Judges 5:25-31

Judges 5:25

He asked water, and she gave him milk; she brought forth butter in a lordly dish.

Sisera had asked Jael for some water so she invited him into her tent and then she came to him with a glass of milk which would cause Sisera to sleep much deeper.  She also brought him some butter or curdled milk which would have caused him to sleep a little deeper when taken with the milk that she gave him.   This curdled milk could have been the milk which she gave him or they could have been two separate items.

Judges 5:26

She put her hand to the nail, and her right hand to the workmen's hammer; and with the hammer she smote Sisera, she smote off his head, when she had pierced and stricken through his temples.

Once Sisera had fallen into a deep sleep, Jael then took the tent peg and held it to the temple of Sisera.  Notice that the Bible speaks about the right hand.  Psalm 109:31 (KJV)   For he shall stand at the right hand of the poor, to save him from those that condemn his soul.  The right hand signifies power or strength.  Sisera was under the judgment of God for his oppression of the Israelites and now the Lord was standing by the right hand of Jael as she was about exact divine vengeance on Sisera for the nation of Israel and her deliverance.  Her strokes of the hammer were so strong that she nearly decapitated him but she no doubt crushed his skull with the continual blows through the temples.

Judges 5:27

At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay down: at her feet he bowed, he fell: where he bowed, there he fell down dead.

The word “bowed” carries with to the meaning of “sink or fall” which means that Sisera could not escape the divine judgment of God and as a result, when Jael hammered the nail into his head, he began to sink right at her feet and he died right on that very same spot and that was where he laid lifeless. 

Judges 5:28

The mother of Sisera looked out at a window, and cried through the lattice, Why is his chariot so long in coming? why tarry the wheels of his chariots?

The mother of Sisera had probably wondered what happened to him since he had not arrived home yet.  She was probably used to him coming home soon since maybe he was used to making quick attacks and victories.  Sisera’s mother looked out a window to wait for him.  The oriental houses had very few windows at street level, they were all on the second floor which allowed the night time breeze to cool off the house where sleeping quarters were.  They were like bay windows which offered a good view of what was going on in the street.  She probably sat at the window wondering where Sisera was since she probably didn’t see any of the army coming back either.  A mother’s intuition, she probably knew something was very wrong this time. 

Judges 5:29

Her wise ladies answered her, yea, she returned answer to herself,

Since she was the mother of the commander of the army, no doubt she had ladies waiting on her plus she also had counselors who would answer her questions.  In this case, none of the wise women who attended her could give her any comfort because she asked these questions but answered them herself.  She was hoping that Sisera return with the spoils of victory but this time there is just silence coming from the streets.

Judges 5:30

Have they not sped? have they not divided the prey; to every man a damsel or two; to Sisera a prey of divers colours, a prey of divers colours of needlework, of divers colours of needlework on both sides, meet for the necks of them that take the spoil?

She asked if they came forth with all the prey they took from the Israelites.  She also asks if they divided all the spoils of victory.  She wondered if Sisera received some very nice clothing which would have been specially made needlework from the Israelite women.  The women of Israel would have picked that type of sewing up in Egypt because normally the Israelites dressed in bland colors.  So maybe Sisera’s mother was thinking that he was getting fitted for some fancy clothing and that they would have also started to divide up the women prisoners for the victors.

Judges 5:31

So let all thine enemies perish, O LORD: but let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might. And the land had rest forty years.