Who Was Sisera in the Bible — In Biblical Context

The Biblical Context

Sisera was the commander of King Jabin's army, described as dwelling in Harosheth of the Gentiles. He commanded a formidable force of nine hundred chariots of iron, which gave him overwhelming military superiority over Israel. For twenty years, he 'mightily oppressed the children of Israel.' The turning point came when Deborah the prophetess summoned Barak and told him that God would deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman. Barak gathered ten thousand men from the tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali and went up to Mount Tabor. Sisera assembled all his chariots and troops and marched to the river Kishon. But God threw the Canaanite army into confusion. 'And the LORD discomfited Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his host, with the edge of the sword before Barak; so that Sisera lighted down off his chariot, and fled away on his feet.' Barak pursued the chariots and host to Harosheth, and 'all the host of Sisera fell upon the edge of the sword; and there was not a man left.' Sisera fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite. He asked for water; she gave him milk. He asked her to stand guard at the tent door, saying, 'If any man come and enquire of thee, and say, Is there any man here? thou shalt say, No.' While Sisera slept, Jael took a nail of the tent and a hammer, went softly to him, and drove the nail into his temples. 'So he died.' When Barak came pursuing, Jael showed him the dead Sisera. Deborah's song celebrates Jael's deed: 'Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be, blessed shall she be above women in the tent... She put her hand to the nail, and her right hand to the workmen's hammer; and with the hammer she smote Sisera, she smote off his head, when she had pierced and stricken through his temples.' Sisera's mother is mentioned in the song, waiting at the window for her son's return, imagining the spoils he would bring. 'Why is his chariot so long in coming? why tarry the wheels of his chariots?' The irony is complete — the mighty warrior killed by a woman with a household tool, his mother waiting in vain. Sisera's story is a testimony to God's ability to defeat the strongest military power through unexpected means.

Where It Sits in Scripture

Supporting Passages