Jael Blessed Among Women; Israel Rests

Jael is pronounced blessed among women, Sisera’s death is retold poetically, and the scene shifts hauntingly to Sisera’s mother waiting for a son who will never return. The song ends by praying that God’s enemies perish while those who love him shine like the sun in strength, followed by forty years of rest. That “sun in strength” line later has a probable echo in Revelation, while “blessed among women” strongly resonates with Luke’s words about Mary. Jesus connection: Luke 1:42 strongly echoes the “blessed among women” language used of Jael when Elizabeth blesses Mary. Christian tradition later extended Jael’s tent peg into cross symbolism, but the strong biblical connection is the Jael-to-Mary verbal echo; the peg-to-cross reading belongs to later reception history.