Komentaryo sa Mga Hukom 4:19: Tze'enah Ure'enah, Rashi, Metzudat David & Metzudat Zion

“And he said to her” [4:19]. Sisera said to Yael: give me a little water to drink, as I am very thirsty. She opened a small jug with milk in it. She gave him the milk to drink and she covered him. A midrash writes that Yael fed Sisera with her breast milk.¹⁴This is based on the interpretation of this verse in B. Niddah, 55b. One can ask a question. What was Sisera thinking? He had just barely escaped being killed and had run away. How did he lust after a woman? Sisera was very smart. He was afraid of Yael. He thought that perhaps Yael would give me over into the hands of the Israelites? Therefore Sisera said: I will test her to see if she is a proper daughter of Israel. If she will sleep with me, then she is no proper daughter of Israel, since God had forbidden illicit sexual relations. Therefore, I do not need to fear her. She would not betray me.

One can give another explanation. The Talmud says: “A woman who sleeps with a gentile, it is difficult to separate them.”¹⁵Genesis Rabbah, 80.11. A daughter of Israel who sleeps with a gentile, it is very difficult to separate that daughter of Israel from that gentile. Therefore, Sisera thought that if I sleep with Yael, she would not betray me. She will hold on to me.

Another explanation. Sisera said: I know very well that the God of Israel hates it when Israelites engage in illicit sexual relations, as we find concerning Balaam, who advised the daughters of Midian that they should have sexual relations with the Israelites. They did so and caused twenty-four thousand Israelites to die in one hour, because of illicit sexual relations.¹⁶B. Sanhedrin, 106a. Sisera thought the same way and he wanted to have sexual relations with Yael, in the expectation that the Holy One would be angry at Israel. However, it did not work for him, since Yael’s intention was not about sexual relations, as the Holy One himself testified, that she was pure of sin.

The milk pouch. Since milk induces drowsiness, then slumber.¹⁰He requested water. Why did she give him milk? To make him drowsy.