Charles Ellicott Commentary Judges 4:21

"Then Jael Heber`s wife took a tent-pin, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the pin into his temples, and it pierced through into the ground; for he was in a deep sleep; so he swooned and died." — Judges 4:21 (ASV)

Then. —Many commentators have ventured to assume that at this instant Jael received a divine intimation of what she was to do. To make such an assumption as a way of defending an act of assassination particularly terrible and particularly treacherous seems to be extremely unwarrantable. If any readers choose to adopt such methods for themselves, they should not attempt to enforce such “private interpretations” on others. The mind that is unsophisticated by the casuistry of exegesis will find little difficulty in arriving at a fair estimate of Jael’s conduct without resorting to dangerous and arbitrary interpolations of supposition into the simple Scripture narrative.

Heber’s wife. —This addition, being needless, might be regarded as emphatic, and as involving an element of condemnation by calling prominent attention to the “peace between Jabin and the house of Heber,” which has been mentioned where his name last occurs (Judges 4:17). It is, however, due in all probability to the very ancient and unembellished character of the narrative.

A nail of the tent. —Probably one of the great tent-pegs used to fasten down the cords that keep the tent in its place (Exodus 27:19; Isaiah 22:23; Isaiah 54:2, and other similar passages). Josephus says an iron nail, but there is nothing to show whether it was of iron or of wood, and the Septuagint, by rendering it passalon (“a wooden plug”), seem to have understood the latter.

A hammer. —Rather, the hammer. The ponderous wooden mallet kept in every tent to beat down the cord-pegs. The word is Makkebeth, from which is derived the word Maccabee. The warrior-priests, to whom that title was given, were the “hammers” of their enemies, and Karl received the title of Martel for a similar reason.

Went softly to him. —So as not to awaken him. The description of Sisera’s murder is exceedingly graphic. However, as far as the prose account is concerned, the silence regarding any condemnation of its worst and darkest features by no means necessarily excludes the idea of the most complete disapproval. The method of the narrative is the same as that found in all ancient literature, and is a method wholly different from that of modern writers, that abounds in subjective reflections. Thus Homer sometimes relates an atrocity without a word of censure, and sometimes indicates disapproval by a single casual adjective.

Struck. —With more than one blow, if we take the poet’s account (Judges 5:26) literally.

Fastened it into the ground.—Rather, it (the nail) went down into the ground. The verb used is rendered “lighted off” in Judges 1:14.

For he was fast asleep and weary. —The versions here vary considerably, but the English version seems to be perfectly correct. The verb for “he was fast asleep” is the same as in the forcible metaphor of Psalms 76:6: “The horse and chariot are cast into a deep sleep.” The description of his one spasm of agony is given in Judges 5:27.

There is no authority in the original for the gloss found in some manuscripts of the Septuagint: “And he was convulsed (ὰπηεσκάρισεν) between her knees, and fainted and died.” The words here used are only meant to account for his not being awakened by the approach or preparations of Jael (Kimchi), unless they involve a passing touch of pity or disapproval. Similarly it was, when Holofernes was “filled with wine,” that Judith “approached to his bed, and took hold of the hair of his head ... and smote twice upon his neck with all her might, and she took away his head from him.” .