Difference between revisions of "Judges"

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The Old Testament > Judges

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Historical setting

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A broader treatment of the history of ancient Israel, including Judges, is found at Old Testament: Historical Overview.

Summary

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Discussion

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The Book of Judges can be understood as explaining: (1) why the Israelites failed to finish conquering Canaan despite a promising start under Joshua; (2) why Israel needed a king despite Gideon’s refusal of that position; and (3) that an Israelite king should be descended from David of Judah, not from Joseph (Manasseh and Ephraim) as in the Northern Kingdom, and not even from Saul of Gibeah in Benjamin. These answers are not wrong, but there is more.

The Book of Judges also sets forth and illustrates the new, lesser covenant established by the Lord between himself and Israel. In Genesis 17:8, Exodus 34:10-17, Deuteronomy 7:1-5, ____ the Lord promised to give all of the land of Canaan to the Israelites. But the Lord also established conditions that the Israelites were to: (1) not make any alliances with the Canaanites, (2) throw down their heathen altars, and (3) not intermarry with them. In Judges 2:2 Israel is rebuked for violating the first two conditions, and in Judges 3:6 the Israelites are reported to violate the third condition. In Judges 2:1-5 and 2:20-3:4 the Lord therefore declares broken his previous covenant to deliver the entire land of Canaan to the Israelites, and in its place he declares that foreign nations will be left in Canaan to prove his people Israel and to be thorns in their sides. The former covenant will not be restored until the time of King David.

The Book of Judges is also about how Israel gets from Deborah, in which Israel is shown to be so strong that an allied woman can slay a foreign general, to Samson, in which Israel is now so weak that a foreign woman can defeat Israel’s greatest physical hero. The turning point appears to be Gideon’s final recorded act in making a golden ephod. Significantly, this is the first reported act by an Israelite leader to turn the people toward idolatry. Previously the people had often fallen into idolatry, and leaders were sometimes slow to trust the Lord, but those leaders were also consistently portrayed as faithful and able to each deliver 40 years of rest. The account of Gideon’s ephod is also followed by 40 years of rest, but it is the last rest that Israel will enjoy.

The account of Gideon’s ephod is immediately followed by the story of Abimelech and the town of Schechem, which illustrates Israel’s turning away from the Lord who has repeatedly delivered them. The many obvious parallels between the stories of Gideon and Jephthah show that Abimelech is the central story of Judges (to the extent that there is one). The next story is of Jephthah, who is able to defeat the Ammonites but not to deliver rest. And the last story of the group is of Samson, who does not even pretend to lead. The Samson story illustrates Israel’s failure to keep its covenants and to be an example to the nations as enjoined in Deuteronomy 4:6-8. The apparent lesson is that, although the people may have been idolatrous, they could be delivered by a strong righteous leader, but deliverance and rest become impossible when the leaders actually incite sin. Also see references to the Pattern on the other page.

It is likely that Judges covers about 250-300 years between about 1350-1300 BC to 1050 BC. Judges recounts a little more than 400 years of history, but some of the judges were probably regional and concurrent with each other, so that many years are counted twice. Judges also ends with two stories in which grandsons of Moses and Aaron figure prominently, but those two men would likely have been dead by the end of this time period. So the material in Judges has probably been arranged out of strict chronological order in order to make clear the lessons that its author sought to teach. The judgeships of Eli and Samuel occur after the end of Judges.

The Talmud states that both Judges and Ruth were written by Samuel. The Talmud also refers to the two final stories of Judges regarding Dan and Benjamin, plus the story of Ruth, as the Bethlehem Trilogy. While Judges may not have been written with Ruth in mind, it appears that Ruth was written with the stories of Dan and Benjamin in mind, and that it should therefore be read in light of the Book of Judges. The story of Ruth may have occurred about the same time as Gideon since she is the great grandmother of King David.

Points to ponder

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I have a question

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Relation to other scriptures

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Related scriptures

Parallel passages

Text transmission

Joseph Smith Translation

The Joseph Smith Translation made changes to only one verse in Judges:^[1]

• Judges 2:18

Complete outline and page map

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Judges

I. Introduction: Israel has broken the covenant of complete conquest (Judges 1-2)

A. First rebuke (Chapter 1)

a. second generation conquers Canaan, Joshua dies (1:1-26)

b. but fails to conquer all of Canaan (1:27-36)

c. angel rebukes disobedience, announces lesser covenant (2:1-5)

B. Second rebuke (Chapter 2)

a. second generation faithful, Joshua dies (2:6-10)

b. third generation idolatrous, judges (2:10-19)

c. Lord rebukes disobedience, announces lesser covenant (2:20-3:6)

II. Development: Israel delivered from foreign destruction but spirals into apostasy (Judges 3-16)

1. First pair: Ehud & Deborah-Barak (Judges 3b-5)

● Pattern: of crying to the Lord for deliverance: Othniel (Verses 3:6-11)

A. Ehud: 80 years of rest (Chapter 3b)

• Shamgar briefly mentioned (3:31)

B. Deborah & Barak: Israelite woman kills foreign general (Chapter 4-5)

2. Second pair: Gideon & Abimelech (Judges 6-9)

● Prophet tells Israel to trust in the Lord (Verses 6:6-10)

A. Gideon: deliverance but return to wickedness (Chapter 6b-8)

B. Abimelech: no invasion, Shechem kills Gideon's sons (Chapter 9)

3. Third pair: Jephthah & Samson (Judges 10-16)

• Tola and Jair briefly mentioned (10:1-5)

● Lord says he will no longer deliver Israel (10:6-16)

A. Jephthah: deliverance but no rest (Chapter 10b-12a)

• Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon briefly mentioned (12:8-15)

B. Samson: no deliverance, Israelite hero killed by foreign woman (Chapter 13-16)

a. angel announces Samson’s birth and call to deliver Israel (13:1-25)

b. Philistine bride learns secret riddle of the honeycomb (14:1-20)

c. Samson burns crops, kills Philistines with jawbone (15:1-20)

b. Delilah learns secret of Samson’s strength (16:1-20)

a. Samson kills 3,000 Philistines as vengeance for his eyes (16:21-31)

III. Conclusion: Israel has broken all covenants and is self-destructing (Judges 17-21)

A. Dan: apostatizes and abandons land of inheritance (Judges 17-18)

B. Benjamin: countenances rape and murder and is nearly destroyed (Judges 19-21)

● Ruth (Ruth)

Resources

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Translations

• Amplified • The Amplified Bible, 1987 update

• NASB • New American Standard Bible, 1995 update

• NIV • New International Version

• RSV • Revised Standard Version

Cited references

• Wayment, Thomas A., ed. The Complete Joseph Smith Translation of the Old Testament, p. 131. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 2009. (ISBN 1606411314) BX8630.A2 2009

Other resources

Notes

Footnotes are not required but are encouraged for factual assertions that average readers cannot easily evaluate for themselves, such as the date of King Solomon’s death or the nuanced definition of a Greek word. In contrast, insights rarely benefit from footnoting, and the focus of this page should always remain on the scriptures themselves rather than what someone has said about them. Links are actively encouraged on all sections of this page, and links to authoritative sources are preferable to footnotes.

1. ↑ Wayment, The Complete Joseph Smith Translation of the Old Testament, p. 131.

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