📖 Biblical Definition
Sisera was the Canaanite army-captain of Jabin king of Hazor — the great oppressor of Israel for twenty years (Judges 4:2-3). He commanded nine hundred chariots of iron and held the northern tribes in fear until Deborah summoned Barak from Kedesh-naphtali. The LORD "discomfited Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his host" by the brook Kishon (Judges 4:15); Sisera fled on foot to the tent of Jael the wife of Heber, who gave him milk, covered him with a mantle, and then, as he slept exhausted, drove a tent peg through his temple. Deborah’s song celebrates the deliverance and Jael’s deed: "Blessed above women shall Jael... be" (Judges 5:24-27). Tyrants fall by the hand the LORD appoints.
📜 Webster 1828 Definition
Sisera — a Canaanite general, slain by Jael in her tent.
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Sisera commanded nine hundred chariots of iron and oppressed Israel cruelly. Routed by Barak at the Kishon, he fled on foot to the tent of Heber the Kenite, where Jael gave him milk, covered him to sleep, and drove a tent peg through his head.
📖 Key Scripture
Judges 4:7 — "I will draw unto thee... Sisera, the captain of Jabin's army."
Judges 4:15 — "Sisera lighted down off his chariot, and fled away on his feet."
Judges 4:21 — "Then Jael... took an hammer in her hand... and smote the nail into his temples."
Judges 5:26 — "She put her hand to the nail, and her right hand to the workmen's hammer."
⚠️ Modern Corruption
Sanitized for children's Bibles; Jael's decisive courage softened or skipped.
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The death of Sisera is one of Scripture's most jarring scenes. A woman with a household tool ends a tyrant. Deborah's song calls Jael 'blessed above women in the tent' for it.
Modern squeamishness avoids the passage. But the song celebrates the deliverance, not the gore. When the Lord sells a tyrant into the hand of a woman, the praise belongs to Him.
🔗 Greek & Hebrew Roots
Sisera — possibly Hurrian/Philistine origin; meaning uncertain.
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H5516 — Sisera — Sisera
H8478 — tachath — under, beneath, in place of
H3489 — yathed — tent peg, pin
Usage
"When the Lord sells a tyrant into a woman's tent, do not be shocked at the hammer."
"Sisera had nine hundred chariots; Jael had one tent peg."
"Twenty years of oppression ended in one cup of milk and one nail."