Women of the Bible: Jael

Praise 104.1

Source: CS Emanuel Greene / Radio One Digital

March is Women’s History Month and we are celebrating by highlighting the many women who play a major part in stories told in The Bible. Today we are spotlighting Jael which means “A Wild or Mountain Goat”.

KEY SCRIPTURE:

Judges 5

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Jael was a decisive and courageous woman. She seized the opportunity to kill an enemy of God’s people, Sisera. The story of Jael and the death of Sisera shows us that God’s promise to never forget his people and who holds to that promise. We must remember that when hope seems dim and the prospect of victory seems close to impossible, God is at work, bringing about his plan.

Scriptures To Read Around Jael’s Story

JUDGES 5:24-27 – Most blessed of women be Jael… She struck Sisera, she crushed his head, she shattered and pierced his temple. At her feet he sank, he fell; there he lay.

NEHEMIAH 9:28 – When they cried out to you again, you heard from heaven, and in your compassion you delivered them time after time.

PSALM 18:1,3– I love you, O LORD, my strength… I call to the LORD, who is worthy of praise, and I am saved from my enemies.

2 CORINTHIANS 1:8-11 – We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, as you help us by your prayers.

Let’s continue the conversation. See more of Jael’s story by reading Judges 4:11-22; 5:4-5, 24-27 and answering the questions below…

What was God’s role in these events?
Use three adjectives to describe Jael before she kills Sisera. Pretend you don’t know what she’s going to do and describe her just from 4:17-20.
Why do you think Jael did what she did? Do you see her as brave, fearful, desperate, treacherous? How much do you think her life experience in a brutal culture had to do with it?
Why do you think Deborah praised Jael for such a savage deed?
What do you think God wants us to take away from the story of Deborah, Barak, and Jael and all of the death woven within it?

Source: Women of the Bible by Ann Spangler & Jean E. Syswerda

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