Baara is a name found in the King James Bible, appearing 1 time in the text.
Who This Was
Baara appears only once in Scripture, in a single verse within the genealogy of the tribe of Benjamin. According to 1 Chronicles 8:8, “And Shaharaim begat children in the country of Moab, after he had sent them away; Hushim and Baara were his wives.” Baara is identified as one of the wives of Shaharaim, a descendant of Benjamin. The source note confirms this same identification: Baara was a wife of Shaharaim, a descendant of Benjamin.
The setting of this brief notice is significant. Shaharaim had apparently sent away previous wives before fathering children in the country of Moab, and it was there—outside the land of Israel—that Hushim and Baara are named as his wives. The text does not tell us where Baara herself came from, how she came to be married to Shaharaim, or what became of her. She is mentioned only as a wife, and no children are attributed to her by name in the verse. The record is wholly genealogical in character, preserving her name among the families of Benjamin.
What Scripture says of Baara is therefore very little, and that little is stated plainly. She was a wife of Shaharaim. She is named alongside Hushim. She appears in a Moabite setting connected with a Benjaminite man’s family line. Beyond this, the text is silent. She did not act in any recorded event, spoke no recorded words, and is given no narrative of her own. Yet her name was preserved in the sacred record of Israel’s tribes, listed among those through whom the family of Benjamin was carried forward.
The Name
The name Baara is Hebrew, and its meaning is not clearly recoverable with confidence. Some have connected it to a root suggesting “burning” or “a flame,” but this is not firmly established, and the name may instead be derived from a different root or may reflect a form whose precise sense has been lost. Because the text offers no explanation of the name and no reliable tradition fixes its meaning, it is best to say plainly that the meaning of this name is uncertain. No meaning should be asserted for it merely to supply one.
A Closing Thought
Baara is one of the many quiet names in Scripture—a woman known to God, recorded in a genealogy, yet given no story of her own. Her life reminds us that faithfulness is often hidden. Most of God’s people are not remembered in great narratives; they are remembered by Him. If your life feels small and unrecorded, take heart. The God who preserved Baara’s name in His Word knows you fully, and no life lived before Him is forgotten, however briefly it appears in the records of this world.
At a Glance
- Gender: Male
- Testament: Old
- Mentions in the KJV: 1
Where It Appears in Scripture
- 1 Chronicles 8:8 — And Shaharaim begat children in the country of Moab, after he had sent them away; Hushim and Baara were his wives.