Barak (judge)

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The judges of Israel
Book of Judges

1. Book of Samuel

Barak ( Hebrew בָּרָק , "lightning"), the son of Abinoam, is a person from the judges of the Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament . ( Ri 4.1-5.31  EU )

Barak was the general of the Israelites at the time of the judge Deborah . This commissioned him with ten thousand men from the tribes of Naftali and Zebulun against Jabin , the king of Canaan , and his general Sisera . The king had oppressed the Israelite people for twenty years because they had again fallen away from YHWH and did what displeased the Lord ( Judg. 4 : 1  EU ). Fearing defeat by the far superior enemy, Barak demanded that Debora accompany the Israelite contingent, which she promised him. At the same time, however, she predicts that Barak will not gain personal fame through his victory. From Mount Tabor, Barak then defeated the vastly superior army of Jabin, with its nine hundred iron war chariots, operating with the army of the Israelites ( Judgment 4.14  EU ).

While pursuing the beaten enemy, Barak learns of the death of Sisera, who, as prophesied by Debora ( Ri 4,9  EU ), died at the hand of a woman. Jaël , Heber's wife, a Kenite allied with Jabin ( Judge 4,9  EU ), had killed him by driving a stake into his temple with a hammer while he was resting ( Judge 4,21  EU ). In Judges 5 ( Judges 5,2–31 EU ), Debora and Barak sing about  the success of the Israelites with a song of victory ( Deboralied ).

The story of Barak's campaign contains a discrepancy with the chronologically preceding book of Joshua, according to which King Jabin was killed at an earlier point in time and his capital Hazor has already been destroyed ( Jos 11: 10-15  EU ).

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