Judges from a Messianic Perspective
To Levi, my great-grandson, although you are only nine-years-old right now, I pray that you will grow up and honor your namesake in the Bible by drawing close to God, discovering and using your spiritual gift(s), living a godly life, and being a godly man and leader for your family.
Title: The traditional name of the Book, Shophetim, is as early as the Talmudical period (B. B. 14b), and has the support of the LXX (the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the TaNaKh), Sophateim (Origen), and of the Latin Vulgate, Sophtim (Jerome). The Greek title, as found in the Septuagint, is Kritai, meaning judges. The Greek name is simply a Greek translation of the Hebrew word. The greater part of the book deals with the exploits of a series of national leaders who, by their victories over Isra’el’s enemies, brought her independence from the yoke of oppressive foreigners. The term shophet has a wider connotation in Hebrew than has the English word “judge” or the corresponding nouns in Greek and Latin. It denotes both judicare and vindicare, the latter in the double sense of defending, delivering, and avenging, punishing. The shophet was both judge and governor.
As related in Arnold Fruchtenbaum commentary on Judges, the office of judge was first mentioned by Moses (Deuteronomy 16:18, 17:9, and 19:17). The judge was to stand by the side of the high priest as the supreme judge, or leader, in Isra’el. The judge’s function included much more than just civil services. It also included responsibilities of leadership, in both military and religious affairs. The office of judge carried the judicial sense of administrating justice, but it also included being a military leader. The shophet was inspired by the Spirit and summoned directly for His work by divine appointment (3:15, 4:6, and 6:12).
The nature of a judge in the book of Judges, then, was not just civil, but military and religious as well. The usual order as found in this book is as follows: A judge would first serve as a military leader and deliver Isra’el from some foreign occupation. Only after the military deliverance would the judge serve as a civil leader. These judges, therefore, should not be confused with those appointed by Moses in Exodus 18:21-26. Those were civil judges, appointed to decide issues of case law. However, the ones in the book of Judges were to deliver Isra’el from foreign oppression, usually by war, and then to rule in peacetime.
Author: The actual author of this book is unknown. In rabbinic tradition, the Talmudic tractate Babba Bathra 14b-15a states that Samuel wrote the book (First and Second Samuel were originally one book) that bears his name and also the books of Judges and Ruth. It is certainly possible that Samuel did write portions of Judges. But outside of rabbinic tradition, the actual writer of the book of Judges is unknown.
Date: A total of twelve judges are identified in the book of Judges, with Debrah being the only female judge (Abimelech was not actually a judge, and Eli and Samuel do not appear in this book). The dates of the judges from the death of Joshua until the rise of Sha’ul; in other words, from 1380 to 1043 BC. Judges covers a period of transition, archaeologically speaking, from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age – the period of arrival and settlement of the Philistines. The actual period of the Judges includes not only what is found in the book itself, but also what is found in Ruth, and the first twelve chapters of First Samuel.
Date of composition: The question is: What was the composition of the book of Judges itself? The history within the book covers a period of 350 years, and so whoever wrote the book in its final form had to put together a history that covered three-and-a-half centuries.
The first clue in dealing with the date of the book is this phrase: In those days there was no king in Isra’el, which appears four times in the last five chapters: 17:6, 18:1, 19:1, and 21:25. What this phrase shows is that the book of Judges was written there was no king in Isra’el, and each case contextually gives that reason why a king was necessary.
The second clue concerning the date of the composition is, according to 1:29, that the city of Gezer was still in Canaanite hands. This shows that this book was written before Solomon became king, because Solomon had acquired Gezer by marriage (First Kings 9:16).
The third clue, according to 1:21, is that Jerusalem was still in Jebusite hands. This shows that the book was written before David’s capture of Jerusalem (see the commentary on the Life of David, to see link click Co – David Conquers Yerushalayim).
The fourth clue is the statement that Sidon was the chief deity of the Phoenicians. Before the twelfth century BC, Sidon was dominant over Tyre; after the twelfth century, Tyre was dominant over Sidon.
The fifth clue is that Judges contains a series of parenthetical sections (1:11, 1:23, 3:1-2, 19:10, and 20:27-28) show that the book in its final form was written much later than when the particular events being described in the text. In other words, several times in Judges the author makes a statement, but the statement needed to be explained to his readers, who might not understand how things were done in earlier times.
The sixth clue is that the book contains seven chronological notes that conclude: until this day (1:21, 1:26, 6:24, 10:4, 15:19, 18:12, 19:30), meaning until the time of the writing. It doesn’t mean any particular statement was still after the writing of the book, but at the time it was written, these things were still true.
The seventh clue is that it had to have been written after the 1051 BC because that was the year Samson died. He was the last person named and dealt with in the chronological sequence of the book of Judges.
Putting all those clues together, Judges was written approximately 1000 BC. It was written in the early days of David, when he was king over the tribe of Judah only (see the Life of David Ce – David Anointed King Over Judah), before he became king over all Isra’el.1
Place in the canon: The Jewish Bible has three mani divisions: the Torah, the Prophets, and the writings. Judges stands second in the section known as the Nevi’im or the Prophets. It is also part of a subdivision known as the “The Former Prophets,” consisting of the historical books which narrate the story of Isra’el from the entry into Canaan to the destruction of the First Temple (see the commentary on Jeremiah Gb – The Destruction of Solomon’s Temple on Tisha B’Av in 586 BC). In the Septuagint, Ruth is attached to Judges, either under the one name Kritai (from the Greek translation for the Hebrew word meaning judges), or under its own name. In some Greek MSS, Judges and Ruth are combined with the Torah and Joshua to form a separate manuscript – The Octateuch, which continues the story of Isra’el’s rise to nationhood and deals with the death of Joshua to the birth of Samuel.
Canaanite gods: (1) El was the head of the Canaanite pantheon and the father of gods and mortals. However, he tended to be weak in comparison to Ba’al. (2) Asherah was the wife of El and the mother of the gods and the goddess of the sea. Her role in the Bible is mentioned in First Kings 15:13 and 18:19; 2 Kings 21:7 and 23:4; and 2 Chronicles 15:16. Also mentioned are the wooden Asherah poles (Deuteronomy 16:21; Second Kings 23:6; Judges 6:25 and 18:30). (3) Ba’al, the storm god, became the most powerful god in the pantheon because of his connection with fertility. He was the dying and rising god of the Canaanites and is mentioned frequently throughout the Bible. (4) Ashtoreth was the female goddess of fertility and the goddess of love and war, closely associated with Ba’al and becoming his female consort. References to her are found in Judges 10:6 and First Samuel 7:4 and 12:10. (5) Anath was Ba’al’s sister and wife and the goddess of love and war, and she tended to be rather bloodthirsty. She does not appear in the Bible, except in a person’s name (3:31).
Attraction and danger for Isra’el: The fertility of the land still held by the Canaanites compared with the less productive part of the land held by Isra’el would give the impression that the gods of the Canaanites seen above were better to their worshippers than the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were to Isra’el. In Judges, the Jews hold the high ground, the mountainous rocky regions, but the soil was a lot less productive. The Canaanites were able to hold on to the fertile valleys because of their chariots. The Israelites looked upon the fertility of those areas and could logically conclude that the gods of the Canaanites were superior. Secondly, the practice of Canaanite temple prostitution was a very strong temptation. It was part of their worship and contrasted sharply with the sexual morality of the Torah (see the commentary on Leviticus Db – Sexual Sin and Covenant Loyalty).
Continuity between Joshua and Judges: The continuity between Joshua and Judges can be seen in five ways. First: the tribe of Benjamin was unable to conquer Jerusalem (Joshua 15:63 and Judges 1:21). Second: Caleb gave his daughter to Othniel (Joshua 15:15-19 and Judges 1:11-15). Third: Caleb drove out the sons of Anak (Joshua 15:14 and Judges 1:20). Fourth: Ephraim was unable to drive out the Canaanites (Joshua 16:10 and Judges 1:29). And Fifth: both record the death of Joshua (Joshua 24:28-31 and Judges 2:6-10).
The Chronology of Rulers from the Exodus to Solomon’s Temple: It was the 480th year after the people of Isra’el had left the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Isra’el, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, that he began to build the House of ADONAI (see the commentary on the Life of Solomon Ba – This New House).
From the Exodus and Wilderness Wanderings 40 years
The Conquest of the Land 7 years
From the Division of the Land to the Conquest by Cushan 10 years
The Oppression by Cushan 8 years
Othniel and Rest 40 years
The Oppression by Mo’ab 18 years
Ehud and Rest 80 years
Oppression by Jabin 20 years
Deborah and Barak and Rest 40 years
Oppression by Midian 7 years
Gideon and Rest 40 years
The Rule of Abimelech 3 years
Tola 23 years
Jair 22 years
Judges 10:7 implies that Jephthah and Sampson ruled at the same time on two different sides of the Jordan River, with Samson battling the Philistines on the west side Jephthah battling the Ammonites on the east side. On the one hand, the west side suffered the loss of the Ark of the Covenant; but on the other hand, we read about Samson’s deeds and the rule of Samuel. On the east side we learn about these judges: Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon, for a total of 59 years.
The Reign of Sha’ul 20 years
David in Hebron 7 years
David in Jerusalem 33 years
Solomon until the construction of the Temple began 3 years
Total number of years 480 years
The Results of the Era of the Judges: Chapters 17 to 21 serve to illustrate the tribal disorder of the period covered by the book of Judges. The first appendix describes the migration of the tribe of Dan, and the second appendix describes Isra’el’s war against the tribe of Benjamin. But these two appendices are not chronological. The migration of Dan probably occurred after Samson’s judgeship, but the war against the tribe of Benjamin occurred much earlier, especially if Judges 20:28 is compared with Joshua 22:13 and 24:33.
Purpose: Two basic purposes come into play in the book of Judges. First, was to demonstrate that Isra’el was in need of a king. But more specifically, the second purpose was to support the claims of king David against the claims of the House of Sha’ul. As a result, in Judges, Gibeah, which later became the home of Sha’ul, is shown in a negative light; whereas Bethlehem, the home of David, is shown in a positive light.
Key Verses: There are three key verses in Judges. But then ADONAI raised up judges, who rescued them from the power of those who were plundering them. Yet, they did not pay attention to their judges, but they made they committed spiritual adultery with other gods and worshiped them; they quickly turned away from the path on which their ancestors had walked, and failed to obey ADONAI’s mitzvot (2:16-17). And at that time there was no king in Isra’el; everyone did whatever seemed right in their own eyes (17:6).
Themes: There are at least three basic themes in the book: First, Isra’el’s struggle, or how they became more and more like the Canaanites and less and less Israelite, and ADONAI’s faithfulness through it all. This first theme is that of military and spiritual struggles of the Covenant people as they tried to settle in the Promised Land promised to them by the LORD.
The second theme is the “Canaanization of Israelite society” during the period of the settlement. The book of Joshua ended on a positive note, when things were going well and there was rest for all the families of the nation settling into their inherited portion of the Land. But the book of Joshua also warns that not all of the land promised to Isra’el had been conquered. That failure, now becomes a full-blown crisis, and the warnings against spiritual adultery with the Canaanites and worshipping their gods are all ignored during the period of the Judges. The high spiritual level seen in Joshua collapses. Instead, the book of Judges begins with conflict in the Land against the enemies who should have already been destroyed (see the commentary on Deuteronomy Ag – The Problem of Holy War in the TaNaKh), and closes with Isra’el’s apostasy and spiritual adultery that already should have been wiped out.
A third theme is the contrast between the covenantal faithfulness of ADONAI and Isra’el’s covenantal spiritual adultery.2
With a total of twelve judges, there were actually twelve cycles, but the author does not detail all twelve cycles, he details only seven cycles.
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