[[Hakim-hakim 4:17]] menyatakan bahwa ada perdamaian antara orang Kanaan dan kaum Heber. Mereka dikenal oleh orang Israel terkait Hogan[[Hobab]] ipar [[Musa]] ([[Hakim-hakim 4:11]]), dan keahlian mereka sebagai pengerja logam yang dihargai di manapun mereka tinggal. Kedua pihak yang bertikai tentunya menganggap orang Keni sebagai pihak netral.<!-- C.E. Schenk notesmencatat thatbahwa Sisera wasadalah Jael'stamu guestYael, "wasdi indalam theperlindungan sanctuary of her homerumahnya, anddan protecteddilindungi byoleh the laws ofhukum [[:en:hospitality|keramahtamahan]]."--><ref name=schenk>[https://books.google.com/books?id=rH0PAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1558&dq=jael+bible&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiJwKSth43MAhUquoMKHaiGCTw4ChDoAQg1MAU#v=onepage&q=jael%20bible&f=false Schenk, C. E., "Jael", ''International Standard Bible Encyclopedia'', (James Orr, ed.) 1915]</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Matthews|first=Victor H.|date=1991|title=Hospitality and Hostility in Judges 4|journal=Biblical Theology Bulletin |volume=21|issue=1|pages=13–21|doi=10.1177/014610799102100103}}</ref><!-- According to [[Herbert Lockyer]] she may have acted out of practical necessity. Sisera was in flight and Barak in pursuit. It would not have been wise to allow Barak to find Sisera in her tent. She also knew that Sisera would be killed if captured, therefore she would kill him and thus cement a friendship with the victor.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=0YrW3bxxGAsC&pg=PA71&dq=jael+bible&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjd67aEhI3MAhXksYMKHW9vAUcQ6AEIJzAC#v=onepage&q=jael%20bible&f=false Lockyer, Herbert. "Jael", ''All the Women of the Bible'', Zondervan, 1967] {{ISBN|9780310281511}}</ref> Biblical commentaries have viewed Jael as either a heroine or someone much less so. Newsom and Ringe consider her a survivor caught up in her husband's politics.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ymp4S2qZJ4cC&pg=PA76&dq=jael+bible&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiJwKSth43MAhUquoMKHaiGCTw4ChDoAQg6MAY#v=onepage&q=jael%20bible&f=false Newsom, Carol Ann and Ringe, Sharon H., ''Women's Bible Commentary'', Westminster John Knox Press, 1998, p.76] {{ISBN|9780664257811}}</ref>
Scholars<ref>{{cite book|last=Halpern|first=Baruch|title=The First Historians|date=1983|publisher=Harper and Row|location=New York, NY}}</ref> have long recognized that the [[Song of Deborah]], on the basis of linguistic evidence (archaic biblical Hebrew), is one of the oldest parts of the Bible, dating back to the 12th century BC.<ref>{{cite book |last=Coogan |first=Michael D. |title=A Brief Introduction to the Old Testament: The Hebrew Bible in its Context |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |date=2009 |page=180 |isbn=978-0-19-533272-8}}</ref>
