April 6th - Reflection

Reading
Judges 4:17-23; 5:24-31a (NRSV)
Jael kills Sisera

Now Sisera had fled away on foot to the tent of Jael wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between King Jabin of Hazor and the clan of Heber the Kenite. Jael came out to meet Sisera, and said to him, "Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me; have no fear." So he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug. Then he said to her, "Please give me a little water to drink; for I am thirsty." So she opened a skin of milk and gave him a drink and covered him. He said to her, "Stand at the entrance of the tent, and if anybody comes and asks you, 'Is anyone here?' say, 'No.'" But Jael wife of Heber took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple, until it went down into the ground -- he was lying fast asleep from weariness -- and he died. Then, as Barak came in pursuit of Sisera, Jael went out to meet him, and said to him, "Come, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking." So he went into her tent; and there was Sisera lying dead, with the tent peg in his temple.

So on that day God subdued King Jabin of Canaan before the Israelites. ...

"Most blessed of women be Jael,
the wife of Heber the Kenite,
of tent-dwelling women most blessed.
He asked water and she gave him milk,
she brought him curds in a lordly bowl.
She put her hand to the tent peg
and her right hand to the workmen's mallet;
she struck Sisera a blow,
she crushed his head,
she shattered and pierced his temple.
He sank, he fell,
he lay still at her feet;
at her feet he sank, he fell;
where he sank, there he fell dead.

"Out of the window she peered,
the mother of Sisera gazed through the lattice:
'Why is his chariot so long in coming?
Why tarry the hoofbeats of his chariots?'
Her wisest ladies make answer,
indeed, she answers the question herself:
'Are they not finding and dividing the spoil? --
A girl or two for every man;
spoil of dyed stuffs for Sisera,
spoil of dyed stuffs embroidered,
two pieces of dyed work embroidered for my neck as spoil?'

"So perish all your enemies, O Lord!

Reflection
It all seems so crude! What a way to bring death to an enemy. Did God ordain this death? I wonder about the compassion. I question the reason. But, here as I stand today, who am I to question? But it takes extreme action for God to battle the enemy he faces.

Jesus faced sin, death and the devil. And Jesus faced a death just as horrific as a stake through the head. Jesus was undeserving of this kind of death, but took the extreme action so that these enemies of sin, death and the devil would finally perish.

It all seems so crude! What a way to bring death to an enemy. But thanks be to God, Jesus did it...Thanks be to God!

Prayer
Lord, teach me your ways. Teach me your love so wonderful and deep that extreme actions of compassion and love may be shown through me to those you love this day. --- Amen