Shofetim 4:21

21 Then Yael eshet Chever took a yetad haohel (tent peg), and took a makevet (hammer) in her yad, and went softly unto him, and drove the yetad into his temple, and stuck it into the ground; for he was fast asleep exhausted. So he died.

Shofetim 4:21 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 4:21

Then Jael, Heber's wife, took a nail of the tent
When she perceived he was fast asleep, and it being now put into her heart to kill him, having an impulse upon her spirit, which she was persuaded, by the effect it had upon her, that it was of God; not filling her with malice and revenge, but a concern for the glory of God, the interest of religion, and the good of Israel, she took this method to effect the death of this enemy of God, and his people; having no arms in the house, for the Kenites used none, she took up an iron pin, with which her tent was fastened to the ground:

and took a hammer in her hand;
which perhaps she knew full well how to handle, being used to drive the pins of the tents into the ground with it:

and went softly unto him;
lest she should awake him

and smote the nail into his temples:
as he lay on one side, these being the tenderest part of the head, from whence they have their name in the Hebrew language, and into which therefore a nail, or iron pin, might be more easily driven:

and fastened it into the ground;
she smote the nail with such force and violence, that she drove it through both his temples into the ground on which he lay; and then, as it seems, from ( Judges 5:26 ) ; cut off his head, to make sure work of it:

for he was fast asleep and weary;
and so heard not; when she came to him:

so he died;
not in the field of battle, but in a tent; not by the sword, but by a nail; not by the hand of a man, but of a woman, as Deborah foretold, ( Judges 4:9 ) .

Shofetim 4:21 In-Context

19 And he said unto her, Give me, now, a little mayim to drink; for I am thirsty. And she opened a skin of cholov, and gave him drink, and covered him.

20 Again he said unto her, Stand at the petach haohel, and it shall be, when any ish doth come and inquire of thee, and say, Is there any ish here??thou shalt say, No.

21 Then Yael eshet Chever took a yetad haohel (tent peg), and took a makevet (hammer) in her yad, and went softly unto him, and drove the yetad into his temple, and stuck it into the ground; for he was fast asleep exhausted. So he died.

22 And, hinei, as Barak pursued Sisra, Yael came out to meet him, and said unto him, Come, and I will show thee the ish whom thou seekest. And when he came into her ohel, hinei, Sisra lay dead, and the yetad was in his temple.

23 So Elohim subdued on that day Yavin Melech Kena’an before the Bnei Yisroel.