That Was Unexpected

Introduction

This morning’s passage has become a slight favorite among some social media users due to an internet meme, a joke, that references the story of Jael. Many of these social media users comment that Jael is the kind of biblical wife that they want rather than what they may have been taught growing up in puritanical and evangelical churches. They say, “I want a biblical wife that will drive a tent peg through my enemies’ temples!” I would point out that Jael is the wife of Heber, who is, in fact, not Sisera’s enemy, so that particular interpretation fails under scrutiny. The humor for me personally is due to the unexpected nature of wanting, as a spouse, a murderer in extreme form. Either way, unexpectedness is really what we should be sitting rhetorically, or rather metaphorically, in for this story.

The Story

Let us reexamine the story again but in more familiar terms and phrasing: The Israelites have gone astray in the sight of the Lord again and so He has delivered them into the hands of an oppressor for 20 years: King Jabin of Canaan. As Israel cries out to the Lord for deliverance, He speaks through the prophetess and Judge of Israel, Deborah, to bring about the destruction of Jabin’s army. Deborah summons Barak to command Israel’s forces from a couple of tribes and tells him that if he does as she commands, the Lord will deliver up the destruction of Jabin’s army. However, Barak hesitates and tells Deborah that he isn’t going anywhere unless she goes with him. Deborah assents to this demand but warns Barak that this road to battle is not the road to personal glory and says that Sisera, the general in command of Jabin’s army, will be delivered unto the hands of a woman.

I want to pause here for a moment to then reflect on some possibilities. If we look at things through Barak’s eyes, he is being summoned by a female judge and told to put together an army to destroy Israel’s recent Canaanite oppressor. This must seem like a dream come true for Barak: if it is the Lord’s will that this army and its infamous general destroyed, then Barak, at the head of the Israelite army, will be a hero of the people of God and then his name will ring through the centuries as a defender of the righteous people of God. Barak is ready for some glory but is told amid his daydream to not even think about such glory because Sisera will be killed by a woman. So Barak is probably thinking, divine prophet or not, I will have the head of Sisera if it is the last thing I do.

Returning to the story: Barak gathers his troops as commanded from Zebulun and Naphtali and all 10,000 of them go up with Zebulun, Naphtali, Barak, and Deborah to the appointed place in Kadesh. We are told as an aside that, while this was going on, Heber the Kenite was camping out nearby separate from the rest of the Kenites.

Jabin’s army arrives with chariots and iron but Deborah tells Barak to take the initiative and attack. When he does, the Lord throws Sisera and Jabin’s army into confusion and chaos so that the attacking Israelite army is able to handily destroy the army, killing every last Canaanite soldier, except one: Sisera the general.

Sisera, intelligently, books it out of there. As he is a smart and resourceful man, Sisera remembers that Jabin and the Kenites are at peace and so makes a mad dash for Heber’s tent. However, Heber is not home in his tent at the moment, but that’s okay because his wife, Jael, is. She sees him coming from afar, and recognizing him as the great Canaanite general, runs out to greet him. All before he can get a word in edgewise, she takes him in and tucks him into bed. He asks her for some water, but she gives him wonderful, delicious milk. What an extension of hospitality! She then is told to watch out and lie to anyone who asks if anyone is in the tent. And as a further extension of this hospitality, she waits until he is fast asleep then drives a long iron tent peg through his head and into the ground beneath it, killing him instantly.

And, as if on cue, Barak comes storming by, hot on the trail of Sisera, looking to strike the great Canaanite general down. But the not-so-gentle Jael, comes out to accost the great Barak and tell him that the man he is seeking is in her husband’s tent. And there Barak beheld the dead Sisera and the woman who killed him.

Discussion

First, we see that Deborah’s prophecy comes true. It was the will of the Lord that the general, Sisera, would be delivered up into the hands of a woman. Furthermore, once Sisera is dead, we are told that King Jabin is eventually destroyed as well. But I want us to view this event, this murder, through the eyes of Barak first.

We see that Barak is doing as he is told from the Prophetess and Judge Deborah and that leads to the Israelite victory over Sisera. The complete destruction of the Canaanite army must have been a big confidence boost to Barak, and he sets out to prove Deborah’s prophecy wrong. He may have even thought that Deborah was speaking of herself and Barak wanted to get the glory and the kill instead. So in hot pursuit of Sisera, Barak does a fantastic job of staying on him and catching up to him. And when Jael accosts him and tells him that she knows where Sisera is, Barak was likely over the moon by this point only to realize that the divine prophecy came true despite his best efforts otherwise. Sisera was killed by a woman.

A lot of biblical commentaries and sermons that I found focus on the sensational, gruesome, premeditated murder that Jael commits. And it certainly is all of those things. Many preachers and commentators were going to great lengths to try and discern Jael’s motivation here because she seemingly has none whatsoever to kill Sisera. Sisera and her husband, Heber, are allies, despite Heber’s neutrality in this particular war between Jabin and the Israelites. Jael broke many societal rules at the time by inviting a man into the tent alone, disregarding his demands, and ultimately murdering him. But this passage isn’t about why Jael did it. If it were, then the words of why would most likely be recorded for our benefit.

This passage is about Barak and the will of the Lord. Barak set out, as an instrument of God, to actively work against the will of God just because he wanted personal glory and didn’t fully trust the words of Deborah as a prophetess and judge. And because Barak didn’t think to look at or was blinded by the daydream of his own glory to look at the bigger picture of God’s will, he found himself playing second and third fiddle in the grand heroics of the day.

Takeaways

This problem is a very common one amongst us humans. We often find ourselves with limited views and few capabilities to expand those narrow horizons. How might we find ways to look at the broader picture? What does it look like to see the bigger picture? Would Jael have to have murdered Sisera if Barak hadn’t been so keen to win glory for himself? One thing is certain: God will accomplish His will as He sees fit. If God wished that Sisera be killed by a woman, then so it shall be. This is how we are able to answer the question of why Jael felt compelled to murder Sisera. That whatever the particulars of her desire for deviant, premeditated murder, it was an instrument to complete the will of God. We see time and time again that God’s can and will be accomplished by strange and unexpected methods. If it seems unexpected, it might be the hand of the Lord at work where you aren’t looking and it’s just now made it into your ballpark.

Then in addition to the narrowness of understanding, we also see that the hubris of calling is another problem affecting Barak’s tenure as hero. Barak probably felt fairly important being summoned by a prophetess and judge of Israel to lead an army in the destruction of Israel’s oppressor. He had literally been called to a godly task. Thus, with the conviction that he is called by God personally, he developed an over-inflated image of his own role in the will of God. As a called and committed leader, he likely believed that he was the preeminent character in the plan of God playing out. However, the fulfillment of Deborah’s prophecy and the focus of Jael’s actions, should indicate to us modern readers that, in fact, Barak is not the most important person in the story.

Therefore, Barak has to be our point-of-view for this story, so that we may experience the elation of being called to the position of very important leader, only to discover that the victory of the will of God lie in someone else, someone on the fringes of what is going on, someone who, in context, is not at all seemingly important. We have to be careful to not have our egos tempered in such a manner as God did temper the ego of Barak in this story. Barak could not see where God was working because of the narrowness of understanding and the hubris of calling clouded his discernment and therefore, Barak was likely surprised to see the murdered Sisera.

Not only then can we understand from reading this story that God will make a way for His plan, but that humility is the first quality of the faithful leader if narrowness and hubris is to be cured. And I don’t just mean our clergy or even our lay servants and lay leaders; indeed, all those that attend church should understand that we are leaders of faith to those without none or very little. Therefore, we mustn’t be haughty and think we have some plan that is better than God just because we are leaders or think that we will achieve some personal glory because we have the better leadership title or have done more for the congregation. The exercise of humility is the cure for the hubris of calling and narrow viewpoints. Indeed, I stand before you a young man who has been humbled in both positive and negative ways, both in leadership and otherwise. That church isn’t about what squabbles we have fabricated amongst the church-going faithful or arguments about material things and earthly desires, the church is about finding, discerning, what your gospel witness is and how you personally can be a leader of the faith outside of these walls, outside the confines of this community, as a leader in the will of God for the people of God. The church is about finding the spiritual nourishment to sustain your leadership to those who need it and to find those other sinners in need of humility and strength alike for the journey to come.

That is the reason I am drawn to this passage is that God lifts up Barak for us as an example of how not to behave and think. So when you reach outside these walls, do not clamor for religious or evangelistic glory for yourself or to establish a reputation of just how good you are, instead look for how to humble yourself before the Lord so that the Lord may be glorified and your work becomes a faithful but integral part of the will of God as His hands and His feet in this world. Thanks be to God! Amen.