Bishop KC Pillai was an expert on the culture and customs
of the people of the Bible. My friend, Doug, sent me this write-up on the story
of Jael and Sisera that I talked about on last Sunday’s preach letter. I think
this will give everyone a deeper understanding of that record – well worth the
reading!
Eastern Customs and Idioms of the Bible: Orientalisms
Bishop K.C Pillai
Jael Defends Her Honor
Judges
4:18-21
And
Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said unto him, Turn in, my Lord, turn in to
me; fear not. And when he had turned in unto her into the tent, she covered him
with a mantle. And he said unto her, Give me, I pray thee, a little water to
drink: for I am thirsty. And she opened a bottle of milk, and gave him drink;
and covered him. Again he said unto her, Stand in the door of the tent, and it
shall be, when any doth come and enquire of thee, and say, Is there any man
here? That thou shalt say, No. Then Jael, Herber’s wife, took a nail of the
tent, and took an hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the
nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: for he was fast asleep
and weary. So he died.
And
then, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said to him,
“Come, I will show you the man whom you seek.” And when he went into her
tent, there lay Sisera, dead with the peg in his temple. (Added for clarity, it was her tent.)
There was a war at one time between the
Israelites and the Canaanites in which the Israelites defeated the Canaanites.
The captain of the army of the Canaanites was Sisera, and he ran when he saw
defeat. He came to a tent where Jael lives and (1) she gave him refuge. He
asked for water and (2) she gave him milk. (3) She also covered him with a
mantle. These three actions of her were very significant. Jael belonged to a
neutral party, so Sisera was sage there. In the tents, there is one part for
men and one part for women, divided with a tarpaulin. Men could never enter the
women’s side and vice versa. Only family could visit back and forth. Even
military or lawmen could not go into a woman’s apartment. Sisera was a stranger
to Jael, so why should she help him? It is believed that to give a man refuge
who is running for his life is doing the word of God. Otherwise, it would have
been against her culture to speak to the man.
She
put him in the men’s side of the tent and covered him up with a mantle. A
mantle is a three to four foot long cloth, folded in four parts and worn around
the neck. The mantle represents authority, or protection, or when it is torn in
two, it signifies an outward sign of inward grief or anger. Authority may be
transferred by transferring the mantle from on to another. Jael invited Sisera
in. Whenever a guest comes under the shadow of one’s roof, he is treated as if
he were God or an angel. The host would rather die than allow any harm to come
to the guest. He may be “no one” but when serving him, one is serving God.
Receiving a guest is a religious thing and even the government would not
interfere with it.
When
Jael gave Sisera milk (buttermilk) in which there is salt, she took a covenant
of salt with him, which is inviolable. She gave him three assurances of
protection: (1) invited him in, (2) covered him with a mantle, and (3) took the
covenant of salt with him. Being an Eastern man, he should have understood the
significance of these three things. He then asked her to tell a lie. In their
philosophy is an unwritten law: one can tell a lie to save someone’s life, but
one can never tell a lie to profit or save one’s self.
She
was offering to Sisera God’s assurance for protection. She would lay down her
life for him (indicated by her standing in the doorway for him), rather then
betray him. Later on, she comes inside from standing in the doorway and found
him fast asleep. Sisera had three assurances, but he snuck into the women’s
apartment. He did not stay where he was put. Any man can come into a man’s side
of the tent. So Sisera began thinking, “maybe they will chase her away and come
into the tent—although she means well, she could not defend me if men walked
in. But if I get into a woman’s tent, no men, no power, no army can come in. I
will be safer here.” So his unbelief in the three “securities” or assurances,
led him into her apartment of the tent. His unbelief killed him. The woman
found him in her apartment and carried out her part of the contract. She took a
nail of the tent and drove this nail through his temple and he died. Why?
If a
person makes the covenant of salt with another person and one of the two breaks
this covenant, the punishment is death. The reason that she drove a nail
through his head was because he moved over into her side of the tent (verse
22). He broke the covenant of salt by doubting her protection, so he deserved
only death. She was dealing with his unbelief by driving tent nail through his
head. She had no animosity, she was not his enemy. She covered him with the
mantle, exchanged the covenant of salt and she called him inside.
Because
we do not trust in God, we try to make our own securities. Because of our
unbelief, we forsake the sufficiency give to us in God. We do not believe
because we do not understand. Knowing God is different from knowing about God.
We must understand our security, freedom, heritage and rejoice in God for the
rest of our lives.”
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