‘Isn’t there a Barack in the Bible?’ asked my husband, stirring briefly in his chair during a programme about the American president.
‘Isn’t there a Barack in the Bible?’ asked my husband, stirring briefly in his chair during a programme about the American president.
That was more than I knew, but he is almost right. There is a Barak who features in a stirring adventure in the book of Judges. He takes ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun, at the command of the prophetess Deborah and defeats Sisera’s nine hundred chariots of iron. It is in the aftermath of the battle that the incident occurs that appealed to later painters: the nailing of Sisera’s head to the ground with a tent-nail, as he slept, by Jael, who then shows Barak what has happened to his enemy.
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