The Coolest Women In History Part 1: Jael of Judges

There is an unfortunate lack of heroes in our world today, for both men and women alike.  If I ever have daughters or nieces, I wonder who they will admire and look up to.  The list of poor role models is so huge as to be embarrassing.  So I thought I'd create a list of my favorite women through history for your reading pleasure and provide the world with a few greater options for women to admire. 

Jael (Judges 4):  That right, I'm starting out this mess by first mentioning an obscure person from the Bible you probably haven't heard of, but you should because this chick has got style.

 Here's how her story goes:  Israel is being ruled over by Jabin, the king of Canaan, who was (for the sake of keeping this piece PG) a jerk who made Israel miserable.  So the Israelites pray to God for deliverance.  God responds by raising up Deborah the judge (judges were unofficial spiritual, judicial, and military leaders over Israel in this time) to get Barak (the commander of Israel's army) to stop being such a chicken and stand up to Jabin and his military leader Sisera, promising that Barak will defeat Sisera and free his people.  Barak remains steadfast in his being a wimp and tells Deborah that he will only fight Sisera if she goes with him.  She agrees but warns him that if she goes with him he will receive none of the glory for the victory, which is fine by him because he's a wimp.
Through God's help the Israelite army puts a hurt on Sisera's men, killing everyone who isn't Sisera.  Sisera, deciding he'd rather not die, breaks out and heads towards Heber's home (Heber was the leader of a clan with whom King Jabin was at peace), where he knew he'd be safe and protected.  Heber's wife Jael runs out to meet him, assuring him that he will be safe inside with her.  She plays all nice and motherly with him, giving him something to drink and wrapping him in a blanket so he can sleep.  While he is asleep she sneaks off to get a tent peg and hammer, sneaks back, and then drives the tent peg into his head!  You read that right SHE DROVE THE TENT PEG INTO HIS HEAD!  This wasn't just a tap or two.  She hit that sucker so hard and so many times that the tent peg got lodged in the ground beneath him!  I'm not usually a fan of exclamation points but that story deserves a whole freakin' lot of them!!!!!!!!

I suppose it should also be mentioned that Israel saw forty years of peace as a result of Jael's actions and she was the one to whom credit was given for the victory.