JADON (ja'clon), (Heb. 11T, yaw-done', judge), called the Meronothite; he assisted in repairing the walls of Jerusalem (Neh. iii:7), B. C. 445. .
jAEL (ja'el), (Heb.1,??:,yaw-ale', wild goat).
Wife of Heber, the Kenite. When Sisera, the general of Jabin, had been defeated, he alighted from his chariot, hoping to escape best on foot from the hot pursuit of the victorious Israelites. On reaching the tents of the nomade chief, he remembered that there was peace be tween his sovereign and the house of Heber, and therefore applied for the hospitality and protection to which he was thus entitled. This request! was very cordially granted by the wife of the absent chief, who received the vanquished warrior into the inner part of the tent, where he could not be discovered by strangers with out such an intrusion as eastern customs would nof warrant. She also brought him milk to drink, when he asked only water ; and then covered him from view, that he might enjoy repose the more securely. As he slept, a horrid thought occurred to Jael, which she hastened too promptly to execute. She took one of the tent nails, and with a mallet, at one fell blow, drove it through the temples of the sleeping Sisera. (B. C. about 1406.) Soon after, Barak and his people arrived in pursuit, and were shown the lifeless body of the man they sought (Judg. iv :17-22). This deed drew much attention to Jael, and preserved the camp from molestation by the victors; and there is no disputing that her act is mentioned wtth great praise in the triumphal song wherein De borah and Barak celebrated the deliverance of Israel (Judg. v:24).
It does not seem difficult to understand the object of Jael in this painful transaction. Her motives seem to have been entirely prudential, and, on prudential grounds, the very circum stance which renders her act the more odious— the peace subsisting between the nomade chief and the king of Hazor—must, to her, have seemed to make it the more expedient. She saw that the Israelites had now the upper hand, and was aware that, as being in alliance with the oppressors of Israel, the camp might expect very rough treat ment from the pursuing force ; which would be greatly aggravated if Sisera were found sheltered within it. This calamity she sought to avert, and to place the house of Heber in a favorable position with the victorious party. She probably justified the act to herself by the consideration that as Sisera would certainly be taken and slain, she might as well make a benefit out of his inev itable doom as incur utter ruin in the attempt to protect him. Attempts have been made to vin dicate her, because of the usages of ancient war fare, of rude times and ferocious manners. There was not, however, warfare, but peace between the house of Heber and the prince of Hazor. The existence of a set of usages in any civilized so ciety under which the act of Jael would be deemed right is hardly conceivable.