Judges

A dark cycle repeats: Israel turns to other gods, falls to its enemies, cries out, and God raises up a deliverer, a “judge”, such as Deborah, Gideon or Samson. Each cycle gets worse, and the book ends in chaos because “there was no king in Israel”.

Author

Unknown, possibly Samuel

Written

Events about 1350 to 1050 BC

Chapters

1. 1Judges 1After Joshua’s death, the tribes fight to take their land, but many fail to drive out the Canaanites completely.
2. 2Judges 2A new generation arises that does not know the Lord. The pattern of the book is set: Israel sins, is oppressed, cries out, and God raises up judges to save them.
3. 3Judges 3Othniel, Ehud and Shamgar deliver Israel. Ehud kills the fat Moabite king Eglon with a hidden sword.
4. 4Judges 4Deborah, a prophet and judge, calls Barak to fight Sisera’s army. Sisera flees and is killed by Jael with a tent peg.
5. 5Judges 5The Song of Deborah celebrates God’s victory over Sisera.
6. 6Judges 6Midian oppresses Israel. The angel of the Lord calls Gideon, a fearful man threshing wheat in hiding, and he tests God with a fleece.
7. 7Judges 7God reduces Gideon’s army from 32,000 to 300, and they rout Midian with trumpets, jars and torches.
8. 8Judges 8Gideon pursues the Midianite kings, but then makes a golden ephod that becomes a snare to Israel.
9. 9Judges 9Gideon’s son Abimelech murders his seventy brothers to become king. Jotham tells a parable against him, and Abimelech dies when a woman drops a millstone on his head.
10. 10Judges 10The judges Tola and Jair. Israel serves other gods again and is oppressed by the Ammonites, and cries out to God.
11. 11Judges 11Jephthah, a rejected son, leads Israel against Ammon. He makes a rash vow that costs him his daughter.
12. 12Judges 12Jephthah fights the Ephraimites, who are identified by how they say “Shibboleth”. The judges Ibzan, Elon and Abdon.
13. 13Judges 13The angel of the Lord announces to a childless couple that their son Samson will be a Nazirite, set apart to begin delivering Israel from the Philistines.
14. 14Judges 14Samson marries a Philistine woman, kills a lion with his bare hands, and poses a riddle at his wedding that ends in violence.
15. 15Judges 15Samson takes revenge on the Philistines with foxes and fire, and kills a thousand men with a donkey’s jawbone.
16. 16Judges 16Delilah betrays Samson, and his hair is cut. Blinded and imprisoned, he prays one last time and brings down the Philistine temple.
17. 17Judges 17Micah makes an idol and hires a Levite as his private priest. “Everyone did what was right in their own eyes.”
18. 18Judges 18The tribe of Dan steals Micah’s idol and priest and conquers the peaceful city of Laish.
19. 19Judges 19A Levite’s concubine is abused and killed in Gibeah of Benjamin, a crime that shocks all Israel.
20. 20Judges 20Israel goes to war against Benjamin, and the tribe is nearly wiped out.
21. 21Judges 21Israel finds wives for the surviving Benjamites. The book ends: “In those days there was no king in Israel.”