He asked water, and she gave him milk; she brought forth butter in a lordly dish.
(Judges 5:25) KJV
Then Jael, Heber’s wife, took a tent peg and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple, and it went down into the ground; for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died.
(Judges 4:21) NKJV
What is submission? Is it pretending that there’s nothing wrong while you’re being abused? No. No one should tolerate that. Submission is simply agreeing instead of arguing. If your husband is an abuser you only have to agree with him for as long as it takes to call social services and get away.
The two passages above come after each other in the Bible but they are in the correct chronological order above. The reason is that Judges 4 is historical narrative while most of Judges 5 is Deborah singing a song about what happened in Judges 4.
It shows the value of submission. Jael gave Sisera, a dangerous enemy warlord who burst into her tent, more than what he asked for. She gave him warm milk instead of the water he requested, and let him lie down and take a nap. Then she nailed his head to the ground. That’s not great advice for married couples but you get the gist.
Rib Meat Help Meet – Navigation
Section | Title | Scripture |
1 | Introduction | Genesis 2:20-23 |
2 | Institutionalized Misogyny | Ephesians 5:21-22 |
3 | Cause and Effect: The Curse is Effect | Genesis 3:16 |
4 | A Woman Clothed with the Sun | Revelation 12:1 |
5 | Help can be Active or Passive | Acts 8:30-31 |
6 | Agree to Disagree | Judges 5:25, 4:21 |
7 | Ultimate Responsibility | Romans 5:18 |
8 | Salvation | Romans 10:9-10 |

July 3rd – Rib Meat Help Meet
A female analogue of man made from the dust of the Earth wasn’t viable. Why not? What can we learn about the husband/wife relationship from the curse God put on women?