AFRICA NAZARENUNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT: RELIGION

UNIT TITLE: HISTOLICAL BOOKS

UNIT CODE: BIB 233

SUBMITED BY: JOSOPHAT KALIMWAYI

TOPIC: BOOK OF JUDGES

LECTURER: REV.J. KISOI

DATE: 18TH FEB.

Introduction 

The book of Judges is named after the office of “judge” unlike the book o Joshua which simply takes its
name from the person who is Joshua the son of Nun. The name Judges “shophet” is the name of the office
of Judge, which is put fin plural “Judges. The book stands out from its predecessor in the canon by Its
title. the book of judges has no one individual who is the dominant enough to cast a shadow over the
entire book, which is a different case to the book of Joshua in which Joshua was a dominant person in the
entire book. The other differences between the book of Judges and the book of Joshua is that the book of
Joshua opens up its chapters by the event that marks its beginning “ after the death of Moses, servant of
the Lord” (Josh 1:1), and it ends with the event that marks its ending “Joshua….died”(24:29). While the
book of Judges opens with the announcement of the death of “after the death of Joshua 1:1” and no other
death announcement appears In the last chapter of the book.

  The book of Judges is made up of twelve Judges who can be classified into two categories based on how
much space is devoted to each of them. Judges are categorized into Major Judges and minor Judges. Six
judges are called major Judges; Othniel (3:7-11), Ehud (judges 3:12-30), Deborah (4:1-5:31), Gideon
(6:1-8:35), Jephthah and Samson. While in minor Judges were; Shamgar, Tola, Jair, Ibizan, Elon, and
Abdon. All these people use the Noun Judge(s) “shophet/shophetim”. the other name that the book of
Judges uses to refer to the Judge is Deriver, saviour. Not all the judges were styled to deliver Israel from
their enemies, some were not. Judges like Othniel, Ehud, Gideon, and Samson from major Judges and
Shamgar from minor Judges are the ones who were styled to deliver Israel from their Canaanites enemies.

Division the book of Judges;

The book of judges is divided into three dimensions. These dimensions are;

1. Those days there was no Joshua in Israel (1:1-3:6)

2. In those days there were Judges in Israel (3:7-16:13)

3. In those days there was no king in Israel (17:1-21:28).

In those days there was no Joshua in Israel (1:1-3:6), this is the first part of the book of judges. The book
opens this part by giving the event that happened after the death of Joshua who was the leader of the
congregation of Israel and Israel was in complain about who will go up and fight against their enemies
(Canaanites). Yahweh chose the tribe of Judah to go up for Israel and Yahweh deliver their enemies in
their hands for the defeat.

Those days there were Judges in Israel.

those days there were Judges in Israel. (3:7-16:31); this is the second part of the book of Judges that
draws its introduction from chapter 2 of the book of Judges 

(2:10) , and after the death of Joshua another generation that comes after 

the death of Moses, they dint know what Yahweh did to Israel to their present moment. The children of
Israel did evil in the eyes of Yahweh, they forget the Lord their God and salved Baals and Asherah’s,
Yahweh’s anger was upon the children of Israel. Yahweh sold them into the hands of their enemies
(Cushan -Rishathaim) king of Mesopotamia). This king was saved by the children of Israel for eight
years. And the children of Israel cray to Yahweh for the delivery and God raise a deliverer (Othniel, the
young brother to Caleb) and the spirit of the Lord was upon him, he went up for a war against t the king
of Mesopotamia and Lord God deliver the king of Mesopotamia into his hands and the land rest for forty
years then Othniel son of Kenaz died. 

After the death of Othniel, the children of Israel forsook God again, and God strengthens the Eglon king
of Moab and become against the children of Israel and defeat and took possession of the land and Israel to
save the king of Moab for eight years. The children of Israel cried to God for a deliverer and Yahweh
raised a deliverer Ehud, from the tribe of Benjamin (3:15). The Ehud story shares several items with the
preceding Othniel story. Like Othniel, Yahweh “raises” Ehud up to his position of the deliverer (the only
two judges with whom this phrase is used). Again, like the Othniel section, the Ehud story ends by stating
(before it records his death [4:1]) that the land had rest for eighty years, thus again emphasizing the
success of Ehud’s judgeship rather than merely the duration of his judgeship, as with some of the later
judges. But there are differences as well between the two. For one thing, while 3:7b in the Othniel unit
specified the “evil” as forgetting Yahweh and worshiping Baals, no such specificity is present in 2:12.
What the nature of the evil as we are not told. A second difference is that there is no reference to the
“spirit of the Lord” coming on Ehud, as there was with Othniel (3:10a), an omission in Judges that Ehud
shares only with Deborah. The lord delivers Moabite in the hands of Israel and the Land rested for eight
years.

 After Ehud, comes Shamgar, son of Anath. His name only mentions in Scripture in Deborah’s song in
5:6 (“In the days of Shamgar son of Anath had two items are credited to him. He killed six hundred
Philistines with an ox goad, and he delivered Israel. This second accolade he shares with Othniel (3:9c).
The first remark appears to be present in the pre-Samson reference in 10:11, “And the Lord said to the
Israelites, ‘Did I not deliver you from the Philistines?’ Shamgar shares with Samson battle against the
Philistines”. After the death of Ehud, the children of Israel did evil in the eyes of the Lord. so, the lord
sold them into the hands of Jabin, the king of Canaan, the king Jabin oppressed Israel for twenty years
(4:3). The children of Israel cried again to Lord for salvation. Deborah the prophetess the wife of
Lapidoth become the judge of Israel at this time. several things separate the Deborah story from the others
in Judges. For one thing, the death notice about the previous judge, Ehud, does not so much end the Ehud
story as it does introduce the Deborah story: “after Ehud died” (4:16). Putting Ehud’s death notice in the
Deborah story links these two judges and is further evidence of their qualitative superiority over the
following judges. Judges emphasizes more the success of Ehud’s judgeship than his death by (1) stating
the land had to rest for eighty years (3:30b), that is, well beyond his lifetime, and (2) reducing Ehud’s
death notice to an almost parenthetical remark in the Deborah story: “The Israelites again did what was
evil in the sight of the Lord, by the way, Ehud had died” For another thing, as with Ehud, never does the
text say that the spirit of Yahweh came upon Deborah . after the Judgeship of Deborah, the children of
Israel become disobedient to Yahweh and Yahweh delivered them into the hands of the Midian for seven
years. And Israel cried to God because of the Midianites. And God sent the prophet to Israel for the
massage of encouragement. God appointed Gideon to deliverer Israel from the hands of Madinat’s and
God deliverer the medians in their hand and Israel become free from the oppression of Medians. 

After the death of Gideon, the death of Gideon and his refusal of royal dignity (8:23) open the door for his
concubine’s son, Abimelech from Shechem (8:31), to seize that power in Shechem and do so by an act of
massive fratricide—killing his seventy half-brothers. That all this violence and illegal usurpation should
take place in the city of Shechem, where Joshua earlier had led his people in the renewal of their covenant
vows to Yahweh (Joshua24), makes Abimelech’s actions even more heinous. It is certainly no accident
that Yahweh never appears or speaks or is mentioned in this chapter. Jotham uses “God” (v. 7), as does
the narrator (vv. 23, 56, 57), but neither employ “Yahweh.” the children of Israel forsook God again by
playing the harlot with the Baals and made Baal -Berith their god. They all forget their God who
delivered them from all their enemies. After Abimelech the son of Gideon, their arose Tola the son Puah
who judged Israel for twenty-three years and he died. after the death of Tola, there arose Jair (10:3) and
Jair died and was buried in Carmon. 

 The children of Israel then again did evil in the eyes of the Lord by salving Baal and Ashtoreth’s the gods
of many nations. So, the anger of the Lord was hot against the children of Israel, he sold them to the
hands of Philistine and into the hands of the Ammon. These kings oppress Israel for eighteen years (10:8)
and the children of Israel cried because of their oppressors and God uses Jephthah to deliver Israel from
their enemies and Israel become at rest. The children of Israel did evil again in the eyes of the Lord, and
God sold them into the hands of the Philistia who oppress Israel, and Israel cried to Yahweh for the
deliverer, so God raises Samson to deliver Israel from the hands of Philistines. The last judge story in
Judges is Samson’s, spread over four chapters (13–16). Despite the length of his narrative, and the
climactic position of his story, Samson appears very rarely in Scripture outside of these four chapters in
Judges. Samuel, in his farewell address (1 Samuel 12), reminds his audience of those individuals Yahweh
had sent to rescue the people from their enemies. Samson judged Israel for twenty years before his death.

In Those Days There Was No King in Israel (17:1–21:25)

This was the critical time for the children of Israel, for there was no older in the leadership in the land and
there were no rules for everyone was doing what they want for there was no one to put them on shame.
the children of Dan appointed Mica the priest over their tribe, for they went war against the city they want
to conquer, after they conquer the city, they name it Dan, name after their Father (17:1-13). In (20:18-
21:25) the land continues to be without the king or a judge. In chapter 20, Israel goes for war with the
children of Benjamin, for the killing of the concubine and Israel sworn not to give their children in
marriage to Benjamin. Still, there was no king in Israel and everyone was doing what was right in his own
eyes.

Conclusion 

The book of Judges opens its chapters with the death announcement of Joshua the savant of the Lord who
leads the congregation of Israel after the death of Moses. The first chapter indicated how Israel was
venerable in looking for one to go first against their enemies, this was the period of no Joshua in Israel.
Yahweh raises many men and women whom he trusted to go against the enemies of Israel, for the
children of Israel keep on forsaking God by worshiping other gods of the foreign land. God at sometimes
he sold them unto the hands of kings who oppress them and when they cry, God raises a deliverer (Judge)
who deliver them from their enemies, people like; Othniel Deborah, Gideon, Jephthah, tola, Shamgar, and
other might men who rule Israel in the guide of the Lord. Still, the land of Israel had no king till the end
of the chapter.