Jael Most Blessed

Read Judges 4-5
 
Judges 5:24-25 “Most blessed of women be Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, most blessed of tent-dwelling women. 25 He asked for water, and she gave him milk; in a bowl fit for nobles she brought him curdled milk. 26 Her hand reached for the tent peg, her right hand for the workman’s hammer. She struck Sisera, she crushed his head, she shattered and pierced his temple. 27 At her feet he sank, he fell; there he lay. At her feet he sank, he fell; where he sank, there he fell-dead.”
 
BY now you likely know a good deal about Judges 4 and 5. If you’ve read them for each of these past three lessons, I’m sure you’ve seen and learned something new each day. The Bible I like that, isn’t it?
Jael (Jay el) is the third main person of Israel’s military victory over the Canaanites. A hammer and spike in Jael’s hands kills the sleeping Sisera. Where is the honor, the victory of one so violent to a man who entrusted her for his safety? How can it be right that Deborah calls her the “most blessed of women”? Could one claim treachery is the way to Kingdom fame?
A phrase we see four times in Judges is “Israel had no king.” Twice this is followed with, “Everyone did as he saw fit.” Yes, there were judges as the faithful Deborah. And there were weak judges who led Israel away from God. Or they didn’t lead at all. The underlying problem with “no king” is that it is the summary of Israel’s refusal to follow the King of Kings. There WAS a King in Israel, and his name is the LORD God Almighty. He is the King who had formed the nation, commanded them to take the land and directed them to lawful living. Such conflicts as this war against the Canaanites happened because Israel lived as if there were no king. Truly, the King was in Israel, but everyone did as he saw fit. Deborah, Barak and Jael are three whom the King chose to clean his nation, littered with pagan filth.
    Thus, Jael, finds herself in an unexpected opportunity to do the LORD’s work. Sisera, fleeing from Barak, enters Jael’s and her husband Heber’s camp – their household. What happened there illustrates the absence of order in Israel. Even the hospitality laws of that culture are discarded. Heber should have been the one to welcome Sisera. A household guest such as Sisera never asked for anything. And Jael should never have gone against her husband’s relationships.
    But out of this disorder comes God’s order. His will to remove the Canaanites from Israel was done. The LORD moved Jael to conquer the enemy in a David-like way – the perceived weak against the supposed strong. The woman killed the general! In that culture, this was completely out of order, but it was God’s orders to do so. As a result, the land had peace for forty years. (Judges 5:31b)
 
What Do You Think? Is your life out of order? What opportunities do you have to “put to death” the conflicts and establish God’s peace?