“Who was the Barak mentioned in Hebrews 11?”

October 2024 – Grace & Truth Magazine

QUESTION: Who was the Barak mentioned in Hebrews 11:32 as among the faithful ones in Scripture? What did he do to gain such spiritual recognition?

ANSWER: The Barak mentioned in Hebrews 11:32 is the same Barak we find in Judges 4 and 5. At a difficult time he obeyed God in spite of his personal fear. Because he insisted on Deborah’s going with him to battle, he was told that the way he went would not be to his honor. In Judges 4:15 we find that the Lord gave Barak the victory. However, to Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite went the glory of slaying the enemy general, Sisera. The song in the next chapter is ascribed to Deborah and Barak rather than to Barak and Deborah. The Lord honors the obedience of faith even where faith may be weak. Thank God for this – for often our faith is far from what it should be!

Answered by Eugene P. Vedder, Jr.

Deborah met Barak with the word, “Hath not the Lord God of Israel commanded?” (Jud. 4:6 KJV). How reassuring is this, as it links with the strength of Omnipotence. What are “ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali, and of the children of Zebulon” (v.6), compared with the mighty hosts and chariots of Sisera (v.13)? Ah, if the Lord God of Israel hath commanded, the battle is already won! In this light, Barak’s unbelief comes out clearly. If the command of God has been given, it is a pledge of His presence. What need then of the feeble instrument through whom that command had been given? The Lord had said, “I will draw unto thee … Sisera, the captain of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude; and I will deliver him into thy hand” (v.7). Evidently Barak did not fully realize this, for he says to Deborah, “If thou wilt go with me, then I will go: but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go” (v.8) – and this in the face of a plain command! Ah, brethren, if we are disposed to blame Barak too severely, let us include ourselves. How often have we held back for some feeble instrument of nature, some arm of flesh, when the living God has given us His command. —Samuel Ridout, “Lectures On The Book Of Judges”