Daughters of Grace Series: Jael

Last week we continued a study from the Daily Grace Co. called Daughters of Grace. We talked about Deborah, her story, characteristics, and what we can learn from her life. This week we are talking about a woman who was a part of Deborah's story: Jael. 

If you would like a link to purchase the study we are reading from, click here. You may also head over to our Facebook Page and watch the live video from 2/1/22 if you would like to just listen to what the book reads and follow along. 

To read the full story in the Bible, flip to Judges chapter 4 and 5. I am going to hop right in to the discussion questions from this story. The answers for questions #1 and #3 are going to be the exact same for this week as last week's answers because we are talking about a different woman within the same story of Judges chapter 4 and 5. Please reference last week's blog post here to see what lessons are revealed in the story and what we learn about God's character from this story.

2. What character qualities, positive or negative, do we see demonstrated in Jael's life?

• brave/fearless- Jael had to be brave to take in a man from the opposing nation and give her word to keep him safe, only to kill him! I can't get over how fearlessly Jael acts in this story.
• resourceful- obviously Jael had to think quickly and use what she had on hand to kill Sisera
• hospitable- We see that Jael offers milk and a covering to Sisera. Even though this was to put him at ease so that he would more easily fall asleep and be killed, I still like that Jael is attempting to be hospitable to the guest in her tent.
• quick thinker- She had to immediately come up with a plan of how to trick Sisera and kill him. Jael also had to quickly decide where her alliance would lie- with God and the Israelites or with her husband, who was at peace with King Jabin
• dishonest- Jael did have to lie in order to get Sisera to trust her
• loyal (to her own cause)- Jael showed loyalty to the Israelite people even though it was not where her husband's loyalty lied
• strong- Not only did Jael show strong will for her own alliances in this story, she also showed physical strength when she killed Sisera with the tent stake

We do not know a ton about Jael other than this one little story, which may have not highlighted all of or even her best character traits. Some of these may be a little stretched just to try to usurp as much about Jael as we can from her story in Judges 4. Although the following has nothing to do with Jael's story, I want to call out my favorite part of Judges chapter 5, when Deborah is praising God for the victory. She says of Jael starting in verse 24:

"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 workman'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."

I feel that we get a different telling of the story in this chapter through Deborah's perspective and though it doesn't reveal much more about Jael, it is definitely and interesting passage. 

Again, check last week's blog post to wrap up what lessons we can learn from this story! Next week we will be talking about another Daughter of Grace: Ruth.