Sisera סיסרא
captain of Jabin's host; died in Jael's tent
Sisera dwelt in Harosheth-hagoyim and led Jabin's army. When Barak came down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men, Sisera called out all nine hundred of his iron chariots to the brook Kishon—to the plain, where iron decides.
Something else decided: "And the Lord discomfited Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his host, with the edge of the sword before Barak; and Sisera alighted from his chariot and fled away on his feet." He reached the tent of Jael wife of Heber; she gave him milk, covered him, and he slept. What follows is told briefly: a tent peg and a hammer in her hand.
Deborah's song returns to him once more, and turns the gaze aside: "Through the window she looked and cried, the mother of Sisera, through the lattice: why is his chariot so long in coming?" Her ladies answer her about the spoil being divided, while the reader already knows the chariot will not come.
The window follows Jabin's years: Sisera has no years of his own in the source.
On the timeline
Related
Sources
Tanakh
- Shoftim 4:13–22 — the chariots at the brook Kishon, the flight on foot and the tent peg
- Shoftim 5:20–30 — Deborah's song: the torrent Kishon and Sisera's mother at the window
- Judges 4:13 — the nine hundred iron chariots
Basis: stated in the Tanakh.