Judges 5:28–31

“The mother of Sisera looked through the window,
And cried out through the lattice,
‘Why is his chariot so long in coming?
Why tarries the clatter of his chariots?’
Her wisest ladies answered her,
Yes, she answered herself,
‘Are they not finding and dividing the spoil:
To every man a girl or two;
For Sisera, plunder of dyed garments,
Plunder of garments embroidered and dyed,
Two pieces of dyed embroidery for the neck of the looter?’

“Thus let all Your enemies perish, O Lord!
But let those who love Him be like the sun
When it comes out in full strength.”

So the land had rest for forty years.

Suddenly, the whole thing makes sense. Sisera’s evil is laid bare.

‘Are they not finding and dividing the spoil:
To every man a girl or two;

The Hebrew word translated as girl (רַחֲמָה, ra-ha-mah) refers to sex slavery.

And this is merely the excuse given by the wisest ladies for why Sisera is late returning from battle. In other words, “Don’t worry, Mom; he’s late because it takes time to rape the women.”

But note that this isn’t a historical account. It’s Deborah and Barak’s mocking portrayal of Sisera’s loved ones awaiting his arrival home from battle. Thus, Sisera’s reputation for mistreatment of women was widely known, presumably even by Jael.

That would explain her desire to off him.

For the wages of sin is death. — Romans 6:23a

Another wage of sin is the fear of death. Great sin has extra consequences. People who should be widely despised usually are widely despised.

Sisera was living a life in which he needed to look for enemies under every rock. He made many mistakes that day, but his final one was letting down his guard.

He should never have been at peace with himself.

These Monday—Friday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay. The Weekend DEEPs are written by Matt Richardson. To subscribe to all the DEEPs click here:

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV stands for the English Standard Version. © Copyright 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NIV stands for The Holy Bible, New International Version®. © Copyright 1973 by International Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved. KJV stands for the King James Version.