“Deborah and Jael”
NOTE:
This post has been withdrawn. The post will be published in my book, Those Amazing Women of Ancient Israel. The book introduces an amazing group of women who made an impact on the political, religious, and the economic life of early Israelite society. The book will be published in the Fall of 2024 by Kregel Academics.
Visit my Amazon author’s page to purchase the book (click here).
Claude Mariottini
Emeritus Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
A Note About This Post:
Before “Deborah and Jael” was withdrawn for publication, “Deborah and Jael” was read by 4,594 readers. “Deborah and Jael” was also shared 19 times by readers who enjoyed reading the post. You can read “Deborah and Jael” and other articles on the amazing women of the Old Testament by reading my forthcoming book Those Amazing Women of Ancient Israel. Below is the content of the book:
Those Amazing Women of Ancient Israel
CONTENTS
List of Abbreviations
Acknowledgments
Foreword
Preface
Chapter 1 Those Amazing Women of Ancient Israel
Part 1
Israel’s Social Concern for Women
Chapter 2 Israel’s Concern for Women
Chapter 3 The Status of Women in Israelite Society
Chapter 4 The Deuteronomic Concern for Women
Chapter 5 The Tenth Commandment (Deuteronomy 5:21)
Chapter 6 The Law of the Hebrew Slave
Part 2
Women Prophets
Chapter 7 Women Prophets in the Old Testament
Chapter 8 Miriam the Prophetess
Chapter 9 Deborah the Prophetess
Chapter 10 Isaiah’s Wife
Chapter 11 Huldah, A Prophet in Israel
Chapter 12 Noadiah the Prophetess
Chapter 13 The Nameless Prophetesses in the Book of Ezekiel
Chapter 14 The Seven Prophetesses of the Old Testament
Chapter 15 Women Who Proclaim the Good News
Chapter 16 The Daughters of Heman
Chapter 17 “Your Daughters Shall Prophesy”
Part 3
The Mothers of Israel
Chapter 18 Sarah: A Mother in Her Old Age
Chapter 19 Hagar: The Surrogate Mother
Chapter 20 Rachel: The Struggles of a Barren Woman
Chapter 21 Moses’s Two Mothers
Chapter 22 Sisera’s Mother: The Humanization of the Enemy
Chapter 23 Samson’s Mother: A Mother’s Disappointment
Chapter 24 Hannah: “The Barren Has Borne Seven”
Chapter 25 Rizpah: Reflections on a Mother’s Love
Chapter 26 Bathsheba: A Mother with Determination
Chapter 27 Solomon and the Two Mothers
Chapter 28 Jeroboam’s Wife: A Mother’s Agony
Chapter 29 Jesus’s Great-Grandmothers
Chapter 30 The Other Great-Grandmothers of Jesus
Chapter 31 Jezebel: A Great-Grandmother of Jesus
Chapter 32 The Genealogy of Jesus According to His Great-Grandmothers
Part 4
Abused Women
Chapter 33 Dinah, the Daughter of Jacob
Chapter 34 Tamar, the Wife of Er
Chapter 35 The Levite’s Concubine
Chapter 36 Bathsheba, the Wife of Uriah
Chapter 37 Tamar, the Daughter of David
Part 5
Women of Distinction
Chapter 38 Rahab: A Prostitute or an Innkeeper?
Chapter 39 Deborah, A Judge in Israel
Chapter 40 Jael: A Heroine in Israel
Chapter 41 Ruth, the Moabite
Chapter 42 Ahinoam, the Mother of Amnon
Chapter 43 Abishag, the Shunammite
Chapter 44 The Greatness That Was Jezebel
Chapter 45 Esther, the Queen of Persia
Bibliography
Index of Scriptures
Index of Authors
Index of Subjects
Index of Hebrew Words
I hope you will enjoy reading the book and develop a new appreciation for these amazing women of Ancient Israel.
Claude Mariottini
Emeritus Professor of Old Testament
Northern Baptist Seminary
If you enjoyed reading this post, you will enjoy reading my books.
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Dr. Claude Mariottini - Professor of Old Testament 
A very interesting post.
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Brian,
Thank you for your comment. My next post on Deborah will deal with Sisera's mother.
Claude Mariottini
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Enjoyed your post very much, and learned a lot of new things.Just one question:How do you answer the differences in the details of Sisera's death, where he's asleep in Judges 4:21, and where he's standing in Judges 5:26 & 27 ?
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Dear friend,
The idea that Sisera was standing is taken as a poetic expression to convey the idea that he fell dead. Others take the expression to refer to the sexual implication of Jael's words.The narrative is correct. How could Jael kill him with a tent peg if Sisera was awake and standing?Thank you for reading my blog.
Claude Mariottini
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Pingback: JAEL – Most Blessed of Women | Women in the Bible
Heard a sermon on this this past Sunday, and the minister invited us to meditate on, and think about, Jael and what she did, and how she could be exalted for it. So, I came across your discussion in my curiosity (I’m an American Baptist by the way). I take it that whether an act like this could be defined as an “assassination” or a “murder” is a matter of context? (Honor, etc.). Clearly the meaning of it as described here is a reminder that we can’t judge actions in the distant past, by individuals or cultures, by the norms of our own contemporary understandings.
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Richard,
I agree with you. People today tend to judge actions in the distant past by the standards of our own contemporary understandings. People in the past did not live by the standards of the Sermon on the Mount. They lived in a society that is different than ours. Some people today judge the actions of people who live thousands of years ago by the standards of 21st century America. That is the reason many people tend to reject the Bible and Christianity.
Claude Mariottini
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The general lost his life at the hands of a woman because after violently raping her, he was going to take her back as a trophy which is why she had to kill him, and Abimelech was trying to burn the woman and her people alive in the tower as a sacrifice to Satan which is why she threw that millstone down at his head. The idea that ” Bing killed by a woman was the most humiliating thing that a soldier could experience is not true, women were looked down upon and treated like dirt! So a woman killing a man in self-defense was also looked down upon!
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Bible Guy,
Thank you for your comment. However, it seems that some of your observations are not correct.
1. Sisera did not rape Jael.
2. Abimelech was not trying to make a sacrifice to Satan. Abimelech came to the tower to burn it with fire.
3. A warrior being killed by a woman was a great humiliation. It was a matter of honor. You should read more about honor societies.
Thank you for visiting my blog.
Claude Mariottini
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