The woman who slew the captain Sisera, praised in the song of Deborah.
The Righteous Jael, Wife of Heber the Kenite
Jael appears in the Book of Judges as the woman who killed Sisera, the commander of the army of Jabin, king of Hazor, and is thereby remembered among the righteous figures of the period of the Judges. Identified as the wife of Heber the Kenite — a clan descended from Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, who had pitched their tents near Kedesh in the territory of Naphtali — she is set within the twenty-year span of Canaanite oppression that the prophetess and judge Deborah confronted.
Her deed is recounted twice in Scripture: in the prose narrative of Judges 4 and in the poetic Song of Deborah in Judges 5, where she is named 'extolled above women.' In Orthodox usage she is numbered among the Old Testament ancestors and righteous of Israel commemorated collectively on the Sunday of the Holy Forefathers before the Nativity; the anchor record notes that an individual veneration of Jael is not clearly attested and is flagged for clergy review.
The narrative places Jael among the Kenites, a nomadic people associated in the biblical text with the line of Jethro, father-in-law of Moses. Heber the Kenite had separated from the rest of the clan and encamped near Kedesh in Naphtali. Because the Kenites had kept peace with both Jabin's forces and Israel, Sisera entered Jael's tent expecting the protection of the customs of hospitality.
The Song of Deborah (Judges 5) is a victory hymn ascribed to Deborah and Barak and is widely regarded by scholars as among the oldest passages in the Hebrew Bible. It celebrates a deliverance accomplished through two women, the prophetess Deborah and Jael. Of Jael it sings, 'She stretched forth her hand to the nail, her right hand to the workman's hammer' (Judges 5:24-26), praising her as blessed above women.
In the Orthodox calendar Jael is remembered among the company of Old Testament forebears and righteous of Israel honored on the Sunday of the Holy Forefathers, observed in the days before the Nativity of Christ. The collective feast commemorates the ancestors and righteous figures who lived before and under the Law in expectation of the coming of the Messiah; the anchor record indicates that a distinct individual commemoration of Jael is not clearly attested and remains for clergy review.