Judges 4-5

(June 4, 2014)
I don’t think we give Barak enough credit for who and what he was.  We certainly tend to focus on Deborah in the reading of this story, and that is important.  But Barak was a man living in a time when everything his culture seemingly aspired to would have caused him to reject (1) following a woman; and (2) losing the honor or credit of victory.  And yet he, knowing he would not get the credit and knowing that he followed a woman, chose to be obedient and to deliver Israel nonetheless.