There are several times the Bible told a story about a person tricking someone. The most popular ones were the family of Jacob. From his grand father Abraham, father Isaac and mother Rebekah, to his uncle Laban. The tradition continued.
But there were also not-so-famous acts of “April fool’s Day” that are not getting told in Bible Stories for children.
One of them was the story of a woman that Deborah has prophesied to get the honor of killing Sisera (the man Barak was meant to eliminate to secure the victory of the Israelites).
Judges 4
9 “Certainly I will go with you,” said Deborah. “But because of the course you are taking, the honor will not be yours, for the Lord will deliver Sisera into the hands of a woman.”
Sisera fled to the tent of Jael. She let him in and covered him with blanket. It is clear that she was covering her motives. He asked for water but the gave him milk. This could also mean that she wanted him to get a good night sleep before proceeding to her big plan.
After Sisera fell asleep, Jael took the opportunity when the man has no strength (he neither had the option to fight back) as if saying “nailed it!” and called it a day.
Barak went in search for Sisera to finally take his head but the prophecy has already been done.
Judges 4
16 Barak pursued the chariots and army as far as Harosheth Haggoyim, and all Sisera’s troops fell by the sword; not a man was left. 17 Sisera, meanwhile, fled on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, because there was an alliance between Jabin king of Hazor and the family of Heber the Kenite.
18 Jael went out to meet Sisera and said to him, “Come, my lord, come right in. Don’t be afraid.” So he entered her tent, and she covered him with a blanket.
19 “I’m thirsty,” he said. “Please give me some water.” She opened a skin of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him up.
20 “Stand in the doorway of the tent,” he told her. “If someone comes by and asks you, ‘Is anyone in there?’ say ‘No.’”
21 But Jael, Heber’s wife, picked up a tent peg and a hammer and went quietly to him while he lay fast asleep, exhausted. She drove the peg through his temple into the ground, and he died.
22 Just then Barak came by in pursuit of Sisera, and Jael went out to meet him. “Come,” she said, “I will show you the man you’re looking for.” So he went in with her, and there lay Sisera with the tent peg through his temple—dead.
In The Song of Deborah, they sang about a woman named Jael who bravely took the chance she got to fulfill her duty that the Lord has given her. Then the land became peaceful for forty years.
Judges 5
24 “Most blessed of women be Jael,
the wife of Heber the Kenite,
most blessed of tent-dwelling women.
25 He asked for water, and she gave him milk;
in a bowl fit for nobles she brought him curdled milk.
26 Her hand reached for the tent peg,
her right hand for the workman’s hammer.
She struck Sisera, she crushed his head,
she shattered and pierced his temple.
27 At her feet he sank,
he fell; there he lay.
At her feet he sank, he fell;
where he sank, there he fell—dead.
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