Barak Character Bible Study Background and Lessons.docx -...

Barak Character Bible Study
Background and Lessons
Meaning of name : Lightning
Ancestry and family life : His father was Abinoam. He was descended from
the tribe of Naphtali. This wasn’t one of the well known, powerful, or famous
tribes. This was the Northernmost tribe in Israel and much of bordered on the
Sea of Galilee.
When and where he lived : Barak lived during the time of Deborah, who
judged Israel after Ehud died. This was very early on in the time of the judges.
The people of Israel had turned away from God again. They followed God
while Ehud lived, but when his influence was gone, they quickly fell away from
the Lord. This is a recurring theme throughout the book of Judge where we
this “circle” happening over and over. First the people faithfully follow God and
worship Him only. Later they rebel against Him and are ensnared by false
idols. So God sends other nations to discipline them. In the midst of their
judgment, the people realize their mistake and turn back to the Lord again.
When they do, He sends a judge to deliver them. During the lifetime of this
judge the people generally follow after God, but after he dies the cycle starts
anew.
Throughout the book we see God consistently disciplined them for their
rebellion. In this case He gave them over to a king called Jabin. He is titled as
the “king of Canaan.” This leads me to believe that he had united many of the
various tribes and cities of Canaan under his banner. His army commander
was Sisera. Their army possessed nine hundred iron chariots. It was fairly
rare for armies at that time to have iron chariots at all, much less nine
hundred. Therefore their army was significantly stronger than others in the
region and Israel had nothing to compare. But remember that it was not
because of their army that they dominated the Israelites. It was because God
gave them over to Jabin to discipline them for their sin.
When things got tough, the Israelites often called to God for help. This time
was no exception. After being oppressed for twenty years (and likely wasting
many of those years calling out to idols), the people were finally sufficiently
humbled to call out to God for help.

God was faithful. He was ready and willing to forgive them and deliver them if
they would acknowledge Him and repent. During this time, there was no king
in Israel. God selected judges, who for the most part had a lot of faith, to unite
some of the Israelites and deliver His people through a military victory.
Training and occupation: Since the Israelites were subjected to the army of
Sisera, they didn’t have any real weapons (see Judges 5:8). This shows that
Barak was almost certainly not a career soldier. Israel generally didn’t have a
standing army at that time anyway. His occupation could have been farmer,
trader, fisherman, shepherd, etc.