Sisera

Sisera was the captain of an army, and his story ends in a woman’s tent. The song in Judges 5 recounts it: “the stars in their courses fought against Sisera,” and the river Kishon swept the enemy away. Jael gave him milk, then took a hammer in her hand, and “at her feet he bowed, he fell.” The song turns to Sisera’s mother watching at a window, asking “Why is his chariot so long in coming?” It closes with a prayer, “So let all thine enemies perish, O LORD,” and a note that the land had rest. Judges 5 is worth reading aloud.

15 verses

Judges

Judges 5:20

They fought from heaven; the stars in their courses fought against Sisera.

Judges 5:21

The river of Kishon swept them away, that ancient river, the river Kishon. O my soul, thou hast trodden down strength.

Judges 5:22

Then were the horsehoofs broken by the means of the pransings, the pransings of their mighty ones.

Judges 5:23

Curse ye Meroz, said the angel of the LORD, curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the LORD, to the help of the LORD against the mighty.

Judges 5:24

Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be, blessed shall she be above women in the tent.

Judges 5:25

He asked water, and she gave him milk; she brought forth butter in a lordly dish.

Judges 5:26

She put her hand to the nail, and her right hand to the workmen's hammer; and with the hammer she smote Sisera, she smote off his head, when she had pierced and stricken through his temples.

Judges 5:27

At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay down: at her feet he bowed, he fell: where he bowed, there he fell down dead.

Judges 5:28

The mother of Sisera looked out at a window, and cried through the lattice, Why is his chariot so long in coming? why tarry the wheels of his chariots?

Judges 5:29

Her wise ladies answered her, yea, she returned answer to herself,

Judges 5:30

Have they not sped? have they not divided the prey; to every man a damsel or two; to Sisera a prey of divers colours, a prey of divers colours of needlework, of divers colours of needlework on both sides, meet for the necks of them that take the spoil?

Judges 5:31

So let all thine enemies perish, O LORD: but let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might. And the land had rest forty years.

1 Samuel

1 Samuel 12:9

And when they forgat the LORD their God, he sold them into the hand of Sisera, captain of the host of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them.

Ezra

Ezra 2:53

The children of Barkos, the children of Sisera, the children of Thamah,

Nehemiah

Nehemiah 7:55

The children of Barkos, the children of Sisera, the children of Tamah,

From Easton's Bible Dictionary

Matthew George Easton, 1897

(Egypt. Ses-Ra, “servant of Ra”). (1.) The captain of Jabin’s army (Judg. 4:2), which was routed and destroyed by the army of Barak on the plain of Esdraelon. After all was lost he fled to the settlement of Heber the Kenite in the plain of Zaanaim. Jael, Heber’s wife, received him into her tent with apparent hospitality, and “gave him butter” (i.e., lebben, or curdled milk) “in a lordly dish.” Having drunk the refreshing beverage, he lay down, and soon sank into the sleep of the weary. While he lay asleep Jael crept stealthily up to him, and taking in her hand one of the tent pegs, with a mallet she drove it with such force through his temples that it entered into the ground where he lay, and “at her feet he bowed, he fell; where he bowed, there he fell down dead.” The part of Deborah’s song (Judg. 5:24-27) referring to the death of Sisera (which is a “mere patriotic outburst,” and “is no proof that purer eyes would have failed to see gross sin mingling with Jael’s service to Israel”) is thus rendered by Professor Roberts (Old Testament Revision):

Read the full entry

“Extolled above women be Jael, The wife of Heber the Kenite, Extolled above women in the tent. He asked for water, she gave him milk; She brought him cream in a lordly dish. She stretched forth her hand to the nail, Her right hand to the workman’s hammer, And she smote Sisera; she crushed his head, She crashed through and transfixed his temples. At her feet he curled himself, he fell, he lay still; At her feet he curled himself, he fell; And where he curled himself, there he fell dead.”

(2.) The ancestor of some of the Nethinim who returned with Zerubbabel (Ezra 2:53; Neh. 7:55).

From Smith's Bible Dictionary

William Smith, 1884

(battle array).

(1.) Captain of the army of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. He himself resided in Harosheth of the Gentiles. The particulars of the rout of Megiddo and of Sisera’s flight and death are drawn out under the heads of BARAK, DEBORAH, JAEL, KISHON. (B.C. 1296.)

(2.) After a long interval the name appears in the lists of Nethinim who returned from the captivity with Zerubbabel. (Ezra 2:53; Nehemiah 7:55) It doubtless tells of Canaanite captives devoted to the lowest offices of the temple. (B.C. before 536.)