Yesterday in Exodus 1 we got to know Shiphrah and Puah, leaders of the Hebrew midwives who refused to obey Pharaoh’s edict to kill the male children at delivery. Because they feared God more than the most powerful man on earth at that time, God dealt well with them, and rewarded them with families of their own.
From Rahab to Priscilla, from Deborah to Mary Magdalene, from Ruth to Esther, and even with unnamed women such as in Judges 9:53 or 2 Samuel 20:16-22, women in the Bible are often the passionate but steady ones who boldly do what should be done.
One woman who remains quite memorable is Jael the Kenite. In Judges 4, after Barak defeated the Canaanite forces that had been oppressing Israel for 20 years, their general Sisera had to flee the battle on foot. He was recognized by Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite – they were nomads in the region. She came out to Sisera and said, “‘Turn aside, my lord; turn aside to me; do not be afraid.’ So he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug. And he said to her, ‘Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.’ So she opened a skin of milk and give him a drink and covered him. And he said to her, ‘Stand at the opening to the tent, and if any man comes and asks you, ‘Is anyone here?’ say ‘No.’ But Jael the wife of Heber took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand. Then she went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple until it went into the ground while he was lying fast asleep from weariness. So he died. And behold, as Barak was pursuing Sisera, Jael went out to meet him and said to him, ‘Come and I will show you the man whom you are seeking.’ So he went into her tent, and there lay Sisera dead, with the tent peg in his temple.”
Can you imagine the courage of this woman, to invite a warlord into your tent who had for years decimated, raped, and pillaged across the land? Was her voice shaking as she worked to set him at ease? Was her hand shaking as she held the tent peg just above his sleeping head? What if he were to awaken, grab the instruments from her, and use them on her instead?
Deborah’s song in Judges 5 goes on to celebrate Jael, saying, “Most blessed of women be Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, of tent-dwelling women most blessed. He asked for water and she gave him milk; she brought him curds in a noble’s bowl. She sent her hand to the tent peg and her right hand to the workmen’s mallet; she struck Sisera; she crushed his head; she shattered and pierced his temple. Between her feet he sank, he fell, he lay still; between her feet he sank, he fell; where he sank, there he fell—dead.”
About 1400 years later, another woman – Mary the mother of Jesus – would be called “blessed among women.” She, like Jael, would risk everything to play a huge role in the defeat of God’s enemies. When an angel told her of God’s plans to completely upend her life, exposing her both to public shame and personal danger, she said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” May the women of The Source, like Jael and Mary, love goodness more than they fear danger. And may many schemes of the evil one be thwarted because of their faithfulness.