a hammer in her hand

Judges 5:19-31 (JDV)

Judges 5:19 Kings came and fought. Then the kings of Canaan fought at Taanach by the Waters of Megiddo, but they did not plunder the silver.
Judges 5:20 The stars fought from the sky; the stars fought with Sisera from their paths.
Judges 5:21 The river Kishon swept them away, the ancient river, the river Kishon. March on, my throat, in strength!
Judges 5:22 The horses’ hooves then hammered – the galloping, galloping of his stallions.
Judges 5:23 “Curse Meroz,” says the agent of Yahveh, “Bitterly curse her inhabitants, because they did not come to help Yahveh, to help Yahveh with the warriors.”
Judges 5:24 Jael is most empowered of women, the wife of Heber the Kenite; she is most empowered among tent-dwelling women.
Judges 5:25 He asked for water; she gave him milk. She brought him cream in a majestic bowl.
Judges 5:26 She reached for a tent peg, her right hand, for a workman’s hammer. Then she hammered Sisera – she crushed his head; she shattered and pierced his temple.
Judges 5:27 He collapsed, he fell, he lay down between her feet; he collapsed, he fell between her feet; where he collapsed, there he fell – dead.
Judges 5:28 Sisera’s mother looked through the window; she peered through the lattice, crying out: “Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why don’t I hear the hoof-beats of his horses?”
Judges 5:29 Her wisest princesses answer her; she even answers herself:
Judges 5:30 “They must be finding and dividing the loot – a girl or two for each warrior, the loot of colored garments for Sisera, the spoil of an embroidered garment or two for my neck?”
Judges 5:31 Yahveh, may all your enemies perish like Sisera did. But may those who love him be like the rising of the sun in its strength. And the land had peace for forty years.

a hammer in her hand

As Deborah’s song comes to an end, she mentions Sisera’s end. He was a powerful king, who saw his entire army destroyed, and thought he just might escape. But God intervened in his escape plan by placing a warrior in just the right place — with a hammer in her hand.

Whoever you are, you have a status before God. You are not neutral. You are either God’s child — destined for permanent life, or his enemy — destined to die like Sisera.

Come to God today, before it is too late.