Judges Chapters 1 & 2

The English title of this book is somewhat misleading with its judicial or legal connotations. The judges' role of administering justice was only secondary. They were primarily military leaders whom Elohim "raised up" at times of national distress to deliver Israel from her oppressors.

The author of the book is possibly Samuel. There is no explicit claim of authorship, although the Jewish tradition ascribing it to Samuel is reasonable. The problem with the authorship of Samuel is that Samuel lived toward the end of the period of Judges which puts it some 300+ years after the beginning of the book.

The book records events following Joshua's death and preceding the rise of the monarchy. Verses in the final chapters imply that there was no one around to write this book at the time anyway (17:6, 21:25). It is likely that it was put together by Samuel and possibly with the help of other prophets (1 Chron. 29:29).

This book is about the disobedience of Israel and the faithfulness of Elohim. As the Book of Joshua describes the process of Israel's taking the land, Judges describes the process of possessing the land. Unfortunately, in the process of possessing the land, Israel became possessed by the Canaanite fertility religion, which they mixed with the worship of Elohim, much like we see in Christianity today. The story of Judges, then, is a story of deteriorating faithfulness of Israel and the resulting judgment during the long period between Joshua's death and the birth of Samuel. The book describes a descending spiral of sin followed by the judgment of Elohim followed by the repentence of Israel followed by the obedience of Israel followed by sin once again. There are seven such cycles in the book of Judges.

If all the terms of the judges are calculated consecutively, along with the stated periods of oppression, the total number of years covered in this book is 407. This puts the Exodus in the sixteenth century BC which fits other chronology and Egyptian history. The time of the coronation of Saul as the first king of Israel was about 1050 BC.

Beit Yeshua Torah Assembly
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