Sisera
Encyclopedia
Jabin
Jabin is a Biblical name meaning 'discerner', or 'the wise'. It may refer to:* A king of Hazor, at the time of the entrance of Israel into Canaan , whose overthrow and that of the northern chief with whom he had entered into a confederacy against Joshua was the crowning act in the conquest of the...
of Hazor mentioned in the of the Hebrew Bible
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible is a term used by biblical scholars outside of Judaism to refer to the Tanakh , a canonical collection of Jewish texts, and the common textual antecedent of the several canonical editions of the Christian Old Testament...
. After being defeated by Barak
Barak
Barak , Al-Burāq the son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, was a military general in the Book of Judges in the Bible. He was the commander of the army of Deborah, the prophetess and heroine of the Hebrew Bible...
, Sisera was killed by Jael
Yael
Yael is a character mentioned in the Book of Judges in the Hebrew Bible, as the heroine who killed Sisera to deliver Israel from the troops of king Jabin...
, who hammered a tent peg into his temple.
During the period of the Israelite Judges
Biblical judges
A biblical judge is "a ruler or a military leader, as well as someone who presided over legal hearings."...
, Sisera commanded nine hundred iron chariots and oppressed the Israelites for twenty years from Harosheth Haggoyim
Harosheth Haggoyim
Harosheth Haggoyim is a fortress described in the Book of Judges as the fortress or cavalry base of Sisera, commander of the army of "Jabin, King of Canaan.Sisera is described as having had nine hundred iron chariots with which he fought the Israelites...
, a fortified cavalry base. After the prophetess Deborah
Deborah
Deborah was a prophetess of Yahweh the God of the Israelites, the fourth Judge of pre-monarchic Israel, counselor, warrior, and the wife of Lapidoth according to the Book of Judges chapters 4 and 5....
persuaded Barak
Barak
Barak , Al-Burāq the son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, was a military general in the Book of Judges in the Bible. He was the commander of the army of Deborah, the prophetess and heroine of the Hebrew Bible...
to face Sisera in battle, Barak, with an Israelite force of ten thousand, defeated Sisera at the Battle of Mount Tabor
Battle of Mount Tabor (biblical)
The biblical Battle of Mount Tabor takes place during the time of the Book of Judges between Canaanite forces of the king of Hazor and the Israelite army led by Barak.- Background :...
on the plain of Esdraelon. Judges 5: 20 says that "the stars in their courses fought against Sisera," and the following verse implies that the army was swept away by the river Kishon
Kishon River
The Kishon River is a river in Israel that flows into the Mediterranean Sea at the city of Haifa.- Course :The Kishon River is a 70-km-long perennial stream in Israel...
. After the battle, there was peace for forty years.
After losing the battle, Sisera fled to the settlement of Heber the Kenite
Heber the Kenite
Heber the Kenite is a man in the Book of Judges in the Tanakh and the Holy Bible. He is a descendant of Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses. Heber had separated himself and his wife Jael from the other Kenites; he pitched their tent in the plain of Zaanaim, which is near Kedesh.According to Judges...
in the plain of Zaanaim
Zaanaim
Zaanaim is a place in northwest of Lake Merom, near Kedesh, in Naphtali; currently sited in Hulah Valley, Israel. Here Sisera was slain by Jael, "the wife of Heber the Kenite," who had pitched his tent in the "plain [R.V., 'as far as the oak'] of Zaanaim" ....
, where he was received by Jael
Yael
Yael is a character mentioned in the Book of Judges in the Hebrew Bible, as the heroine who killed Sisera to deliver Israel from the troops of king Jabin...
, Heber's wife. Jael received him into her tent with apparent hospitality
Xenia (Greek)
Xenia is the Greek concept of hospitality, or generosity and courtesy shown to those who are far from home. It is often translated as "guest-friendship" because the rituals of hospitality created and expressed a reciprocal relationship between guest and host.The Greek god Zeus sometimes referred...
and "gave him milk...in a lordly dish." Jael promised to hide Sisera and covered him with a rug, but after he fell asleep, Jael drove a tent peg
Tent peg
A tent peg is a spike, usually with a hook or hole on the top end, typically made from wood, metal, plastic, or composite material, pushed or driven into the ground for holding a tent to the ground, either directly by attaching to the tent's material, or by connecting to ropes attached to the tent...
through his temple with a mallet. The blow was so forceful that the peg pinned his head to the ground.
Sisera's name has been considered Philistine, Hittite
Hittites
The Hittites were a Bronze Age people of Anatolia.They established a kingdom centered at Hattusa in north-central Anatolia c. the 18th century BC. The Hittite empire reached its height c...
, Hurrian, or Egyptian (Ses-Ra, "servant of Ra
Ra
Ra is the ancient Egyptian sun god. By the Fifth Dynasty he had become a major deity in ancient Egyptian religion, identified primarily with the mid-day sun...
"). The Israeli scholar Adam Zertal
Adam Zertal
Adam Zertal is an Israeli archaeologist.Zertal grew up in Ein Shemer, a kibbutz affiliated with the Hashomer Hatzair movement. Zertal was severely wounded in the Yom Kippur War. He later told a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, “I spent a year at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, and I became...
identifies Sisera with the sea people called Shardana
Shardana
The Sherden are one of several groups of "Sea Peoples" who appear in fragmentary historical records for the Mediterranean region in the second millennium B.C.; little is known about them. On reliefs they are shown carrying a round shield and a long thrusting Naue II type sword...
(or Sherden), arguing that Sisera came from the island of Sardinia. Archaeologists Adam Zertal and Oren Cohen propose that the excavation at El-ahwat
Ahwat
el-Ahwat is the name of an archaeological site in the Manasseh region of Israel, located 10 miles east of Caesarea. The site was discovered in November 1992 during a survey by archaeologist Adam Zertal. It is considered to be the location of the northwesternmost settlement of the ancient Israelites...
between Katzir-Harish
Katzir-Harish
Katzir-Harish is a town in the Haifa District of Israel. It is an agglomeration of the villages Katzir, Harish and Mitzpe Ilan, near Umm al-Fahm in the Wadi Ara region. At the end of 2006, the town's population was 3,900. Its jurisdiction is 9,736 dunams.-History:Harish was founded by Nahal in...
and Nahal Iron is the site of Harosheth Haggoyim
Harosheth Haggoyim
Harosheth Haggoyim is a fortress described in the Book of Judges as the fortress or cavalry base of Sisera, commander of the army of "Jabin, King of Canaan.Sisera is described as having had nine hundred iron chariots with which he fought the Israelites...
.
Sisera in later legend
According to Jewish legend, because Sisera's mother cried a hundred cries when he did not return home, a hundred blasts are blown on the shofarShofar
A shofar is a horn, traditionally that of a ram, used for Jewish religious purposes. Shofar-blowing is incorporated in synagogue services on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.Shofar come in a variety of sizes.- Bible and rabbinic literature :...
on Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year. The Talmud states that the descendants of Sisera studied Torah in Jerusalem and even taught children there.
According to the Midrash
Midrash
The Hebrew term Midrash is a homiletic method of biblical exegesis. The term also refers to the whole compilation of homiletic teachings on the Bible....
, Sisera engaged in sexual intercourse with Jael seven times, but because she was attempting to exhaust him in order to kill him, her sin was for Heaven's sake and therefore praiseworthy.
Also according to the Midrash
Midrash
The Hebrew term Midrash is a homiletic method of biblical exegesis. The term also refers to the whole compilation of homiletic teachings on the Bible....
, Sisera had previously conquered every country against which he had fought. His voice was so strong that, when he called loudly, the most solid wall would shake and the wildest animal would fall dead. Deborah
Deborah
Deborah was a prophetess of Yahweh the God of the Israelites, the fourth Judge of pre-monarchic Israel, counselor, warrior, and the wife of Lapidoth according to the Book of Judges chapters 4 and 5....
was the only one who could withstand his voice and not be stirred from her place. Sisera caught fish enough in his beard when bathing in the Kishon
Kishon
The name Kishon may refer to:* Kishon River , a river in Israel* Ephraim Kishon, an Israeli satirist* 21010 Kishon , a main-belt asteroid discovered on 1988...
to provision his whole army, and thirty-one kings followed Sisera merely for the opportunity of drinking, or otherwise using, the waters of Israel. According to B.Gittin, the descendants of Sisera were teachers of the young in Jerusalem.
Sisera in artistic works
Pietro Alessandro GuglielmiPietro Alessandro Guglielmi
Pietro Alessandro Guglielmi was an Italian opera composer.Guglielmi was born in Massa. He received his first musical education from his father, and afterwards studied under Francesco Durante at the Conservatorio di Santa Maria di Loreto at Naples...
(1728-1804) wrote an oratorio, Debora e Sisera, for the Lenten season of 1788 at the Teatro di San Carlo
Teatro di San Carlo
The Real Teatro di San Carlo is an opera house in Naples, Italy. It is the oldest continuously active such venue in Europe.Founded by the Bourbon Charles VII of Naples of the Spanish branch of the dynasty, the theatre was inaugurated on 4 November 1737 — the king's name day — with a performance...
, Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
, which was said to have been "almost universally regarded as one of the most sublime works of the late 18th century."
German composer Simon Mayr
Simon Mayr
Johann Simon Mayr , also known in Italian as Giovanni Simone Mayr or Simone Mayr was a German composer.- Life :...
wrote an oratorio
Oratorio
An oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...
(1793) on the story of Sisera for the church of San Lazzaro dei Mendicanti in Venice
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
.
In a half-hour radio drama, Butter in a Lordly Dish
Butter In a Lordly Dish
Butter in a Lordly Dish is the name of a half-hour radio play written by Agatha Christie and first performed on the BBC Radio Light Programme on Tuesday January 13, 1948 at 9.30pm in a strand entitled Mystery Playhouse presents The Detection Club. It was repeated on Friday January 16 at 4.15pm and...
(1948), Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...
has her protagonist drug a lawyer's coffee; after revealing her true identity, she hammers a nail into his head.