Biblical Judges - wikipedia Biblical Judges שופטים ‬ Judges in the Bible Italics indicate individuals not explicitly described as judges Book of Joshua Joshua Book of Judges Othniel Ehud Shamgar Deborah Gideon Abimelech Tola Jair Jephthah Ibzan Elon Abdon Samson First Book of Samuel Eli Samuel The biblical judges are described in the Hebrew Bible, and mostly in the Book of Judges, as people who served roles as military leaders in times of crisis, in the period before an Israelite monarchy was established. Contents 1 Role 2 Historicity and timeline 3 Judges mentioned in the Hebrew Bible 4 See also 5 Notes 6 References 6.1 Bibliography 7 Further reading 8 External links Role This section uncritically uses texts from within a religion or faith system without referring to secondary sources that critically analyze them. Please help improve this article by adding references to reliable secondary sources, with multiple points of view. ( August 2018 ) The judge Shamgar slaughters 600 men with an ox goad. From a medieval German manuscript. A cyclical pattern is regularly recounted in the Book of Judges to show the need for the various judges : apostasy of the Israelite people, hardship brought on as punishment from God, crying out to the Lord for rescue. The story of the judges seems to describe successive individuals, each from a different tribe of Israel, described as chosen by God to rescue the people from their enemies and establish justice. While judge is the closest literal translation of the Hebrew term used in the Masoretic text, the position as described is more one of unelected non-hereditary leadership than that of legal pronouncement. However, Cyrus H. Gordon argued that they may have come from among the hereditary leaders of the fighting, landed and ruling aristocracy, like the kings ( basileis ) in Homer. Coogan says that they were most likely tribal or local leaders, contrary to the Deuteronomistic historian 's portrayal of them as leaders of all of Israel, but Malamat pointed out that in the text, their authority is described as being recognized by local groups or tribes beyond their own. Historicity and timeline Timeline of biblical judges ( one interpretation ) The biblical scholar Kenneth Kitchen argues that, from the conquest of Canaan by Joshua until the formation of the first Kingdom of Israel and Judah ( c. 1150 -- 1025 BCE ), the Israelite tribes may have formed a loose confederation. In this conception, no central government would have existed but in times of crisis, the people would have been led by ad hoc chieftains, known as judges ( shoftim ). However, some scholars are uncertain whether such a role existed in ancient Israel. Working with the chronology in Judges, Payne points out that although the timescale of Judges is indicated by Jephthah 's statement ( Judges 11 : 26 ) that Israel had occupied the land for around 300 years, some of the judges overlapped one another. Noting that Deborah 's victory has been confirmed as taking place in 1216 from archaeology undertaken at Hazor, he suggests that the period may have lasted from c. 1382 to c. 1063. Bill T. Arnold and H. G. M. Williamson wrote that if all the figures given in Judges ( years of oppression, years the judges led Israel, years of peace achieved by the judges ) are treated as consecutive, then the total duration of the events described in Judges is 410 years. If we accept a date of 1000 BCE for the beginning of David 's reign over all Israel, which puts the beginning of Eli 's leadership of Israel at about 1100 BCE, then the judges period would begin no later than 1510 BCE -- impossible even for those who date the conquest to the fifteenth century BCE There is also doubt among some scholars about any historicity of the Book of Judges. Judges mentioned in the Hebrew Bible In the Hebrew Bible, Moses is described as a shofet over the Israelites and appoints others to whom cases were delegated in accordance with the advice of Jethro, his Midianite father - in - law. The Book of Judges mentions twelve leaders who judged Israel : Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah, Gideon, Tola, Jair, Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, Abdon, and Samson. The First Book of Samuel mentions Eli and Samuel, as well as Joel and Abiah ( two sons of Samuel ). The First Book of Chronicles mentions Kenaniah and his sons. The Second Book of Chronicles mentions Amariah and Zebadiah ( son of Ishmael ). The biblical text does not generally describe these leaders as `` a judge '', but says that they `` judged Israel '', using the verb שָׁפַט ( š - f-t ). Thus, Othniel `` judged Israel '' ( Judges 3 : 10 ), Tola `` judged Israel twenty - three years '' ( Judges 10 : 2 ), and Jair judged Israel twenty - two years ( Judges 10 : 3 ). See also Shophet Notes Jump up ^ ( sing. Hebrew : שופט ‬ šōp̄êṭ / shofet, pl. שופטים ‬ šōp̄əṭîm / shoftim ) References Jump up ^ Boling & Nelson 2006. Jump up ^ Judges 12 : 7 -- 15. Jump up ^ Gordon 1962, pp. 296 -- 297. Jump up ^ Coogan 2009, p. 178. Jump up ^ Malamat 1971, p. 129. Jump up ^ Kitchen 2003. Jump up ^ Thompson 2000, p. 96. Jump up ^ Payne 1996, pp. 630 -- 631. Jump up ^ Arnold & Williamson 2005, p. 590. Jump up ^ Brettler 2002, p. 107 ; Davies 2006, p. 26 ; Thompson 2000, p. 96. Jump up ^ Exodus 18 : 13 -- 26. Jump up ^ Hauser 1975. Bibliography Arnold, Bill T. ; Williamson, H. G. M. ( 2005 ). Dictionary of the Old Testament : Historical Books. Downers Grove, Illinois : InterVarsity Press. ISBN 978 - 0 - 8308 - 1782 - 5. Boling, Robert G. ; Nelson, Richard D. ( 2006 ). `` Judges ''. In Attridge, Harold W. ; Meeks, Wayne A. The HarperCollins Study Bible ( rev. ed. ). HarperCollins Publishers. Brettler, Marc Zvi ( 2002 ). The Book of Judges. London : Routledge. ISBN 978 - 0 - 415 - 16216 - 6. Coogan, Michael D. ( 2009 ). A Brief Introduction to the Old Testament. New York : Oxford University Press. ISBN 978 - 0 - 19 - 533272 - 8. Davies, Philip R. ( 2006 ) ( 1992 ). In Search of `` Ancient Israel '' : A Study in Biblical Origins. London : Continuum. ISBN 978 - 1 - 85075 - 737 - 5. Drum, Walter ( 1910 ). `` Judges ''. In Herbermann, Charles G. ; Pace, Edward A. ; Pallen, Condé B. ; Shahan, Thomas J. ; Wynne, John J. Catholic Encyclopedia. 8. New York : Encyclopedia Press ( published 1913 ). pp. 547 -- 549. This article incorporates text from this public - domain publication. Gordon, Cyrus H. ( 1962 ). Greek and Hebrew Civilizations. Hauser, Alan J. ( 1975 ). `` The ' Minor Judges ' : A Re-Evaluation ''. Journal of Biblical Literature. 94 ( 2 ) : 190 -- 200. doi : 10.2307 / 3265729. ISSN 0021 - 9231. Kitchen, K. A. ( 2003 ). On the Reliability of the Old Testament. Grand Rapids, Michigan : William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. ISBN 978 - 0 - 8028 - 4960 - 1. Malamat, A. ( 1971 ). Mazor, Benjamin, ed. Judges. Givatayim, Israel : Rutgers University Press. pp. 129 -- 163. Payne, J. P. ( 1996 ). `` Book of Judges ''. In Marshall, I. Howard ; Millard, A. R. ; Packer, J. I. ; Wiseman, D. J. New Bible Dictionary ( 3rd ed. ). Leicester, England : Inter-Varsity Press. ISBN 978 - 0 - 8308 - 1439 - 8. Thompson, Thomas L. ( 2000 ). Early History of the Israelite People : From the Written & Archaeological Sources. Leiden, Netherlands : Brill. ISBN 978 - 90 - 04 - 11943 - 7. Further reading Wolf, C. U. ( 1962 ). `` Judge ''. The Interpreter 's Dictionary of the Bible. Abingdon Press. External links Bible portal Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Biblical_judges&oldid=863418692 '' Categories : Judges of ancient Israel Book of Judges Heads of government Heads of state Titles of national or ethnic leadership Hidden categories : Articles containing Hebrew - language text Articles lacking reliable references from August 2018 All articles lacking sources Articles needing more viewpoints from August 2018 Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from August 2018 Use British English Oxford spelling from August 2018 Use dmy dates from August 2018 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Беларуская Български Brezhoneg Català Čeština Ελληνικά Esperanto 한국어 Bahasa Indonesia Italiano עברית Latviešu Malagasy Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Polski Русский தமிழ் Українська اردو 中文 13 more Edit links This page was last edited on 10 October 2018, at 17 : 07 ( UTC ). 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Question: how many judges are there in the book of judges in the bible
Answer: twelve