[Recently] the evil thugs ruling Iran were killed by American and Israeli forces. As a result, all around the world Iranians living in exile have been dancing in the streets, singing and celebrating the downfall of this evil regime. They are perfectly right to do so, just as ancient Israel was perfectly right to celebrate the death of Jabin and Sisera.

The Bible is not averse to praising heroes of the faith that many believers today would find to be quite unacceptable. Indeed, many believers today would be quite squeamish about a passage like Judges 4-5 (more on that in a moment). Worse yet, many would be quite concerned to read texts like Exodus 15:3.

The NIV puts it this way: “The LORD is a warrior; the LORD is his name.” Or as the ESV has it: “The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is his name.” Too many Christians today would shrink back at the thought that their God is a warrior, a man of war. That is because they have imbibed too much of the surrounding culture, and too little of the biblical word.

But these and other texts are fully to be embraced by those who claim to be God’s people. And since I am now again reading through the book of Judges, it is worth revisiting the stories of two powerful women that God used: Deborah and Jael.

In Judges 4 we read about Deborah and Barak, and how the Canaanite king Jabin was defeated by them. And we find recorded there how Sisera, the general of Jabin’s army, ended up being killed by having a peg driven into his head by Jael (verses 17-22). Hmm, pretty hardcore stuff.

What is really interesting is how in the very next chapter we have the Song of Deborah. There she praises God for this tremendous defeat of God’s enemies. Jael was certainly not condemned nor censored for what she had done, but was instead praised big time for her courage in striking down the enemy. As we read in verses 24-27 of chapter 5:

“Most blessed of women be Jael,
    the wife of Heber the Kenite,
    of tent-dwelling women most blessed.
He asked for water and she gave him milk;
    she brought him curds in a noble’s bowl.
She sent her hand to the tent peg
    and her right hand to the workmen’s mallet;
she struck Sisera;
    she crushed his head;
    she shattered and pierced his temple.
Between her feet
    he sank, he fell, he lay still;
between her feet
    he sank, he fell;
where he sank,
    there he fell—dead.”

Hmm, that is my kinda gal. And the final verse of the chapter, verse 31, says this:

“So may all your enemies perish, O Lord!
    But your friends be like the sun as he rises in his might.”
And the land had rest for forty years.

But again, many of today’s rather woke wonders found in our churches would find this story to be all too much. ‘This is not how God’s people should act! My God would never approve of such activity!’ Well, sorry, but I prefer to stick with what God has said about such things, and not what worldly weaklings think.

Indeed, we should keep this story in mind as we look at today’s events. We are told in Judges 4:1-3 that Jabin and Sisera, had “oppressed the people of Israel cruelly for twenty years.” Today we have similar situations, including the 47-year reign of terror by the Ayatollah and the Islamists in Iran.

Just days ago the evil thugs ruling Iran were killed by American and Israeli forces. As a result, all around the world Iranians living in exile have been dancing in the streets, singing and celebrating the downfall of this evil regime. They are perfectly right to do so, just as ancient Israel was perfectly right to celebrate the death of Jabin and Sisera.

In her TOTC commentary Mary Evans reminds us of how God looked at the killing of Sisera:

In modern society Jael’s action could be seen as excessively violent, and inappropriate behaviour, particularly for a woman. However, we must beware of introducing questions that would not have been understood in their original context. In general, to kill an enemy in the course of a war would never have been seen as inappropriate. Also in this case as in many others, Scripture does not stereotype roles in the way that both ancient and modern cultures tend to do. The text has no hint of condemnation of Jael for any reason; in fact, quite the reverse. In a phrase reminiscent of Elizabeth’s Spirit-inspired greeting to Mary (Luke 1:42) Jael is considered to be worthy of particular praise.

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