Barak

Key: Blue=Bible, Red= Author notes

Hebrews 11:32-34 (NIV)

And what more shall I say? I do not have time to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson and Jephthah, about David and Samuel and the prophets,  who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised; who shut the mouths of lions, quenched the fury of the flames, and escaped the edge of the sword;whose weakness was turned to strength; and who became powerful in battle and routed foreign armies

Hello World,

The story of Barak can be found in Judges 4-5. Although Hebrews 11 mentions Barak, I believe the other characters in the story played a much larger role. As always I encourage you to read Judges 4-5 on your own, but lets get started.

Barak was the man called by God through the prophetess (and current Judge)Deborah to rescue Israel out of the hands of the Canaanites, however because of his lack of faith, he lost the honor to defeat the commander of the Canaanite’s army, Sisera. This honor was given to Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite.

Although Hebrews 11 mainly mentions Barak as the key person in this story, it goes without telling that these women played an important role that is equal, if not greater to Barak’s contributions.

I’d like to take this time to attack the view that the Bible is MYSOGYNISTIC! Although people find scriptures where it may seem mysognistic, they only see those scriptures, and not the many ways God uses both men and women. In this story, Barak was ordered by a Woman, who was leading Israel, to attack the Canaanites. However, Barak was afraid to attack unless the Woman was there with him. Because he was afraid, God took the glory of killing the king and gave it to another Woman to do so…and she did, with a Hammer and a Tent Peg. Which is pretty brutal if you ask me.

I say this to say that even today, God uses both men and women to accomplish the goal. If there is one thing you should understand from this story, is that God has a plan for you no matter who you are. And if you can obey his command, the rewards are plentiful. As for the Israelites in this story, thanks to these Deborah, Jael, and Barak, the Israelites were freed from slavery and had peace for 40 years.

With Love,

Ayodeji Alaketu