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(Hebrew Baraq, lightning)
The deliverer of the Israelites from the power of the Chanaanites under the judgeship of Debbora. He was the son of Abinoem of Cedes in Nephtali (Judges 4:6) and probably belonged to the tribe of Issachar (5:15). When, after the death of the Judge Aod, "the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord", (4:1), they were delivered into the hands of the Chanaanite King Jabin of Asor who grievously oppressed them for twenty years (4:3). Thereupon the prophetess Debbora of Mount Ephraim, between Rama and Bethel, instigates Barac, manifestly a leading captain of the time, to assemble 10,000 men of the tribes of Nephtali and Zabulon (4:6; cf. 5:14) and to take the field against Sisara, the general of Jabin's army. Barac assembles his warriors at Cedes, moves to Mount Thabor, and by a rush down the mountain surprises the Chanaanites (4:10-14; cf. 5:15-21). The panic-stricken army of Sisara is attacked, routed, pursued, and finally cut to pieces (4:16). Sisara, having taken to flight, seeks refuge in the tent of Jahel, the wife of Haber, the Cinite, where he meets with a treacherous end (4:21; cf. 5:26). This signal victory of Barac, which put an end to the power and oppression of Jabin, and which was followed by a period of forty years' rest, is commemorated in the triumphal ode of Debbora and Barac (5). For the various accounts of Barac's exploits which critics detect in Judges 4 and 5, see BOOK OF JUDGES.
APA citation. (1907). Barac. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02281a.htm
MLA citation. "Barac." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02281a.htm>.
Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Susan Birkenseer.
Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. 1907. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York.
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