The Bible helps us make sense of our lives. That's why I have a passion to "make sense of the Bible." In my thesis I am tackling an incident that for many people just doesn't make sense. Jael does a lot of things we would consider wrong: She breaks a treaty her husband had negotiated; she breaks the custom of being hospitable to enemies when they are in your tent. She invites a man into her tent--highly improper, and then she deceives him with an outright lie. And when he is most vulnerable she commits premeditated murder in gruesome fashion (Judges 4:17-22). But here is the kicker: in the next chapter (Judges 5:24-27), Jael is praised with a rare honor for these very actions! How does that make sense?

 

How can we claim God loves everyone? (Except his enemies, apparently!) How can we claim the Bible contains the truth? (What happened to "thou shall not kill"?) And how can we claim that Christian ethics are morally superior? (Jesus said, "turn the other cheek" not, "smash it in with a tent peg!") It doesn't help matters that the same praise is given to Mary, the mother of our Lord! What does Jael's violence have to do with Mary's obedience?

 

To "make sense" of this incident, my thesis will look at the original text of Judges 4 & 5, then examine the different interpretations of this event. Some people believe Judges 5:24 is expressing hyperbole or exaggeration; others think it is being ironic or sarcastic. Some people think this story is a myth fabricated to address feminist issues, and others claim "all's fair in love and war". Some even allege that Jael is a secret agent! The first draft of my thesis is due in less than a week. Pray I write clearly as I "make sense" of this passage.

 

By the way, if Jael is a secret agent then she has a "license to kill", and we know her last name. It's Bond ... Jael Bond. Agent double-O-tent peg ... on His majesty's secret service!