Advent meditation: Sisera was a general of the Canaanite king Jabin who ruled over the Israelites. When he was losing a battle against the revolting Israelites, he fled to the tent of Jael, the wife of an ally, to hide. However, while he was sleeping, Jael drove a tent peg through his head. Jael (whose name means YHWH is God) is a type of the Blessed Virgin, the woman who crushes the head of the enemy.
Prayer: Bless the Lord! Hear, O kings; give ear, O princes; to the Lord I will sing, I will make melody to the Lord, the God of Israel. Most blessed of women be Jael. She put her hand to the tent peg and her right hand to the workmen’s mallet; she struck Sisera a blow, she crushed his head, she shattered and pierced his temple. Blessed Jael and Most Blessed Virgin Mary, pray for us! (From Deborah’s prayer after defeating Sisera, Judges 5:2-3, 24, 26)
Scripture: Sisera fled away on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between Jabin the king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. And Jael came out to meet Sisera, and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me; have no fear.” So he turned aside to her into the tent, and she covered him with a rug. And he said to her, “Pray, give me a little water to drink; for I am thirsty.” So she opened a skin of milk and gave him a drink and covered him. And he said to her, “Stand at the door of the tent, and if any man comes and asks you, ‘Is any one here?’ say, No.” But Jael the wife of Heber took a tent peg, and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple, till it went down into the ground, as he was lying fast asleep from weariness. So he died. (Judges 4:17-21)
