The reason Jael is blessed above all women

Why did the King of kings choose to work as a carpenter during His earthly life prior to His ministry? Our Lord, by Whom the heaven and earth were created, obviously had the choice to choose. He could have very well chosen to be seated on a throne even on this earth. But for what purpose was it that He chose to become a carpenter? It is of much benefit to ponder questions such as this and to inquire of the Holy Spirit for the answer. Inquiring deeper into the beauties and minute details of Christ and His life is a great way to receive fresh revelations of the Lord.

To me, the humility of our Lord is so beautiful. With the spoil of choices of where to be born, He chose a manger in the humble town of Bethlehem. He chose to be born into a family that was without much. And as He became a young Man, He chose the occupation of an unregarded carpenter. The beauty of our Lord. True humility such as this is something outside of man's ability. True humility can be birthed in us only by beholding God in the flesh, choosing to humble Himself and live and walk among the low places of society.

As the title of the post tells, this revelation comes from the story of Jael from the book of Judges. The book of Judges directly follows the book of Joshua in the Old Testament and precedes the rule of kings that began with Saul. It is a period in Israel's history where they have entered into the promised land with Joshua but there are yet many battles to be fought and deliverances to be made from their enemies, much like our lives today. It is during this time that God raised up judges such as Othniel, Gideon, and Samson to fight and to deliver Israel from these enemies. Another one of the judges of Israel was Deborah, who was also a prophetess of God.

1 But after Ehud died the Israelites again did evil in the sight of the Lord. 2 So the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who dwelt in Harosheth-hagoiim [fortress or city of the nations]. 3 Then the Israelites cried to the Lord, for [Jabin] had 900 chariots of iron and had severely oppressed the Israelites for twenty years. 4 Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lappidoth, judged Israel at that time. 5 She sat under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the hill country of Ephraim, and the Israelites came up to her for judgment. (Judges 4:1-5, AMPC)

As we can see from the verse above, Israel had again begun to serve other gods. Because of this, God sold them into the hands of Jabin, who was the king of Canaan. It was during this time of oppression under Jabin that God raised up Deborah, the first and last woman to judge and deliver Israel. It was through Deborah that God provided a prophecy of deliverance with a specific detail.

6 And she sent and called Barak son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali and said to him, Has not the Lord, the God of Israel, commanded [you], Go, gather your men at Mount Tabor, taking 10,000 men from the tribes of Naphtali and Zebulun? 7 And I will draw out Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, to meet you at the river Kishon with his chariots and his multitude, and I will deliver him into your hand? 8 And Barak said to her, If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go. 9 And she said, I will surely go with you; nevertheless, the trip you take will not be for your glory, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman. And Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh. [Fulfilled in Judg. 4:22.] (Judges 4:6-9, AMPC)

Deborah called Barak to whom God had already commanded a prophecy of victory and deliverance against Sisera, the general of Jabin's army. Yet, Barak did not take God's promise by faith and asked Deborah to come along. It is at this point that Deborah prophesied that all the glory that was intended for Barak would instead go to a woman. This woman to whom the glory would go to is Jael.

The rest of Judges 4 recounts the battle and the defeat of Sisera. God caused confusion among Sisera's army and he was forced to flee. He came to the tent of Jael, worn out and thirsting for water. When he asked for water, Jael instead put him to sleep by giving him milk and proceeded to crush his head with a hammer and a tent pin. Thus, Israel was delivered from Jabin and the Canaanites. The following verse is a reflection on the triumph of Jael.

24 Blessed above women shall Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, be; blessed shall she be above women in the tent. 25 [Sisera] asked for water, and she gave [him] milk; she brought him curds in a lordly dish. 26 She put her [left] hand to the tent pin, and her right hand to the workmen’s hammer. And with the wooden hammer she smote Sisera, she smote his head, yes, she struck 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, AMPC)

From these verses, the Holy Spirit made a few words and phrases catch my attention. First, the detailing of the hammer being wooden intrigued me. As I kept on reading through the end of verse 26 onto verse 27, I saw that "she smote his head" and that "he lay still at her feet." I was instantly reminded of the very first prophecy of the Bible made in the Garden of Eden.

15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. (Genesis 3:15, KJV)

This prophecy, the first ever from the mouth of God, is, of course, a prophecy of our Lord Jesus Christ crushing the devil. Now, the detail of the wooden hammer of Jael made all the sense to me. It is a foreshadowing of the cross! At the cross, our Lord Jesus crushed Satan when He gave Himself up as a sacrifice for us all.

I also want to bring attention to the vivid picture that comes to mind when we read Judges 4:26.

She put her [left] hand to the tent pin, and her right hand to the workmen's hammer. And with the wooden hammer she smote Sisera, she smote his head, yes, she struck and pierced his temple. (AMPC)

It may seem quite severe and excessive but God does not simply put details such as this for dramatic effect. Many times, I believe that we forget or haven't been told the extent to which Jesus has overcome the enemy for us. We may see the cross and know that our sins are forgiven but fail to realize that the cross is the answer for every single aspect of our lives! Yes, the greatest blessing that we can ever receive is salvation through Jesus Christ. But to limit the cross to only salvation is actually to de-magnify the scope of what our Lord accomplished for us! I was one of many believers out there who had received the gift of salvation but was living a defeated life in many other areas of life. I wasn't experiencing to the full extent God's will for me described in 3 John 2 where John writes, "Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in every way and [that your body] may keep well, even as [I know] your soul keeps well and prospers." (AMPC) Whether it was in the arena of health, peace, prosperity, relationships, dreams and ambitions, I wasn't seeing the "overwhelming and surpassing victory" that Paul describes in Romans 8:37.

I believe the reason I wasn't seeing the overwhelming victory described was because I didn't understand how defeated the enemy was at Calvary. The reason why the Holy Spirit describes in such horrific detail the smiting of Sisera is to show us just how defeated the enemy already is! Meditate on how overwhelming of a defeat it was for Sisera to have a tent pin crushed through his temple with a wooden hammer.

If we dwell a little longer on Sisera there is a further revelation that can be found. The second set of words that stood out to me after receiving the revelation above was the fact that Sisera was roaming about and asking for water. It reminded me of a verse from Matthew 12:43 which says, "But the unclean spirit, when he is gone out of the man, passeth through waterless places, seeking rest, and findeth it not." (ASV) If you also look up the definition of the name of Sisera (H5516) in Hebrew, you will find the definition of "battle array". Gesenius' definition of "field of battle" can be found as well. Scripture is telling us that Sisera is a picture of all the battles that come against us in life. In the context of Jael's story, we can see that any battle that comes against us in our tent, or our families, is brought on by an unclean spirit. And see the crushing defeat for the enemy when we bring the cross of Jesus Christ into our tents. That's how we need to see all of the battles of life that come against us. That is magnifying the work of our Lord Jesus Christ! That is faith! The battle is already won! And that is why Jael is blessed above all women. All that is required on our part is to remain at rest. Just as Jael was in her tent, a picture of her being at rest, we need to remain rested upon the Rock of our salvation, our Lord Jesus Christ!

And so, the promise of Romans 16:20 remains for us as Paul wrote:

And the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah) be with you. (AMPC)

We are not the ones that have to fight and crush the enemy. It is God who has already done the crushing for us. It is simply our part to believe on Him and the smiting of the enemy will occur in our lives.

This brings us back all the way to the beginning of why Jesus chose to be a carpenter. He would have been working with hammers and nails all day long. As He would hammer a nail, He knew that He would one day be on the receiving end of the nails and the hammer on the wooden cross. He knew that by His piercing, He would be crushing the enemy for us. Let faith arise as we behold our amazing Savior. We bless you, Lord.