‘The Song of Deborah and Barak’ from the Old Testament is re-told by Mark Twain in his 1869 best-selling book, The Innocents Abroad, a travelogue Twain penned describing his journey to Europe and The Holy Land with a group of religiously minded American tourists as part of the first-ever luxury cruise. “Somewhere in this part of the country – I do not know exactly where – Israel fought another bloody battle a hundred hears later. Deborah, the prophetess, told Barak to take ten thousand men and sally forth against another king Jabin who had been doing something. Barak came down from Mount Tabor, twenty or twenty-five miles from here, and gave battle to Jabin’s forces, who were in command of Sisera. Barak won the fight, and while he was making the victory complete by the usual method of exterminating the remnant of the defeated host, Sisera fled away on foot, and when he was nearly exhausted by fatigue and thirst, one Jael, a woman he seems to have been acquainted with, invited him to come into her tent and rest himself. The wary soldier acceded readily enough, and Jael put him to bed. He said he was very thirsty, and asked his generous preserver to get him a cup of water. She brought him some milk, and he drank of it gratefully and lay down again, to forget in pleasant dreams his lost battle and his humbled pride. Presently when he was asleep she came softly in with a hammer and drove a hideous tent-pen down through his brain!"
Twain comments on this history. “’For he was fast asleep and wary. So he died.’ Such is the touching language of the Bible. ‘The Song of Deborah and Barak’ praises Jael for the memorable service she had rendered, in an exultant strain.”
This story of a Barak and dreams pre-dates that of our presumable Democratic presidential candidate by numerous centuries. Let us hope that leader Barack (with a “C”) is able to do political battle with a bit less bloodshed than commander Barak (without a “C”). Let’s hope that his dreams don’t end with a stake in the brain! And what about feminine treachery?
The power of religion and dreams is mighty. It can be a force both positive and negative. How will it manifest in the coming months?