Clarke's Bible Commentary - Judges 4:21
Verse 21. A nail of the tent] One of the spikes by which they fasten to the ground the cords which are attached to the cloth or covering. He was fast asleep and weary.] As he lay on one side, and was overwhelmed with sleep through the heat and fatigues of the day, the piercing of his temples must have in a moment put him past resistance.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 21. Then Jael, Heber’s wife, took a nail of the tent , etc.] 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).
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 17-24 - Sisera's chariots had been his pride and his confidence. Thus are thos disappointed who rest on the creature; like a broken reed, it not onl breaks under them, but pierces them with many sorrows. The idol ma quickly become a burden, Isa 46:1; what we were sick for, God can make us sick of. It is probable that Jael really intended kindness to Sisera; but by a Divine impulse she was afterwards led to consider his as the determined enemy of the Lord and of his people, and to destro him. All our connexions with God's enemies must be broken off, if we would have the Lord for our God, and his people for our people. He tha had thought to have destroyed Israel with his many iron chariots, in himself destroyed with one iron nail. Thus the weak things of the worl confound the mighty. The Israelites would have prevented much mischief if they had sooner destroyed the Canaanites, as God commanded an enabled them: but better be wise late, and buy wisdom by experience than never be wise __________________________________________________________________
Original Hebrew
ותקח 3947 יעל 3278 אשׁת 802 חבר 2268 את 853 יתד 3489 האהל 168 ותשׂם 7760 את 853 המקבת 4718 בידה 3027 ותבוא 935 אליו 413 בלאט 3909 ותתקע 8628 את 853 היתד 3489 ברקתו 7541 ותצנח 6795 בארץ 776 והוא 1931 נרדם 7290 ויעף 5774 וימת׃ 4191
