Information for the Book of
Judges
There are three major sections to the book of Judges. The first is an introduction, which gives reasons for the decline. The second is a historical section, which includes the stories of the judges. The third gives incidents of the people's decline and their turning from the covenants.
Significant sections:
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF JUDGES
I. AUTHOR: Possibly the Prophet Samuel
A. The Talmud identifies the author of Judges and Samuel
as the prophet Samuel1
B. There are no specific allusions to Samuel in the book
C. There is some evidence which points to a time of
writing early in the monarchy, perhaps shortly after
Saul's coronation (e.g. 1051 B.C.)
1. The repeated phrase "in those days Israel had no
king" looks backward from a time when Israel did
have a king
2. The Jebusites are reported as still living in
Jerusalem (1:21); this was not true following
David's conquest of the city in 1004 B.C. (2 Sam
5:6-7)
3. The reference to Canaanites in Gezer suggests a
date before the time the Egyptians gave that city
to Solomon's Egyptian wife as a wedding present (1
Ki 9:16)
4. The designation 'Bethlehem-Judah" occurs only in
Judges 17, 19, Ruth 1, and 1 Samuel 17:12.
D. The reference in 18:30 to the continuance of Dan's
idolatry "until the day of the captivity of the land"
is probably not a reference to the deportation of
Tiglath-pileser III in 733-32 or the final deportation
under Sargon in 722-21, but to the Philistine invasion
of 1 Samuel 4 which resulted in the capture of the ark
(cf. 18:31 where the house of God is at Shiloh).
Although the historical books contain no reference to
the actual destruction of Shiloh, Jeremiah 7:12, 14;
26:6; Ps. 78:60 note such a destruction. Also
Archaeological evidence shows "that the temple there
was destroyed about 1050 B.C., which must have been
immediately after the events of 1 Samuel 4"2
II. If Samuel was the author, than the audience was either the
generation of Saul who wanted a king to rule over them (1
Sam 8), or perhaps king Saul himself.
III. CHRONOLOGY:
A. The Setting for the book is after the death of Joshua
(1:1)
B. The Israelites are in the land of promise and are
taking possession of the inheritance allotted to each
tribe (1:1-36)
C. The author knows about a king in Israel (17:6; 18:1;
19:1; 21:25)
D. Some place the time of the conquest early (fifteenth
century B.C.) and some date the conquest late (twelfth
century B.C.) depending upon their date for the Exodus
E. This writer holds to an early date for the Exodus (1446
B.C.) in accordance with a literal interpretation of
the biblical numbers in Exodus 12:40 ("Now the time
that the sons of Israel lived in Egypt was four hundred
and thirty years"), Judges 11:26 ("While Israel lived
in Heshbon and its villages, and in Aroer and its
villages, and in all the cities that are on the banks
of the Arnon, three hundred years, why did you not
recover them within that time?") and 1 Kings 6:1 ("Now
it came about in the four hundred and eightieth year
after the sons of Israel came out of the land of Egypt,
in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in
the month of Ziv which is the second month, that he
began to build the house of the Lord")
1. A plausible (and approximate) reconstruction of
the Exodus would be as follows:3
a. 966 = 4th full year (actually into the fifth)
of Solomon's reign (971-931) when the Temple
was begun
b. +44 yrs = start of David's reign (1010)
c. +40 yrs = start of Saul's reign (1050)
d. +40 yrs = the time from Saul to Jephthah's
statement (1050-1090)
e. +300 yrs = the time in the land (Jephthah's
statement) (1390)
f. +16 yrs = Joshua's leadership (1406)
g. +40 yrs = wilderness wondering (1446)
2. This matches 1 Kings 6:1 where 966 + 480 =
1446!+430 yrs = the time that Israel lived in
Egypt before the Exodus (Ex. 12:40) and therefore
Jacob moved to Egypt in 1876 B.C.
F. The beginning of the conquest of the land was in 1406
B.C. forty years after the Exodus (1446)
G. The Actual conquest lasted for seven years or until
1399 B.C.:4
1. Caleb stated that he was forty years old when he
went to spy out the land in Joshua 15:7
2. The wilderness wanderings lasted 38 years (from
that point)5 which brings Caleb's age to 78 at the
beginning of the conquest (40+38=78)
3. Caleb then stated that he was 89 years old at the
end of the conquest (Joshua 15:10). This is
confirmed by Caleb's statement that the Lord
provided for grace to the people for 45 years
since Kadesh Barnea (38 years of wandering plus
seven years of Conquest)
4. Therefore, If the conquest was begun in 1406 B.C.
after the wanderings, and it was completed seven
years later, then the book of Joshua could have
been written any time after 1399 B.C.
H. Therefore, Judges lasts for 300 years from 1390-1090
when Saul began to reign.A Very Tentative
Reconstruction is as Follows:
1. Introduction and background (1:1--3:6) = 20 years
2. The Accounts of the Judges (3:7--16:31) = 260
years
3. The Epilogue on the Judges period = 20 years
IV. Theology:
A. YHWH is the covenant God (2:1 who is delivering his
people as He revealed himself in Exodus (10:11-12;
2:16; 3:9, 10). Every deliverance in the book of Judges
is specifically attributed to YHWH
B. YHWH is the true Judge of Israel who delivers and whose
judgments are right and just (11:27):
1. Note that Deborah is introduced as one judging
Israel sitting under a tree and calling Barak to
deliver the nation (4:4-7)
2. In the next account of the call of Gideon the
angel of the Lord is sitting under a tree (6:11-
14)
C. In Judges obedience is not a prerequisite to blessing.
Judges shows that God's covenantal blessings are apart
from any human merit, which in turn call for a response
of obedience. The judges are weak. God delivers, not on
the basis of human merit or might, but according to His
choice of covenantal faithfulness to Abraham.
D. The Role of a Judge (tpv):
1. One who delivered the people
2. One who ruled in Israel before the time of
deliverance (4:4)
3. One who ruled in Israel after the time of
deliverance (8:28; 12:7)
4. He/she had several tasks (Dt 16:18; 25:1):
a. To turn the people back from idolatry and
thus restore the authority of the law
b. To vindicate YHWH's righteousness by proving
that He always remained faithful to His
covenant with His vassal
c. Since YHWH was the King, He utilized the
judge to effect His rulership over His
vassal, Israel. The judge was invested with
YHWH's power and authorityThe judges did not
function properly. YHWH faithfully delivers
his people through weak judges.
V. The Bethlehem Trilogy:6
JUDGES 17--18 JUDGES 19--20 RUTH 1--4
A Levite of A Levite of A movement from a
Bethlehem (17:7) Ephraim who took Moabite to David
as his maiden a in Bethlehem 4:17-
concubine from 22
Bethlehem
Left to seek Received his A Man left
employment (17:7, concubine from Bethlehem, but
9) Bethlehem to which unlike the other
she had fled two stories does
not ultimately
deface the town,
but enhances its
name
Came to a young Returned to Bethlehem became
man of Ephraim Ephraim by way of the subtle setting
(Micah) (17:1-5, Gibeah of Benjamin for the birthplace
8) of King David
Served as a Set upon by evil
private chaplain men who brutalized
in Micah's illicit her and left her
chapel (17:10-13) for dead
Hired by the tribe Her husband
of Dan as a priest related the event
and relocated in to all of Israel
Laish (N. Galilee) (cut up)
Established a cult They attacked the
center which tribe of Benjamin
continually caused almost annihilat
God's people to ing it
stumble
The Levite was Repopulated
Jonathan the son Benjamin with
of Gershom and the women from Shiloh
grandson of Moses and Jabesh Gilead
(18:30) for the 600
surviving men of
Benjamin
Jabesh-Gilead was
(probably) the
home of Saul's
ancestors [thus
his interest in
it]1
Reflects badly on
Benjamin and by
implication Saul--
Saul's ancestors
humiliated and
disgraced a
Bethlehemite
Bethlehem suffered
at the hands of
Benjaminites
In Those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did
what was right in His own eyes
(Judges 17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25; cf. Ruth 1:1)
VI. Purposes for Judges:
A. To develop the historical period from the conquest of
the land to the time of Israel's first king
B. Not simply to present history as it was, but to present
a theological perspective on the period of the judges
(cf. Joshua 24:14-28; Judges 2:6-13)
C. To present YHWH as faithful to His covenant to Abraham
even through the people break their covenant with Him
and never repent of their evil (cf. Deut 11:26-28;
28:15)
D. To remind the people that YHWH is faithful to His
covenant and that He, not a judge or king, is the One
ultimately responsible for the welfare of Israel
E. To stress for Saul (?) the obligation of obedience to
YHWH with the understanding that blessing ultimately
does not depend upon one's own personal might or
worthiness but upon YHWH's faithfulness (1 Samuel will
underscore this theme)
F. If God is raising up someone in every generation to do
battle with evil (Gen 3:15) then the number of judges
may be equal to the number of generations. This would
make the book of Judges a complete list but with a
theological theme.If the book was written for King
Saul, then he is one who is being raised up during a
particular generation to do battle with evil and is
thus being warned about evil battle before him!
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1 Baba Bathra, 14b.
2 A.E. Cundall and Leon Morris, Judges and Ruth, 192.
3 Wood, A Survey of Israel's History, 88-90.
4 See Donald K. Campbell, "Joshua," in BKC, 1:357.
5 The internal record of the chronology from Egypt to Moab
is helpful in a reconstruction of the dates:
(1) The people departed from Egypt on the fifteenth day of
the first month--March/April [Nisan] 15, 1446 (Num 33:3; cf.
Ex. 12:2 ,5)
(2) The people reached the wilderness of Sinai on the first
day of the third month--May/June [Sivan] 1, 1446 (Ex 19:1)
(3) The tabernacle was erected on the first day of the first
month of the second year--March/April [Nisan] 1, 1445 (Ex.
40:17)
(4) Leviticus is given during the one month interval
immediately following the filling of the Tabernacle by the
glory of YHWH and before the people prepared to leave Sinai
for the promised land--March/April [Nisan] 1-30, 1445 (Num
1:1; cf. Ex 40:17)
(5) Numbers opens with a census taken on the first day of
the second month in the second year--April/May [Iyyar or
Ziv] 1, 1445 (Num 1:1)
(6) The cloud is taken up to begin to lead the people to the
promised land from the wilderness of Sinai on the twentieth
day of the second month of the second year--April/May [Iyyar
or Ziv] 20, 1445 (Num 10:11)
(7) The people sin at Kadesh=Barnea (Num 13--14) and are
sentenced to wander 40 years in the wilderness (Num 14:33).
Numbers covers 38 years and nine months (cf. Num 1:1 with
Deut 1:3)
(8) Aaron dies on Mount Hor on the first day of the fifth
month in the fortieth year--July/August [Ab] 1, 1406 (Num
33:38)
(9) Deuteronomy opens on the Transjordan on the first day or
the eleventh month of the fortieth year after what should
have been an eleven day journey--January/February [Shebat]
1, 1406 (Deut 1:1-3)
6 This chart is adapted from the contents of the article by
Eugene H. Merrill, "The Book of Ruth: Narration and Shared
Themes," Bibliotheca Sacra 142 (1985): 130-141.
7 See also 1 Samuel 31:11-13.
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1 See also 1 Samuel 31:11-13.