Introduction
Overview
The purpose of Judges is to show the failure of Israel to keep the Mosaic covenant (Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) after God gives them the promised land. The book of Judges paints a dreadful picture of a rapid, downward decline, both theologically and morally. A terrible cycle is repeated over and over. The people will sin and turn away from God, and thus a foreign nation will overrun them and oppress them. God, in his mercy and grace, will send a judge to deliver them and reestablish peace and blessing. The people, however, will soon turn away from God again, only to be conquered and oppressed again. God will send another judge to deliver them, and the pattern will repeat. However, as the story moves along, things seem to get worse and worse. Most of the judges themselves are tainted in some way, and they do not quite measure up in their behavior. Along the way the reader begins to realize that not only have the Israelites failed to drive out the Canaanites, but they are quickly becoming just like the Canaanites themselves, serving Canaanite gods and embracing Canaanite morality. At the end of the book, things are absolutely disastrous. A Levite becomes a leader in idol worship, selling out to the highest bidder; the tribe of Dan leaves its inheritance and migrates north, also falling into idolatry; an Israelite city behaves just like Sodom and Gomorrah (the prototype for Canaanite immorality), attacking a visitor; and rather than driving out the Canaanites, the Israelites unite to destroy one of their own tribes (Benjamin).
It is also enlightening to note which people the Israelites are fighting in this book. At the beginning they are fighting the Canaanites, attempting to complete the conquest as God commanded them. But soon they find themselves oppressed by and at war with the Moabites, Midianites, and Ammonites, peoples from outside the land that Israel soundly defeated back during the exodus. So things are going backward for them. In Jdg 13–16 the Israelites are struggling against a new group, the Philistines, who, like the Israelites, have recently migrated into the region and are trying to take over Canaan. The Philistines threaten to drive Israel right out of the promised land. Then if this weren’t bad enough, at the end of the book, the Israelites are simply killing each other.
Date and Authorship
The author of the book of Judges remains largely unknown. Although Jewish tradition attributes the book to the prophet Samuel, there is no solid evidence to support the claim. The most that can be said is that the author was an Israelite devoted to the Lord.
Similarly, there is scant evidence from within the text to allow us to pinpoint the date of composition. While the mention of “king” in 17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25 is often seen as referring to the human kings that will eventually rule Israel, thus placing the composition of the book in the monarchical period, the likelihood that the “king” may actually be a reference to the Lord (see the commentary on 17:6) nullifies its use in dating. The mention of “exile from the land” in 18:30 is also of little help, as it is unclear whether it refers to the sixth-century-BC Babylonian exile or the earlier eighth-century-BC exile of the northern kingdom by Assyria. In fact, the phrase itself is highly unusual because elsewhere it is often the people of a specific place that are spoken of as being exiled, such as Israel, Judah, or Jerusalem (cf. 2 Kg 17:23; 25:21; Jr 1:3). These uncertainties surrounding 18:30 thus limit its usefulness in matters of dating.
That said, however, the vividness of detail found in Jdg 3:12–16:31 does suggest that the narratives of the judges may have come into existence not much later than the events themselves. In fact, scholars generally agree that most of these stories had probably been circulating in oral form within Israelite society for an extended period of time before they were collected and written down by the author of the book of Judges. While the conscious framing of the narratives of individual judges into recurring cycles (see 2:11–19) suggests that the original source material was subjected to some editing, the embedding of other literary genres such as poetry (5:2–31) and fable (9:8–15) within the narratives also suggests that the author was careful to preserve as much as possible the sources in their original form.
Structure
The book of Judges can roughly be divided into three main sections. It begins in 1:1–3:6 with a double introduction that highlights Israel’s failures in the military and spiritual realms. This is followed in 3:7–16:31 by a series of narratives concerning the exploits of the various judges. Finally, 17:1–21:25 provides a fitting conclusion, as two narratives concerning largely nameless characters illustrate the extent to which chaos and anarchy have taken hold in Israelite society.
While there is no reason to doubt the historicity of the events narrated, it should be noted that the overall selection and arrangement of material within the book seems to be guided more by literary and theological concerns than by a desire to present a comprehensive and chronological account of the period. This is evident from the neat schematization that characterizes most of the book. For example, both the conquest report in 1:1–36 and the narratives of the judges are arranged roughly along the same south–north trajectory that begins with Judah and ends with Dan, the former according to the geographic location of the tribes and the latter according to the judges’ tribal affiliations. In both cases, this trajectory also coincides with a progressively deteriorating trend. This neat schematization suggests that the author may have arranged this material primarily to reflect a particular theological interpretation of the period’s history rather than to provide a strictly chronological account of what happened.
Furthermore, most of the twelve judges mentioned in 3:7–16:31 (among the leaders discussed in this section, Barak and Abimelech are not referred to as judges) are from different tribes. The enemies, with the exception of the Philistines common to both Shamgar and Samson, likewise come from different ethnic groups. This suggests that these narratives were likely selected for their representative function to show that, collectively, judges from all tribes were chosen to deal with enemies from every ethnic background.
Outline
1. Introducing the Era of the Judges (1:1–3:6)
A. Military Failures (1:1–2:5)
B. Spiritual Failures (2:6–3:6)
2. Exploits of Israel’s Judges and Leaders (3:7–16:31)
A. Othniel (3:7–11)
B. Ehud (3:12–30)
C. Shamgar (3:31)
D. Deborah and Barak (4:1–5:31)
E. Gideon (6:1–8:35)
F. Abimelech (9:1–57)
G. Tola and Jair (10:1–5)
H. Jephthah (10:6–12:7)
I. Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon (12:8–15)
J. Samson (13:1–16:31)
3. Chaos in Israelite Society (17:1–21:25)
A. In the Areas of Religious and Military Practices (17:1–18:31)
B. In the Areas of Social Norms and Political Decisions (19:1–21:25)