Saturday Scripture Gold with Bibi: Christian Women, Use Your Strength For God!

Hello, and welcome to Saturday Scripture Gold!

Thank you for taking time out of your busy weekend to drop by! The scriptures say in Proverbs 31:25, "strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in the time to come." It also says in Proverbs 31:17, "She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms."

Without a doubt, God gives Christian woman strength. As with everything God gives us, we then become the stewards of that gift. We also become responsible to use it right and accountable for how we use it.

Today, we will discuss such a woman from Scripture. Her name is Jael. Jael was a tent-dweller. Her family were tinsmiths who made farming utensils, domestic items, and weapons. They traveled whenever they could find work. Her campsite must have been close to the battlefield because her family was making and supplying weapons for the army.

Through her husband Heber, Jael had kinship ties with the Israelites. Heber was descended from Jethro, who had been the father of Moses’ wife. She was therefore bound to the Israelites by kinship obligations. Nevertheless Heber, a sensible business-man if ever there was one, was on good terms with the Canaanites, so Sisera saw the encampment of Jael and Heber as a refuge.

Jael had her own tent, separate from her husband’s tent. At this period in Israelite history it was still common for several women to be married to one man. In such a case, each wife had her tent which she made, pitched and maintained herself. When she had children, they lived with her in this tent (Judges 4:17-20; 5:24-25).

When Sisera arrived at the encampment in the last stages of exhaustion and terror, Jael saw him and called him to her tent.

One point to notice is that Sisera went into Jael’s tent, not the tent of Heber her husband. The ancient laws of hospitality in the Middle East were very strict. A guest, once ritually invited into the home, had to be protected and cared for, even at the expense of everyone else in the house. But only the chief man of the household could offer ritual hospitality.

Jael offered help to a fleeing enemy general, but not ritual hospitality. Sisera went into Jael’s tent. She covered him with a rug, which suggests that he was afraid and wanted to hide. He asked for water. She gave him a drink of goat’s milk. Exhausted from the battle and his flight, he fell asleep.

Then occurred one of the most graphically described murders in the Hebrew Scriptures:

She put her hand to the tent peg
And her right hand to the worker’s mallet;
She struck Sisera a blow,
She crushed his head,
She shattered and pierced his temple.
He sank, he fell,
He lay still at her feet.’

(Judges 4:21-24 and 5:26-27).

Faced with a man who was far superior to her in physical strength, Jael used her wits and courage. She took the wooden hammer used to put up her tent and one of the pegs that held the tent ropes, then with one expert blow she drove the peg deep into the side of Sisera’s head.

The story does not tell us Jael’s motive for killing Sisera. Whatever her reasons, the Israelites celebrated her as a national heroine, who together with Deborah had saved them from their mortal enemies. They also relished the irony of the situation: Sisera the mighty general fell not into Barak's hands, but Jael's.

Before Jael is introduced by name, a prophecy is given by the Judge of Israel (Judges 4:9). We learn here that God intends to use a woman to defeat the enemy of Israel. Barak, the great general, will not get the glory for what occurs, as God has decided to use one of the powerless to defeat one of the powerful.

There are extraordinary similarities between the stories of Jael and the young boy David, when he killed the giant Goliath. Both of them...

- were physically weak and smaller than their opponent

- employed unusual weapons

- used their wits rather than orthodox military methods

- exacted bloody slaughter on their enemies, David hacking off the head of Goliath and Jael piercing Sisera’s skull.

Sisera felt safe going with Jael-he trusted her to act according to what her husband wanted. More he was lulled by her feminity. She brings him milk to drink, like a mother with her child. She covers him with a rug, as if "tucking" him in. Yet this motherly figure reaches for a tent stake an executes her enemy. In a very real sense, Jael becomes one of the "assassins" mentioned in the Bible not despite but through her sex (Judges 5:24-27).

Jael proves to be a strong and determined woman. Many times we are told that strength and determination are solely for men, or at best should only be exercised under the direction of a husband. But Jael takes the initiative not only without her husband's consent, but against her husband's wishes. We know Heber would not have appreciated Jael pegging Sisera as Judges 4:17 tells us.

The story of Jael had a political motive. It ridiculed the Canaanite enemy and boosted the morale of the embattled Israelite tribes. Death at the hands of a lone woman was a particularly shameful way for a warrior general to die.

To drive the point home, there was an element of sexual derision in the story: male sexual symbols such as the hammer and nails were used, but by a woman against a man. This ridiculed the virility of Sisera. In the ancient world, open jubilation at the defeat and humiliation of an enemy was a way of releasing pent-up fear.

Before Jael is introduced by name, a prophecy is given by the Judge of Israel (Judges 4:9). We learn here that God intends to use a woman to defeat the enemy of Israel. Barak, the great general, will not get the glory for what occurs, as God has decided to use one of the powerless to defeat one of the powerful (Judges 4:17-24).

The story shows that a seemingly invincible enemy could in fact be defeated, if the Israelites put their complete faith in God. And for us, as Christian women, our whole lives as saved persons will be reviewed and tried by fire.

Anything done for ourselves will be burned up and cease to exist. Anything done for God will endure the fire and remain. We will only be rewarded in Heaven for what remains.

Christian women, use your strength for God!
Christian wives, use your strength on your husband!
Christian mothers, use your strength on your children!
Don't let your strength be misplaced!

So take inventory, ladies, of the strength that God has given you. How have you used it? The Lord has clothed you with strength. Whether you feel it is little or great is not the point. The point is: you will use your strength on something. You will direct it in some direction, either the right direction or the wrong direction.

Scripture verses: Judges 4:9, Judges 4:17-24, Judges 5:6, Judges 5:24-27

Let's pray:

O Father, give us the humility which realizes its ignorance, admits its mistakes, recognizes its need, welcomes advice, accepts rebuke. Help us always to praise rather than to criticize, to sympathize rather than to discourage, to build rather than to destroy, and to think of people at their best rather than at their worst. This we ask for thy name's sake. Amen

Until next time...

Have a blessed week!

Bibi