Book of Judges
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Date: 2019-01-26

Book of Judges, by Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki?curid=4377 / CC BY SA 3.0

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Book of Judges

The Book of Judges (, "") is the seventh book of the Hebrew Bible and the Christian Old Testament. In the narrative of the Hebrew Bible, it covers the time between the conquest described in the Book of Joshua and the establishment of a kingdom in the Books of Samuel, during which Biblical judges served as temporary leaders. The stories follow a consistent pattern: the people are unfaithful to Yahweh and he therefore delivers them into the hands of their enemies; the people repent and entreat Yahweh for mercy, which he sends in the form of a leader or champion (a "judge"; see "shophet"); the judge delivers the Israelites from oppression and they prosper, but soon they fall again into unfaithfulness and the cycle is repeated. Scholars consider many of the stories in "Judges" to be the oldest in the Deuteronomistic history, with their major redaction dated to the 8th century BCE and with materials such as the Song of Deborah dating from much earlier.

"Judges" can be divided into three major sections: a double prologue (chapters 1:1–3:6), a main body (3:7–16:31), and a double epilogue (17–21).

The book opens with the Israelites in the land that God has promised to them, but worshiping "foreign gods" instead of Yahweh, the God of Israel, and with the Canaanites still present everywhere. Chapters 1:1–2:5 are thus a confession of failure, while chapters 2:6–3:6 are a major summary and reflection from the Deuteronomists.

The opening thus sets out the pattern which the stories in the main text will follow:

Once peace is regained, for a time Israel does right and receives Yahweh's blessings, only to relapse later into doing evil and repeating the pattern set forth above.

"Judges" follows on from the Book of Joshua and opens with reference to Joshua's death...