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A Constituent of the Union of Liberal and Progressive Synagogues
Liberal Judaism -- Supporting the Leo Baeck College-Centre for Jewish Education

Jael and Sisera by Artemisia Gentileschi
1620, oil on canvas
Szepmuveszeti Museum, Budapest

I recently came across the biblical story of Jael (pronounced Ya’él) which caught my eye. I know a Yael and wondered about the popularity of the name, given in Hebrew it means "mountain goat". It was then that I discovered the story of Deborah, Barak and Jael

From the song of Deborah:

Most blessed of women be Jael,
Wife of Heber the Kenite,
Most blessed of women in tents.

Deborah the Prophetess

The story of Deborah is found in Judges Chapters 4-5. After 20 years of oppression God tells Deborah that it is time to deliver the people once again. Deborah had deep faith in God. She would sit under a palm tree and the people would come to her for judgment. She united the people of Israel and lead them to victory against the Canaanites

During Deborah’s time, the valley in which she and her tribe lived was controlled by King Jabin of Canaan. Deborah asked her favourite, Barak to take ten thousand men and fight Sisera on Mount Tabor. "Go, take with you ten thousand men of Naphtali and Zebulun and lead the way to Mount Tabor. I will lure Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his troops to the Wadi Kishon. There I shall deliver him to you." Barak tells Deborah that he will only go if she comes with him. "Very well, I will go with you. However, there will be no glory for you in the course you are taking, for God will deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman."

The battle with Sisera took place during the rainy season, and Sisera’s chariots quickly sank in the mud. The Israelites overwhelmed Jabin’s army, and inflicted heavy casualties

Sisera, meanwhile fled on foot and escaped to the Kenite camp (the Kenites were descendants of Hobab, father-in-law of Moses), where Jael, the clan leader’s wife, invited him to stay. He fell asleep in her tent whereupon she drove a tent peg through his head. When Barak arrived, Jael brought him to her tent and showed him the dead Sisera. It was a turning point in the struggle against their oppressors. The Israelites went on to defeat the cruel Canaanite king. They lived in peace for the next forty years

— Byron Simmonds