The story of Jael
Nearly 1200 years before the birth of Jesus
Christ, there were no kings who ruled the Israelites. The Israelites were under
the direct protection and guardianship of the Lord Almighty. The Lord provided all
their needs and led them to the Promised Land just like how a mother would care
for her children. He loved them so much and called them his chosen people. He
loved them and was with them in all that they did. He protected them form the
hands of their enemies and thus the people of other races were so afraid of the
Israelites for they had a God who fought for them. But the Israelites were not
true to their God and rebelled against him. This was a routing issue and God
used to punish them for their disobedience but later would call them back out
of his love and mercy for them. At times when the Israelites forsake God and
worshiped false gods, the almighty God handed them over to their enemies. But
when the Israelites repented for their wrong doings and turned their eyes
towards him, he would speak to them through their prophets and bring them out
of their slavery.
Likewise during the time of this story, it
was the time of judges who were appointed head over the Israelite people.
During this time, a prophetess named Debora was the judge over the Israelite
people. She lived in a place situated between Ramah and Ephraim. Her husband’s
name was Lapidoth which means light. He was responsible for lighting the lamp
stand which stood in the Lords presence at the place called Silo. The oil and
fire required for lighting the lamp was taken care of by him. He was very pious
and served the Lord with a clean heart. During this time the Israelites
indulged themselves in many sinful ways which was displeasing in the eyes of
the Lord. Among the various sins committed by them, that which was very
disgusting in the eyes of the Lord was their idol worship, worshiping false
gods and their lustful and sexual
pleasures. Hence Almighty god cursed them and punished them by giving them into
the hands of their enemies the Canaanites.
At this time Cana was rules by king Jabin.
This king was a tyrant and his general Sisera was even worse than him. The
Israelites suffered worst treatments in the hands of this king and his army
general. This time of torture and torment lasted for about twenty years during
which the Israelites had the worst treatment in the hands of king Jabin and his
army general. But they lifted up their voices and pleaded to their God, their
ever loving God. They asked for forgiveness and their God looked down upon them
with mercy and compassion. God forgave them and promised them that he would
rescue them and take them out of this bondage. According to the promise of God,
the great prophetess Debora rose up among the Israelites.
Now Debora a prophetess the wife of
Lappidoth, judged Israel. She sat under a palm tree of Deborah between Ramah
and Ephraim, and the Israelites came up to her for judgment. She did not have
any own house. She was praised and honoured by the Israelites as a good judge.
One day the word of the Lord came to her and she called Barak, the son of
Abinoam. He was an army general of Israel and the Lord had a prophecy for him.
Debora gave him the prophecy stating, “The God of Israel commands you to go and
gather your men at Mount Tabor, taking 10,000 men from the tribes of Napthali
and Zebulun. The Lord says, ‘I will draw our 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.” Debora also said that the Lord God of
Israel will fight on his behalf and will give him the victory.
This king Jabin is from Assyria. He is an
excellent warrior and his army general Sisera is also a well trained army
general. They stayed in the fort of Asoor. In those days this king Jabin had
nearly 900 war chariots, a huge horse force and a great army of soldiers. This
great army support of Jabin made the kings of other kingdoms fear to stand
against Jabin. In a nut shell there was no one who dared to wage a war against
king Jabin or defeat him. Our young hero Barak was now commanded by the God of
Israel to fight against this kind of an enemy. Once Barak received the prophecy
of God through Debora, he feared to think of such an attack. Still he was
confident and trusted the words of God. So he told Debora, “Honorable lady, I
have just 10,000 men whom I have assembled at mount Tabor. I need more men to
fight against such a king. What shall I do?” Debora replied, “Barak, trust in
the Lord and he will take care of all your needs. Go to your fellow brothers of
Ephraim, Makeem, Zebulon, Issachar, and Naphtali and seek their help. Even
otherwise, the almighty God is with us and so don’t fear.”
Now let
us see some interesting facts about mount Tabor.
This high mount Tabor looks like a volcano,
but is not. It is situated on a flat plain situated above 4300 step shaped
mountainous region. It is 2.5kms above ground and is a steep mount. It is
called as War Mountain. If one has to reach this place, he could either travel
on a horse or by walk. Jesus and his apostles Peter, John and James reached
this mountain top by walk. Jesus strictly ordered them not to take anything to
eat or drink along with them. They walked for about two and a half hours and
reached the mountain top. There were many caves in this mountain. It is said
that the great prophets like Isaiah and Malachi lived in these caves. Abraham
the father of Faith met Melchizedek, the high priest in this mountain. Jesus
rested for a while in these caves, preached the good news to his disciples and
spent time in prayer. It was about midnight when Jesus Christ decided to show
to his world who he was and the purpose for which he came to this earth. That
was the time of his transfiguration. His face was became brighter and brighter
that his disciples could not see his face at all. They could not face the light
which radiated from the face of Jesus. The disciples fell down to the ground
and managed to see what happened amidst that great light.
The heavens opened and there appeared God
the Father and Holy Spirit who looked like a baby with the body of a dove. Also
many angels with the appearance of soldiers, with wide spread wings, some
looked like the priests in the church, and they all appeared displaying their
power and might. This created a sense of awesomeness and Peter asked, “My Lord,
who are these heavenly beings?” Jesus replied, “They are our helping ministers”
Peter said, “Lord if you wish and permit we will do all that you require and
all kinds of ministry.” As peter spoke the face of Jesus Christ became even
brighter and at a point his whole body became a body of light, transparent so
that one can see through it. All of a sudden a shack of light engulfed Jesus
and his disciples present there. They were filled with the presence of the Lord
and saw a vision.
In this vision they saw Moses and Elijah in a conversation
with Jesus. Moses said, “Dear Lord, just like how you saved the Israelites from
the hands of Pharaoh in Egypt, save them now from a even worse enemy, which is
sin and grant them eternal life.” At that time prophet Malachi was also present
there in the form of a heavenly ghost, but he did not speak. Amidst the
conversation, Jesus Christ discussed about his sufferings and death and how he
is the rise on the third day. Peter was so thrilled and excited that he said,
“It is so nice to be here Lord. Shall we make three tents, one for you, one for
Elijah and one for Moses and stay here in this mountain.” As he spoke this a
voice from heaven said, “He is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Listen
to him” It was the voice of God the Father and he gave witness about Jesus
Christ. With this the vision was over. The apostles heard these words which
sounded sweet in their ears but for those who were at the bottom of the mount,
it sounded like thunder.
After the vision Jesus blessed his
disciples and told them how he has to suffer, die and rise from the dead. He
also commanded them strictly not to tell anyone of all that they saw or heard
on the mountain. After the transfiguration was over, the next day they came
down from the mountain and a huge crowd waited at the bottom of the mountain
waiting for their arrival. There were many Pharisees and Sadducees who waited
for an opportunity to get Jesus into trouble. The moment they saw Jesus and his
disciples returning from the mountain, they were wonder struck because the face
of Jesus and his disciples was filled with the presence and glow of the heavenly
encounter they had the previous night. The glow had not decreased and thus many
of the Pharisees and the Sadducees accepted Jesus Christ and decided to follow
him. At that time there was a great
commotion among the crowd. On hearing the noise Jesus asked, “What is it? Why
is the crowd restless?” on hearing this a man walked up to Jesus and kneeling
before him said, “Rabbi, this is my son. He is fifteen years of age. He is
possessed with an evil spirit. It is a dumb spirit. And where ever it lays hold
of him, it dashes him down and convulses him, and he foams and grinds his
teeth, and he is wasting away. And I asked your disciples to drive it out, and
they were not able to do it. So kindly do have mercy on me and my son and set
him free from this dumb spirit. We have suffered a lot because. Do have mercy
on us Lord.”
Jesus looked at the boy’s father who stood with tears in his eyes
and expecting the time of his son’s miracle and said, “How do you know that I
can heal your son? What makes you believe in me?” The boy’s Father replied,
“The holy presence in your face is more than enough to prove that you are truly
the son of Almighty God. if you are not able to set my son free then who else
can do it my Lord? I believe that you are the son of the Lord God Almighty and
that you will set my son free.” On hearing this Jesus rejoiced and commanded
the unclean dumb spirit to leave the young boy right away. Immediately the boy
started to foam and fell down on the ground as if he was dead.
On seeing this
condition of the boy some of the Pharisees said, “We knew that this is what
would happen. Jesus was not able to drive out the evil spirit which was
powerful than him. So the evil spirit was angry on the command of Jesus and
hence killed the boy. These stupid
followers cannot understand this and are following him. This is the heights of
stupidity.” They gave such sarcastic remarks.
But a few minutes later the young
boy got up. The dumb spirit had left him and he was in his right senses. He
started to speak. The boy and his father fell down at the feet of Jesus and
thanked him. Jesus blessed them and sent them away. This great miracle made
many Sadducees and Pharisees to follow Jesus.
As per the wish of Peter the Fransciscan
priests have built a beautiful church in the place of transfiguration of Jesus.
This church is built in such a way that there is a room for Moses, a room for
Elijah and in the center there is a room for Jesus. Prophet Malachi has
foretold the vision of how Jesus would look like at the time of transfiguration
of Jesus and the second coming of Jesus for the final judgment.
He states the
scene as, “Behold I send my messenger and he shall prepare the way before me.
And he Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to His temple; the Messenger or
Angel of the covenant Whom you desire, behold, He shall come, says the Lord of
Hosts. But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when he
appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. He will be a
swift witness against sorcerers, against adulterers, against the false
swearers, and against those who oppress the hireling in the wages, the widow
and the fatherless, and who turn aside the temporary resident from his right
and fear not Me, says the Lord of Hosts.”
Jesus Christ has given an evidence to prove
that the transfiguration took place on Mount Tabor. At the time of his
transfiguration the face and the whole body of Jesus glittered like that of the
light of thousand suns shining in one place. Light is associated with heat.
Hence due to the excessive light at the time of transfiguration, a lot of heat
was generated. Hence the solid rock on which Jesus was standing at the time of
transfiguration became white marble stone due to the heat. For an ordinary rock to become a marble
stone, the amount of heat required is about 1000 degree centigrade. If this is
the requirement, what would have been the status of the three disciples who
stood near Jesus in that place? They would have been burnt down to ashes. But
Jesus Christ protected his disciples from the heat with his power and might.
This is a great miracle. This stone is kept even to this day in the church
which is built in the place of the transfiguration of Jesus. In order to
prevent the tourist from causing damage to the stone, the stone is covered with
wooden planks. But the stone could be seen on request.
Now let us get back to our story.
On receiving the prophetic message from
Debora, Barak replied, “If you will come with me, I will go. But if you will
not come with me, I will not go. Though I believe in the promise of the
Almighty God, if you come with me I will be even more confident to face my
enemy.” But Debora was disappointed at the reply of Barak. She said, “I will
surely come with you; nevertheless, the trip you take will not be for your
glory, for the Lord will set Sisera into
the hand of a woman.” Barak said, “I am not worried about name and fame, but I
want you to come with me and stand by my side in the war field.” So Debora went
along with Barak to the battle field. Siesera observed the activities of the
enemy army and accordingly made arrangements for the attack with great care.
But the Lord of Hosts was on the side of Barak and the war was the Lord’s. The
Lord manifested his great power. There was heavy rain on the day of war. The
river Kishon which was near to the battle field was flooded with the rain. The
battle field too became muddy making it difficult for the soldiers to fight.
Thus the great warrior, the army general of the Canaanite army, Sisera
struggled. The 900 war chariots got stuck in the mud in the battle field and
became useless. The flooded river became a great barrier for the movement of
his horses and soldiers and they could not escape.
At this point Debora said, “Barak, the
Almighty God has handed over Siesera and his men in your hands. Go ahead and
kill them.” The next moment, Barak and his men marched forwarded and killed the
entire army of Siesera in a few hours. On seeing this Siesera alighted from his
chariot and fled on foot to save his life. Barak pursued after the army of
Sisera and killed them, not a man was left. Sisera fled on foot to the tent of
Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, for there was peace between Jabin the king
of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. Keeping this in mind he approached
the tent of Jael to take refuge there. Jael saw Sisera and went out to meet him
and said to him, “Turn aside, my Lord, turn aside to me; have no fear.” So he
turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug. Sisera said,
“Lady, please do not disclose that I am here to anyone. If anyone questions you
about me, say that you are not aware of anything. Give me now a little water to
drink, for I am thirsty.” Jael said, “I will not disclose your presence here to
anyone Sir. Do not worry about it.” So saying she opened a skin of milk and
gave him a drink and covered him. Sisera said, “Stand at the door of the tent,
and if any man comes and asks you, is there any man here? Tell him, No.” So
saying he soon fell fast asleep. Looking at Sisera sleep soundly, Jael thought
within herself all the torments Sisera and his king gave the Israelites and her
own people. She thought that the Almighty God has brought him to her tent to be
killed in her hands. She prayed to God to give her the grace and courage to
utilize this opportunity in the right way. With this thought in mind, she went
and took a tent pin and a hammer in her hand and went softly to him. She quickly hammered
the rent pin through his temple and into the ground. Sisera died and was lying
down in a pool of blood. He who sucked the blood of many died in the hands of a
woman.
In the mean time Barak had come searching
for Sisera. He reached the tent and saw Jael. He asked her, “Woman did you see
a Canaanite army general anywhere around this place?” Jael replied, “Come, and
I will show you the man you seek. “ And
when Barak came into her tent, behold,
Sisera lay dead, and the tent pin was in his temples. Thus the prophecy of
Debora was fulfilled. Jael was praised for her great courage and act of bravery.
This victory was rejoiced and honored as the victory of the God of Israel.
After this war for the next forty years there was peace and happiness in the
life of the Israelites. Debora sang a song about the brave woman Jael and the
greatness of Almighty God which was known as the song of Debora.
“For the leaders who took the lead in Israel, for the
people who offered themselves willingly, bless the Lord!
Hear, O kings; give ear, O princes; I will sing to the
Lord. I will sing praise to the Lord, the God of Israel.
Far from the noise of archers in the places of drawing
water, there shall they rehearse the righteous acts of the Lord, even the
righteous acts toward His villagers in Israel. Then the people of the Lord went
down to the gates.
Awake, awake, Deborah! Awake, awake, and utter a song!
Arise, Bara, and lead away your captives, your son of Abinoam.
Then down marched the remnant of the nobles, the
people of the Lord marched down for me against the mighty.
The kings came and fought, then fought the kings of
Canaan at Taanach by the waters of Megiddo. Gain of booty they did not obtain.
From the heavens the stars fought, from their courses
they fought against Sisera.
The torrent Kishon swept the foe away, the onrushing
rotten, the torrent Kishon. O my soul, march on with strength!
Then the horses’ hoofs beat loudly because of the
galloping of valiant riders.
Curse Meroz,
said the messenger of the Lord. Curse bitterly its inhabitants, because they
came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty!
Blessed above women shall Jael, the wife of Heber the
Kenite, be; blessed shall she be above women in the tent.
Sisera asked for water, and she gave him milk; she
brought him curds in a lordly dish.
She put her left hand to the tent pin, and her right
hand to the work-men’s hammer. And with the wooden hammer she smote Sisera, she
smote his head, yes, she struck and pierced his temple.
He sank, he fell, he lay still at her feet. At her
feet her sank, he fell; where he sank, there he fell – dead!”
In the days which followed Debora was
praised as a prophetess and mother by all of Israel. The tomb of Debora is
located on the northern part of Israel at Kadesh. The fort of Asoor which belonged
to the Canaanites was taken over by the Israelites. Many years later the story of the prodigal
son and his rich father took place in this fort. When Jesus Christ quoted the
life of this wealthy man in his parable which made many of the people believe
in him.