13 Things About the Book of Judges

1. Some people get bogged down with the term “Judges” and think of robed men sitting in a courtroom much like what we are familiar with today. That’s not the proper image we should have when we think about this book. The title “Judges” translates into Hebrew as Shofetim which can be referred to as “ Leaders” or “Chieftains”.

2. A repeated cycle of apostasy is given in this book and because of this God delivered the Israelites to their political enemies. Only when they cried out to God, did he provide a leader who helped them. The thought to keep in mind is God is the ONLY deliverer (11:27)

3. There are two purposes for Judges. One is a historical purpose explaining what was happening to Israel during a dark period following the exciting days of Moses and Joshua, and serves as a bridge to the times of Samuel and Saul.

4. Another purpose, of course, is theological. When God’s people sin, He punishes them. When they repent He forgives and restores.

5. Judges is one of the clearest books of the Bible that show the close connection between people’s commitment to God and His dealings with them.

6. The God in Judges is a severe God (2:11-15). The God in Judges is also a merciful God (2:16-18).

7. The fickleness of humanity is portrayed in Judges. The people of Israel turn from God and begin to worship idols without a thought. Chapter 19 describes the story of the Levite’s concubine and is a prime example regarding how depraved the times were.

8. Three of the Judges mentioned in the book, Gideon, Jephthah, and Samson, are all seriously flawed heros.

9. How is Christ seen in Judges? The actual Judges, or leaders, were God’s agents for delivering His people from various enemies as Christ does today.

10. The time period for Judges is 1380-1060 B.C. or basically from the death of Joshua to Samson’s death….almost three centuries.

11. Judges ultimately serves as a warning not to treat the relationship with God carelessly.

12. The book is considered to be anonymous and most think it was completed after the events actually happened….the main clue is the words “In those days there was no king in Israel….”

13. Some believe Judges was finally written down as a long prophetic sermon in order to capture for later generations the story of earlier national failure, and to perhaps served as the answer to the question posed by Gideon, “If the Lord is with us, why has all this happened?” (6:13)

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