Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel

We are currently studying the book of Judges at our synagogue center. The story of Deborah is especially fascinating, especially since she became a judge at a time when women were generally barefoot and pregnant. Deborah and Yael stand out as strong women who act with boldness of spirit. Here is the text:

Most blessed of women be Jael,

the wife of Heber the Kenite,

of tent-dwelling women most blessed. ²⁵ He asked water and she gave him milk,

she brought him curds in a lordly bowl. ²⁶ She put her hand to the tent peg

and her right hand to the workmen’s mallet;

she struck Sisera a blow,

she crushed his head,

she shattered and pierced his temple. ²⁷ He sank, he fell,

he lay still at her feet;

at her feet he sank, he fell;

where he sank, there he fell dead.

Judges 5:24-27

Why is Deborah praising a woman for committing first degree murder? By all appearances, Jael violated the traditional custom of receiving guests, which was considered to be one of the most sacred customs of Bedouin societies. The deceit she employs is striking; readers of the biblical text want to know: Why did she do it? Weren’t the Kenites supposed to be allies with the Canaanites ? (See Judges 4:17.)

There is obviously more to this story than what meets the eye. One might argue that the Kenites and the Canaanites were allegedly at “peace with one another.” However, nothing is said about the nature of their “peaceful” relationship. It is quite possible that unlike the Israelites, the Kenites submissively accepted the Canaanite’s decrees and authority. This does not necessarily Sisera and his men did not have their way with the Kenites natives of that region. Could it be that she and other women were molested by Sisera or his men, much like they raped the Israelite women?

The biblical narrator is silent, but this type of deconstructive reading seems possible and this explanation may explain her motivation in killing Sisera in stealth. It is also possible that Yael acted on behalf of her Israelite female friends who were ravaged by Sisera. She may have felt that her loyalty to the Israelites was greater than her husband’s political treaties.

There are lots of sexual innuendos in the story. W.C. Kaiser observes, “Not only may the word ‘feet’ be a euphemism for one’s sexual parts, as it is in other parts of Scripture at times, but especially significant are the verbs “lay” (Hebrew šāḵaḇ), meaning ‘to sleep’ or “to have sexual intercourse” (for example, Gen 19:32; Deut 22:23, 25, 28; 2 Sam 13:14), and ‘to bow’ (Hebrew kāra˓), meaning ‘to bend the knee,’ ‘kneel,’ or in Job 31:10 to ‘crouch’ over a woman. If this understanding of the delicately put poetry is correct, then Jael is more than justified in her actions of self-defense of her person as well. For years Canaanite men had been raping Hebrew women in just this fashion.” [1]

Kaiser’s argument makes a lot of sense. Picture this scenario: Sisera simply walks into a woman’s tent, which certainly went against the ancient norms of modesty—all the while her husband was gone. Jael may have felt fearful for her life. Freud might easily deduce that the “at her feet,” might have a sexual connotation. Picture a married woman who is alone in a tent with a warrior, who is not her husband. Did she fear for her life? Would she have been justified to feel afraid for her life. Given the violent nature of her guest, who could blame her?

Had Jael been tried in a modern court, it seems most probable that she would have been acquitted. It is a familiar story we have seen this problem many times whenever women have found themselves in abusive relationships, where they lash out and kill their assailant.

Notes:

[1] W. C. Kaiser, Hard Sayings of the Bible (Downers Grove, Il: InterVarsity, 1997, c1996), 189.