Historical narrative · 21 chapters
Judges
Repeated cycles of rebellion, oppression, and rescue expose Israel’s disintegration. A description of a judge’s actions is not necessarily God’s endorsement of them.
Historical & literary context
Author unnamed; later tradition associates the book with Samuel. It describes tribal Israel before the monarchy.
Introduction and study notes are commentary, not Scripture.
The shape of the book
- 1–3 · Incomplete settlement and the recurring cycle
- 4–16 · Judges and deliverance
- 17–21 · Religious and social collapse
A passage to begin with
Judges 2:16-19
16Then the LORD raised up judges, who saved them from the hands of those who plundered them. 17Israel, however, did not listen to their judges. Instead, they prostituted themselves with other gods and bowed down to them. They quickly turned from the way of their fathers, who had walked in obedience to the LORD’s commandments; they did not do as their fathers had done. 18Whenever the LORD raised up a judge for the Israelites, He was with that judge and saved them from the hands of their enemies while the judge was still alive; for the LORD was moved to pity by their groaning under those who oppressed them and afflicted them. 19But when the judge died, the Israelites became even more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods to serve them and bow down to them. They would not give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.
Berean Standard Bible · Public domain
Read the full chapterThink it through
What happens when a community treats its own desires as the final authority?