Barak got a bad rap.

We’re talking about the Israelite general sent into battle by Deborah, the only female judge in the book of Judges. Barak won a great battle against long odds, but most of us remember him as a coward. I believe that’s based on a serious misunderstanding of the Bible text.

The story unfolds in Judges 4 and 5. The text identifies Deborah as a prophet (Judges 4:4) as well as a judge. While the other judges were warriors, Deborah actually held court and decided cases. In her prophetic role, she summoned Barak and issued a military challenge. If he would gather 10,000 troops to Mount Tabor, God would draw the enemy to the region and provide a victory.

Let’s pause for some background. Israel was being oppressed by a Canaanite force led by a general named Sisera. The enemy had a clear technological advantage: 900 iron chariots. They had advanced into the Iron Age; the Israelites hadn’t.

And consider the topography. Mount Tabor juts up like a big pimple on the plain of Jezreel.

Apart from this lone mountain, the land lies flat for miles around, with a few rivers (like the Kishon) and a number of gullies that trickle in the spring and dry up in the summer. Mount Tabor could be easily surrounded by a superior force. By gathering his army there, Barak was risking a disastrous siege.

Yet this was exactly what Deborah was asking him to do.

Getting the Wrong Idea

The misunderstanding comes from the following conversation. Barak would do what Deborah asked, but only if she went with him.

Deborah agreed to go, but told Barak, “you won’t get any credit for the victory, because the LORD will hand Sisera over to a woman” (Judges 4:9).

What’s the dynamic there? The interpretation I learned in Sunday school (and perhaps you did too), one that still finds its way into commentaries and study Bibles, goes something like this: “What a sniveling little coward Barak was, insisting that Deborah go with him into battle! A real man would have marched confidently toward the promised victory. As a result of this lack of faith, God punished him by giving the glory to someone else.”

There are three big problems with that reading.

1. The text itself does not criticize Barak.

There is no mention of a lack of faith, or of God’s displeasure. In fact, he is specifically included in the victory celebration (Judges 5:1,12).

2. The New Testament hails Barak as a hero of faith.

He is listed with Gideon, David, Samuel and others—“through faith they fought whole countries and won. They did what was right…” (Hebrews 11:32-33).

3. “Credit for the victory” belongs to God alone, anyway.

The pervasive sense of Scripture is against leaders who would grab personal glory for such exploits (Deuteronomy 8:17-18; Psalm 115:1; Daniel 5:20).

Prophet Motive

Is there a different way to read this exchange?

Start with this question: Why would Barak want Deborah with him? Cowardice? Not according to Hebrews 11. But remember that she was a prophet, delivering God’s messages. Maybe he wanted the words of God close beside him so he would be able to make every decision in line with God’s desires. Also, he was being led into a dangerous gambit, so maybe he wanted to give his troops the confidence that the Lord was really calling the shots.

In either of these cases, Deborah’s reply is not a scolding, but perhaps a test. “If you go about it this way, Barak, people might get the wrong idea. Your reputation might be damaged. Somebody else will get credit—even a woman. Is that okay with you?”

Apparently it was okay, because he still went into battle with God’s prophet at his side, despite the fact that people would call him a coward for the next 3,000 years.

Piecing it Together

Oddly, the Scripture text doesn’t give us many details of the battle, but we can piece things together from various hints and the victory song in Judges 5.

Sisera took the bait, moving his forces to the Jezreel Valley, near the Kishon River. The name Barak can mean lightning or thunder or storm, which may hint at the crucial event—a sudden rain that filled all the gullies and flooded the Kishon (see Judges 5:21). Heavy iron chariots would get stuck in the mud, neutralizing the enemy’s advantage. At the perfect time, perhaps announced by Deborah’s battlecry (Judges 4:14), the Israelites stormed down the mountain and won a great victory.

The enemy general escaped on foot to the tent of a woman named Jael, who killed him. She was the woman who got credit for the victory.

Lessons Learned

What lessons can we learn here? Not the lesson I learned in Sunday school—that a leader needs to “man up” and forge ahead in a self-constructed faith, leaving women behind. This might have fit the spirit of the 1950s—or the 1850s—but it doesn’t do justice to the Bible text.

A key lesson, it would seem, is that we need to keep God’s Word close by, as Barak did with the prophet Deborah. Let it be part of your daily life and ministry, informing your decisions. Don’t rely wholly on the biblical insights of last week or last year or last century. Keep reading Scripture and letting God’s Spirit breathe through it. Let this divine interaction call into question our assumptions—both old and new.

Strangely enough, this is exactly the lesson we need to learn in order to get this lesson from the long-misunderstood story of Deborah and Barak.