I have a pattern of reading through the Scriptures. Each day I read a chapter or so of the Old Testament in general, from the Old Testament Wisdom Literature (Psalms, Proverbs, etc.), and the New Testament. I wanted to write today with a plea—actually two:

First Plea: Read the Bible daily. Nothing encourages me more each day than this time listening to God’s Word and praying.

Second Plea: If you are reading the Bible, make sure that you are reading this Old Testament. It is incredible. It corrects so much each day. Here is a “friendly slaps in the face” that I received this week from the book of Judges (one of my favorites and very helpful in chaotic times):

First, a lesson from the Song of Deborah in Judges 5 entitled: Be Happy when the Wicked Take a Tent Peg in the Head

Here is a little context. God’s people had forsaken Him and He had disciplined them by giving them over to be oppressed by Jabin, (the King of Hazor). Jabin and his chief general Sisera are ruling over and beating down God’s people. Jabin is not a major ruler in world history. Sisera is not Hannibal or Scipio. This, of course, shows you the level or decline amongst God’s wayward people. They are being ruled over by two-bit thugs whose goals in life range from raping to pillaging. Eventually, God’s people cry out to Him for help. He hears and raises up Deborah to Judge them and eventually tells her to call up an army led by Barak. The not-too-brave Barak is willing to go out to war, but only if Deborah goes with him. She will, she says, but a woman will gain the glory in the battle. Well, to make a short story shorter. The Israelites clean house in the battle, but Sisera escapes. As he flees justice he runs to the tent of a seemingly friendly Israelite who has made peace with Jabin named Heber. He goes, in fact, into Heber’s wife’s tent—her name is Jael. She hides him, gives him some warm milk, waits until he is fast asleep, and pounds a tent peg through his head.

The modern react to stories like this is mixed—really we do not know what to do with it. (I have yet to see this on a flannelgraph and I cannot imagine a VeggieTales episode on this story.) We want to look away. It is gruesome. It is grotesque. We hope that these sorts of things passed away after Jesus died. Not so fast. The biblical reaction is staggering different. We look away. We wonder why Jael did not wake him up and share the Four Spiritual Laws with him. We wonder if it might not have been better to just let the bum go. The Bible recommends another reaction—it celebrates. Deborah writes her song and this episode with Jael takes up an important part of that song. Here is the pertinent section vv. 24-27:

²⁴"Most blessed of women be Jael,
the wife of Heber the Kenite,
of tent-dwelling women most blessed.
25 He asked for water and she gave him milk;
she brought him curds in a noble’s bowl.
26 She sent her hand to the tent peg
and her right hand to the workmen’s mallet;
she struck Sisera;
she crushed his head;
she shattered and pierced his temple.
27Between her feet
he sank, he fell, he lay still;
between her feet
he sank, he fell;
where he sank,
there he fell—dead.

We want to look away, but verse 27 rams the awful (or is it beautiful) scene into our heads. This thug went down. Note, the proximity of where he gets his payback—“between her feet”. He gets the payback just where he has perpetrated some of his most egregious crimes. This warlord has been into other innocent women’s tents and not by invitation. Now, he finds payback coming to him just where he had perpetrated his crime. Deborah glories in his fall and in his death. This makes us uncomfortable, but what comes next is much worse. After saying “Ho-rah!” for the death of the Sisera, Deborah takes her taunting back to his mother who is waiting and watching for his return:

28 "Out of the window she peered,
the mother of Sisera wailed through the lattice:
'Why is his chariot so long in coming?
Why tarry the hoofbeats of his chariots?'
29Her wisest princesses answer,
indeed, she answers herself,
30'Have they not found and divided the spoil?—
A womb or two for every man;
spoil of dyed materials for Sisera,
spoil of dyed materials embroidered,
two pieces of dyed work embroidered for the neck as spoil?'

Our first modern reading of this passage shocks us. It seems cruel, but look closely. Mom knows what sort of boy Sisera is. She thinks he is delayed by picking through the women and stolen goods. This is what he has done before—many times (note verse 30). Many other moms have wept because of her monstrous son. Now it is her time to cry.

We look at this messy passage and want to turn away, but Deborah wants more of it—she calls the tent peg incident an unqualified good:

31 "So may all your enemies perish, O LORD!
But your friends be like the sun as he rises in his might."

How do we apply this? I am not sure, but it is clear that we need to have some recognition that there should be joy when evil men and wicked schemes tumble down. We should jump for joy when the oppressor gets his due. Also, we need to be honest about our girls. If you are raising a daughter who will not pound a ten peg when the times comes, you might need to do some more training. Women in the Bible—and in the classical and Medieval world—are not weak little flowers to be hung on the wall and dried. They are cunning. They are wise. They smile but might have something behind their back, so sleep at your own risk.

Perhaps this is why I have some concern about very biblically minded folks who want to give their daughters an education to be a dependent rather than a tower (Song of Solomon 4:4) or the president of a home based real-estate company (Proverbs 31). No one profits from weak or uneducated daughters—not the daughter…not her husband…and, certainly, not the Christian community. So, as you are doing your Christmas shopping this year, make sure you consider getting your daughter a tent. When she asks why she got a tent, grab your hammer and say, “Let me show you how use this peg thing.”