page_title: Book of Judges
section_title: Composition
hierarchical_section_title: Book of Judges / Composition
caption_attribution_description: Gédéon (vers 1550), huiles sur bois de Martin van Heemskerck, au Musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg. A l'origine, un tableau (perdu)avec la Vierge était placé entre les deux panneaux.
context_page_description: 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; 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.
context_section_description: It is unclear if any of the people named as judges existed.
caption: "Gideon thanks God for the miracle of the dew", painting by Maarten van Heemskerck (Musée des Beaux-Arts de Strasbourg)
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