light at all, and such are the standards by which we must judge the morality of the deed.

the wife of Heber the Kenite] interrupts the parallelism and spoils the rhythm of the verse; it is evidently a gloss from Jdg 4:17, where the words are in place.

women in the tent] The Bedouin are described as dwellers in tents Jdg 4:11, Jdg 8:11; Jeremiah 35:7.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 24. - Blessed above women, etc. With the selfish indifference of the men of Meroz she contrasts the valorous enthusiasm of Jael the Kenite, and blesses her for it as emphatically as she curses the inhabitants of Meroz. Judges 5:24

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Jael behaved altogether differently, although she was not an Israelite, but a woman of the tribe of the Kenites, which was only allied with Israel (see Judges 4:11, Judges 4:17.). For her heroic deed she was to be blessed before women (מן as in Genesis 3:14, literally removed away from women). The "women in the tent" are dwellers in tents, or shepherdesses. This heroic act is poetically commemorated in the strophe which follows in Judges 5:25-27.