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Description
Sisera, King Jabin's unstoppable commander, is taken down by rain and mud, his mighty chariots rendered useless. So he runs on foot to the tent of his ally, Heber the Kennite. Now apparently the other Kennites had allied with Israel, but this guy was on the fence and so Sisera felt safe there. Unknown to him, apparently, Heber's wife, Joel, was not so swayed. So he asks for water and she covers him with a rug and gives him milk. Apparently he nods off in his false sense of security. At which point, she takes a tent stake and mallet and drives it through his skull into the ground. Nice. And so ends the mighty warrior of 900 iron chariots.

For this image, avoiding some of the more graphic elements of the narrative, I wanted to portray Jael in strength and cunning, with Sisera vulnerable and asleep in the tent behind her. Her name means "mountain goat", so I wanted her to look a bit tribal and nomadic, but not just brown skins and pale ripped cloth. Some of these people dressed quite nicely. She holds the improvised weapons ready to do the deed, so I hope that the image itself helps fill in some of the details and leaves just enough out so the reader can put it together in their own imagination.

#Deborah #bookofjudges #deborahproject #biblicalillustration #ancientneareast #hazor #israelhistory #sisera #jael #tentpeg

Description
Sisera, King Jabin's unstoppable commander, is taken down by rain and mud, his mighty chariots rendered useless. So he runs on foot to the tent of his ally, Heber the Kennite. Now apparently the other Kennites had allied with Israel, but this guy was on the fence and so Sisera felt safe there. Unknown to him, apparently, Heber's wife, Joel, was not so swayed. So he asks for water and she covers him with a rug and gives him milk. Apparently he nods off in his false sense of security. At which point, she takes a tent stake and mallet and drives it through his skull into the ground. Nice. And so ends the mighty warrior of 900 iron chariots.

For this image, avoiding some of the more graphic elements of the narrative, I wanted to portray Jael in strength and cunning, with Sisera vulnerable and asleep in the tent behind her. Her name means "mountain goat", so I wanted her to look a bit tribal and nomadic, but not just brown skins and pale ripped cloth. Some of these people dressed quite nicely. She holds the improvised weapons ready to do the deed, so I hope that the image itself helps fill in some of the details and leaves just enough out so the reader can put it together in their own imagination.

#Deborah #bookofjudges #deborahproject #biblicalillustration #ancientneareast #hazor #israelhistory #sisera #jael #tentpeg