The Mother of Sisera, a Stark Contrast to Jael (Judges 5:28-30).
Looking back through the ages we rightly feel pity for this poor woman waiting for her son. But then they were not our daughters whom her husband would have raped and enslaved, decked in stolen finery (Judges 5:30-31). She had had no pity for them then, only delight in his doings. Her heart had been pitiless towards those less fortunate, and less pampered, than herself.
“Through the window she looked out and lamented,
The mother of Sisera cried out through the lattice.
Why is his chariot so long in coming?
Why linger the forward movements (‘steps' of his chariots?'
The mother of Sisera looked out impatiently for her son's return. His return with the spoils of war, and with all his chariots, in triumph. Why did he have to be so long? She had no thought for his victims, only for the rewards she would receive as a result of his activities.
“The lattice.” The window would have no glass, but be covered by a lattice.
“Her wise ladies answered her,
Yes, she returned answer to herself.”
There was no doubt among her ladies, only certainty. He had after all gone out with superior force against a rag tag of rebellious serfs. What could possibly have happened?
“Her wise women.” This is deliberately ironic, how wise they proved to be! Their wisdom was confounded by Yahweh. But she was just as confident as they. And what a contrast here between the lonely woman in her tent, who had possibly previously been ravaged, and this woman surrounded by protectors. No one would be able to enter her boudoir. No one could think of despoiling her. She was not just someone who was there to be used.
“Have they not found,
Have they not divided the spoil?
A damsel, two damsels to every man.
To Sisera a spoil of divers colours,
A spoil of divers colours of embroidery,
Of divers colours of embroidery,
On both sides on the necks of the spoil?”
She was well aware that part of the reason for the delay would be the time taken in dividing the spoil. And they would no doubt want to satisfy themselves, each taking one or two tasty virgins. She knew of it, for she had experienced it all before. She gave no thought to the poor damsels.
“A damsel”. Literally ‘a womb'. The word was used on the Moabite stone of temple slave girls. Someone to be used, and to produce unrecognised bastards, and bring them up in undesirable circumstances. Women available for their lusts. A correct translation would possibly be too crude for Christian readers. There was no compassion in her heart for them. They were ‘spoils' of war. No wonder that Deborah, who had seen such behaviour among the Canaanites, rejoiced for the sake of such women in the action of Jael.
And not only women but multicoloured finery. And what was worse, finery which had bedecked the beautiful virgins (‘on both sides on the necks of the spoil') before they were savagely raped, and their finery wrenched off them. While we are right to be sympathetic, we also recognise that she does not really deserve it. All she thought of was herself at great cost to others. And Deborah had in mind what had been done to virgins of Israel in the past, and what this woman's husband had intended to do with them after the battle. What Yahweh's action had saved them from.