Barak

Who is Barak?

Barak, Al-Burāq the son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, was a military general in the Book of Judges in the Bible. He was the commander of the army of Deborah, the prophetess and heroine of the Hebrew Bible. Barak and Deborah are credited with defeating the Canaanite armies led by Sisera, who for twenty years had oppressed the Israelites.

The story of the defeat of the Canaanites under the prophetic leadership of Deborah and the military leadership of Barak, is related in prose and repeated in poetry. Chapter 4 makes the chief enemy Jabin, king of Hazor, though a prominent part is played by his commander-in-chief, Sisera of Harosheth-ha-goiim.

Deborah summoned Barak, the son of Abinoam, from his home at Kedesh in Naphtali, and ordered him, in the name of Yhwh, to take ten thousand men to Mount Tabor. He agrees to on condition that Deborah should go with him. Here he was attacked, as Deborah had expected, by Sisera, whose forces were put to flight, and the greater part of them slain, by Barak's army.