Judges 5:23-27

God’s curse and blessing 5:23-27

Meroz (Judges 5:23) may refer to Merom, an Israelite village in Naphtali, west of Hazor, the Canaanite stronghold. Evidently, out of fear of reprisals, the Israelites who lived there did not join their brethren in fighting their foe. In contrast, Jael feared nothing, but faced with the opportunity to kill Sisera did so boldly. This made her "most blessed of women," the embodiment of God’s will for justice and righteousness (cf. Luke 1:42; Luke 1:51-53). "Curds" refers to the coagulated part of milk from which cheese comes, in contrast to the watery whey.

"By having Sisera fall and saying that he ’lay’ at Jael’s feet-more literally, ’between her feet [or legs]’-the poet suggests the sexual dimension of the scene. The potential rapist is subdued by the potential victim; that is, the poet contributes to what is also evident in the narrative version in Judges 4:17-22 -the ’womanization’ of Sisera . . ." [Note: McCann, p. 57.]