Bible Figure
Yael
woman in the Book of Judges, killeer of Sisera (Judges 4)
Jael was the wife of Heber the Kenite who killed the fleeing Canaanite commander Sisera and helped complete Israel's deliverance in the days of Deborah and Barak.
Biography
Judges 4 says Sisera fled from Barak's defeated army to the tent of Jael because there was peace between Jabin and the house of Heber. Jael welcomed Sisera, gave him milk, covered him, and allowed him to sleep. She then drove a tent peg through his temple. When Barak arrived in pursuit, Jael showed him Sisera's body. Judges 5 celebrates her in the Song of Deborah as especially blessed among women and poetically recounts Sisera's death.
Biblical Significance
Jael plays a decisive role in the deliverance foretold by Deborah, who had told Barak that the honor of Sisera's defeat would go to a woman. Her action forms one of Judges' striking reversals in which a seemingly unlikely person brings down a powerful oppressor.