An Overview of the Book of Judges

The book of Judges is, frankly, a bit of a tragic book of the Bible. It details the repeated ways God’s people fail to faithfully worship Yahweh. Learn more about the book of Judges with this brief overview.

What Does the Title of the Book of Judges Mean?

The book of Judges continues the historical narrative of the people of Israel in the land after the death of Joshua to the beginning of the united kingdom under the ministry of Samuel.

The book is called shophetim in Hebrew, Kritai in the LXX, and Liber Iudicum in the Latin Vulgate. In all three languages these words mean “judges.” The English “Judges” follows this tradition.

Although the judges did sometimes decide civil disputes (e.g., Deborah), their major function was political and military leadership.

The Hebrew root sh-ph-t for “judge” probably derives from a Semitic term with a semantic range including “ruling and controlling,” as well as “correcting,” “putting in order,” or “making just.” The book of Judges also emphasizes the empowerment of the Spirit of God. This “filling” of the Spirit has led many commentators to note that the judges reveal God’s work of specially gifting people for God’s work. While there are parallels to the political functions of the judges in Mesopotamia and in Carthage, and even in ancient Ebla, the divinely empowered status of the Israelite judges appears to be unique in history.

Who Wrote the Book of Judges?

Who wrote Judges is unknown. Critics have pointed to the obvious three-part structure of the book (see the outline) as evidence for a complicated tradition history. But such a hypothesis is unnecessary. The central point of the book, that even divinely empowered human leaders cannot lead Israel to spiritual triumph, is well served by the structure of the book. The commentary will assume that the book is the work of a single author.

The author of Judges used sources, as all historians do. The story of the wars of occupation (1:1–2:5) may have been a parallel account to the Joshua story (with some significant differences of emphasis). The appendix (chaps. 17–21) may have come from other hands. Certainly the Song of Deborah (chap. 5) was ancient by the time the final author included it in the book. The stories of the individual judges may have come from separate sources. However, a single author put the material into its canonical form under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

The Talmud attributes the authorship of Judges to Samuel. The major argument against this view, however, is that the book seems to be an argument for a king, whereas Samuel seems to have opposed the idea. Those who favor Samuel’s authorship of Judges say that he opposed, not so much the idea of a king, as the Israelites’ motivation for seeking a king. The people saw a king as a solution to their immediate political and military problems, and Samuel saw a godly king as a representative of the King of kings. Samuel may have written the book as a polemic against mere human kingship, since even the divinely empowered leaders failed. Ultimately, the work was designed to be anonymous and should be read that way.

When Was the Book of Judges Written?

Several clues point to the conclusion that the author of Judges wrote during the early years of the monarchy. First, the hectic days of the judges appear to be viewed from a more stable and secure position. Second, Jdg 1:21 points to a time before David’s capture of Jerusalem when the “Jebusites . . . lived with the sons of Benjamin . . . to this day.” Third, 1:29 reports Canaanite control of Gezer, a major site about 20 miles west and slightly north of Jerusalem on the international trade route at the entrance to the Aijalon Valley. Not until later (in 970 BC) did Gezer come under Israelite control.

The note of 18:30, that the idolatrous priests of Micah continued to serve “until the captivity of the land” has led some critics to insist on a postexilic date for the writing of Judges. However, it is unlikely that such a dreadful situation would have been allowed during the years of David and Solomon. E. J. Young’s suggestion (in An Introduction to the Old Testament [Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1949]) that “land” should read “ark” (so that the verse refers to the Philistine capture of the ark of the covenant in about 1075 BC), makes good sense, and requires only a minor change of the consonants (‘arets to ‘aron). However, there is no manuscript support for this, and modern scholars have generally not accepted that idea.

What Is the Theme of the Book of Judges?

The key to understanding the work of the judges appears in 2:16: “The Lord raised up judges who delivered them from the hands of those who plundered them.” “Delivered” is the common verb meaning “to save.” This is ironic, for Moses was sent to deliver the people from Egypt, and ended up presiding over funerals in the wilderness for 38 years. Joshua, whose name means “Deliverer” or “Savior,” succeeded only partially in delivering the people. The apparent motivation for the writing of the book of Judges is the recurring failure of the judges to deliver the people. This theme occurs twice in the book: “In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes” (17:6; 21:25). That even divinely empowered human leaders could not lead Israel to spiritual triumph points to the need for a great King beyond even Saul and David. The term “great King” is a Near Eastern concept, first applied by the Hittites, of a “king above the kings,” or leader of an empire. In the context of Israel in the time of the judges, the term “great King” refers to the messianic leader who alone can fulfill the needs of mankind.

What Is the Purpose of the Book of Judges?

The book of Judges continues the history of Israel, bridging the years between the conquest and the rise of the monarchy.

But, in addition, the author was building a case for the need for a great King. In doing so he demonstrated the downward trend of the spiritual condition of Israel over the centuries of the judges, arguing that temporary and local leaders could not provide a solution for the underlying problems the people of Israel faced. Genuinely impressive victories under Deborah and Barak and then Gideon were followed by the nation’s collapse again into sin and idolatry. The later judges Samson and Jephthah gave only limited respite from anarchy. Chapters 17–21 show a period of history in which the people of Israel increasingly slid into apostasy. The location of these chapters in the book may not be chronological, but the intention is clear: to give the reader a bad portrait of Israel without God as their King.

What Is the Background of the Book of Judges?

Judges is included in the larger corpus of material often called the “Primary History”—Pentateuch, Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Ezra-Nehemiah—all probably written by prophets, and distinguished from the chronicler’s history. This constitutes a well-planned metanarrative behind the entire history of Israel, written by multiple authors who used a wide variety of literary sources from about 1500 to 400 BC.

In this larger historical framework the story of heroes and prophets, deliverers and judges, kings and conquerors is one of frequent tragedy. Moses, the man of God, was unable to enter the promised land. Joshua, the conqueror, was unable to lead the people to nearly complete victory over the land of Canaan. Judges, one after another, staved off defeat for decreasing periods of time. Saul was a failure. David committed adultery with Bathsheba and had her husband Uriah murdered. Solomon acquired numerous wives and horses, and slid into idolatry. Many of the kings of Israel and Judah were a rogues’ gallery with occasional bright moments on the way to the increasingly predictable destruction of the kingdom.

The metanarrative, then, tells a broader story, of which Judges is merely a part. Biblical theologians speak of the “center” or “theme” of biblical theology. From Genesis to Revelation the Bible is designed to reveal God in His glory. For this overarching glory of God, two great parallel themes develop: the kingdom program and the redemption program, intertwined from Gn 3:15 (the “protoevangelium”; see the comments there) to eternity.

The author of Judges despaired of the possibility of a mere earthly kingdom providing the foundation for lasting godliness. God knew that no earthly king could ever solve Israel’s problems. The massive sin problem of mankind demands a King who is also the Redeemer.

For this reason it is best to see the metanarrative of the primary history as a messianic prelude. The messianic “seed” predicted in Gn 3:15 and followed through the kingly line is picked up by the prophets as the great King who would suffer for sin and ultimately rule on the earth and in heaven for all eternity.

The King who was “not in Israel” (Jdg 18:1) in the time of the judges was not merely a temporal head of state. The great King is Messiah the Prince, Jesus Christ. Judges is then part of an overall biblical narrative with a trajectory pointing to Christ and eternity. Jesus, whose name is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew “Joshua,” is the great “Deliverer.”

The period from the death of Joshua to the establishment of the monarchy was roughly 300 years. Judges recounts the turmoil of the tribes during the years following the failure to occupy the land completely. The surrounding world was also in turmoil. Significantly, the Egyptians were in disarray during the Amarna Age (15th century BC), followed by the resurgence of the Nineteenth Dynasty pharaohs Ramses II and Mernepthah. The Hittites were in mortal confrontation with the Mesopotamian Mitanni, and minor regional powers jockeyed for position. The Philistines, part of a larger Aegean people group sometimes called “Sea-Peoples,” were migrating into the region during this period, and posed a threat to Israel.

The years of the judges’ rulership and the years of rest, when added together, comes to a total of between 410 and 490 years. Most interpreters allow for an overlapping of judgeships to account for this chronological problem. Samson and Jephthah, for example, were possibly contemporaries, with Samson in the West and Jephthah in the East.

Most conservative scholars believe the exodus occurred in 1446 BC, and the conquest under Joshua was from 1405 to 1400. In Jdg 11:26 Jephthah indicated that Israel had occupied the region of Heshbon and Aroer for 300 years. Since Jephthah (and Samson) were at the end of the line of judges, this means the period of the judges extended from about 1400 to at least 1100. The period may have extended another 49 or 50 years (for a total of 349 or 350) because Saul began his reign in 1051. Or more likely, the period of the judges may have begun in 1351 and ended 300 years later in 1051.

The book of Judges is a story of warfare, assassinations, treachery, and general mayhem. Ehud’s secretive stabbing of Eglon, Jael’s tentpeg exploit, and Gideon’s execution of the kings all may seem somewhat less than ethical today. In many ways the treatment of these issues is like that of the imprecatory psalms (e.g., 109:613) in which the enemies of Israel are viewed as the enemies of God, and their cruel punishment is a means of glorifying God.