Now Sisera, when he saw that he was defeated and that his chariot was stuck fast in the mud, leaped down in great haste and ran for his life. And as he ran he came to a tent away off among the hills, where a man lived whose name was Heber and his wife’s name was Jael. Heber had no
part in the battle of the day. He lived by himself, and was neither on the side of Barak nor on the side of Sisera. While the others were fighting he was in the distant pastures tending his sheep, and his wife was at home alone. So Sisera came breathless and weary with running, and Barak was following him far behind. And Jael came out to meet Sisera, and she asked him to come in and hide. “Turn in, my lord,” she said, “turn in to me: fear not.” So he went in. And he said, “Give me, I pray thee, a little water to drink; for I am thirsty.” And she opened a bottle and gave him milk to drink. And he lay down in the tent, and she covered him with a mantle, so that he was hid. And he said, “If anybody comes to the tent, and asks, ‘Is there any man here?’ you must say, ‘No.’ ” Then he went to sleep, for he was very tired.
Then Jael took one of the big wooden pins which held the ropes of the tent, and in her other hand a workman’s mallet, and when Sisera was sound asleep she went to him softly, and drove the pin straight through his head. And Barak and his men came running by in pursuit of Sisera: and Jael came to the tent door, and said, “Come here, and I will show you the man whom you are seeking.” And Barak came in, and there was Sisera dead. This, you understand, was a long, long time ago, when people did not know so much as we know now about the difference between right and wrong: and it was in the midst of war, when very dreadful things are done. Anyhow, Sisera was dead, and the Children of Israel were delivered from the Canaanites.
XVIII
THE ALTAR OF BAAL
