112 BATTLES OF THE BIBLE.

and kept the law of Moses, so they lived on amicable
terms with the children of Israel. However, in this
war with the king of Hazor the Kenites were neutral.
Knowing this, Sisera thought he might be secure with
them. He fled to their tents; for when I told you that
all the host of the Canaanites fell by the sword, I meant
all except Sisera himself. He escaped to the tent of
Heber, the chief of the Kenites. They were a pastoral
people living in tents, whose riches consisted of flocks
and herds. Jael, the wife of Heber, went out to meet
the defeated general. She welcomed him with seeming
kindness, and offered him shelter in her tent. He
gladly accepted her offer, and asked for a little water
to quench his thirst. The best drink she possessed was
milk, which she gave to him, the richest she had, and in
her finest dish. Then Sisera, thinking that his only
chance for safety was in concealment, told Jael that if
those passing by were to ask if any one were within,
she must deny the fact. The wife of Heber made no
reply to this; but no sooner did she see that the enemy
cf Israel was sound asleep, than she took a long nail,
one of those used for fastening the tents, and with a
hammer she drove the nail through the temples of
Sisera, and fastened his head to the ground.

Marianne. Oh! that would kill him, grandfather.
How cruel; that surely was not right.

Grandfather. I cannot defend the conduct of Jael ;—
to invite a man into her house,—to proffer him hospita-
lity; and then, when he trusted in her, to put him to