Read chapter 4
Kind of gruesome right? Very rarely do we see woman in the bible killing, in fact I think this is the only place we read of this act by a woman. Barak, a commander Israel's army, is told to go up against their enemies, Sisera and his army, but he's too afraid to do it without Deborah, a woman, being there with him. So Deborah agrees to go but tells him therefore that Sisera will be delivered into the hands of a woman who will receive the glory instead of him. Well that woman is Jael. Jael is not an Israelite. She is married to a Kenite who was a in-law of Moses- so a tribe in good relationship with Israel. Jael and her husband Heber seem to be playing the neutral card between the Israelites and Sisera and his army for we see Sisera trust Jael to go in to her tent, yet she ultimately kills him. Shows when you want to play the neutral card with politics at some point you need to make a stand. Her reason to kill Sisera is unknown specifically as she could have had hatred toward him in her heart and jumped at the opportunity, but she also could have had a word from God and responded. She chose to side and stand with God and his enemies and God therefore used her, a non-Israelite, and she receives the glory of this deliverance as we see in the following chapter of a song written to her praise. Now this isn't something we receive word to do today of killing God's enemies, this was specific to Jael at this time. This may seem gruesome that God would command this, but we’re often "more offended at the justice of God than we ought to be, and we’re less enthralled with the mercy and the grace of God than we ought to be" (Nancy DeMoss Walgamuth).
How does Nancy's quote reign true to you? If you play the neutral card in politics are you prepared to chose a side when it comes down to it?
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