The Reluctant General

About The Reluctant General

“The Reluctant General” is unique in that it is a historical novel that is both true to the biblical record and historically accurate. Yet, it is a fictionalized version of the events about how Deborah, the lead judge of Israel at that time, and Barak, a farmer from the tribe of Naphtali in the northern part of Israel, led an army of ten thousand Israelite farmers and hunters against the greatest army of the known world: the Canaanites. The story involves Barak’s journey from simple farmer to reluctant fighter to heroic general within the milieu of late Bronze Age hardship and cruelty. Barak struggles with his frailties and fears, while Deborah struggles with the fear of her people to get involved in an impossible war and the reluctance of her “general” to lead the army she has called. With nothing apparently to gain and everything to lose, these two people fight side by side to lead a rag-tag army of 10,000 against the well-trained military of over 40,000 men and 900 iron chariots of war.The horrors and suffering of daily life in ancient Israel are depicted in this exciting novel by Herb Sennett, a retired Florida educator and US Army chaplain. He has brought to life a familiar story based on the biblical account of Deborah and Barak. Sennett retells the events in great detail and historical accuracy based on his study of Jewish history. The story begins with a powerful military commander named Sisera sending out large raiding parties against several villages within the famous Valley of Jezreel that stretches from the Mediterranean to the Jordan River. Sisera leads one of the most powerful armies of the period forcing the Jewish residents to pay exorbitant taxes to the king who ruled the region from the city of Hazor located about ten miles north of the Sea of Galilee. Although the heavy taxation was reason enough to rebel, the king also sent orders once a month for the general to collect “worthy sacrifices for the Canaanite god Ba’al.” Sisera interpreted that order as meaning the children of the Israelites, as the Jewish people were known at this time. What happened after the people decided they had had enough of Jabin’s cruelty is the heart of this engaging story of a people who have spent the last three thousand years struggling daily to survive. Reluctant at first to fight, Barak agrees to train and lead an army of ten thousand Israelites against this gigantic army. But he asks the “Judge of Israel,” Deborah, to accompany him into the battle. He believed that she would inspire the men to fight. Amazingly enough, he was right. Following the astounding defeat of the Canaanite army at Mt. Tabor, Deborah and Barak led their army to conquer the great walled city of Hazor. Once inside the city, they capture and kill the Canaanite king Jabin, thereby ending the human sacrifices to the god Baal. The victory over the Canaanites results in forty years of prosperity and growth among the early Jews of the twelfth century BC.

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Author Bio:
Herb Sennett retired from a thirty-five-year career as a college professor in 2016. He then turned his full-time attention to writing novels (historical and detective), screenplays, and self-help books on living life to the fullest. He is also an active participant in the public speaking circuit, talking to people about finding the humor in everyday life.
Herb is a storyteller in the classic sense, weaving life lessons out of stories from his own experiences and those from reading and researching history. He turned to writing novels about ancient Israel and ancient Greece. He also writes crime mystery novels in addition to writing for the two blogs and five websites he hosts.