Introduction

The Title of the Book. The Book of Judges (Sefer schofeitm, Κριται, liber Judicum, sefar daione) received its name from those persons, namely the judges of Israel, whose activities it principally recounts.

The Composition of the Book and its Division into Parts. The Book of Judges contains twenty-one chapters and by its structure is divided into three parts: a) Judg 1:1-3:1-6, b) Judg 3:7-16:31, and c) Judg 17:1-21:1. The first part presents an introduction to the book and contains a general characterization of the time of the judges. The second part represents the very body of the book and contains the history of the repeated deviation of the Israelites from faith in the true God, their oppression by neighboring nations, their repentance, and their salvation from oppressors through judges sent by God, and furthermore contains the history of the life and activities of the judges themselves. Finally, the third part presents an addition to the body of the Book of Judges and contains an account of two occurrences which by their significance especially clearly characterize the time of the judges from the side of the lack of authority that dominated in the people at that time.

The Origin of the Book. The language of the Book of Judges contains evidence of its belonging to one author. The composition of the book, in which a single unified plan is evident, also testifies to its origin from one author. The question of the time of life of the book’s author can be resolved only with greater or lesser probability. The resolution of this question is aided by certain data presented by the content of the book itself. To these belong: a) the remark occurring several times in the third part of the book (Judg 17:6, cp. Judg 18:1), “in those days there was no king in Israel, each man did what seemed right to him.” This remark gives reason to suppose that the person who wrote these words lived at a time when the Hebrews already had kingly authority and when the beneficial consequences of this institution had become evident; b) the remark occurring in the first part of the book (Judg 1:21), “but the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem the sons of Benjamin did not drive out, and the Jebusites lived (literally from the Hebrew and Masoretic text, “and they lived”) with the sons of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.” From this remark it is clear that the book’s author lived before the complete conquest of Jerusalem by the Israelites, which took place already under King David, who went against Jerusalem, took the fortress of Zion, and calling it the City of David made it his residence and the capital of the kingdom (2 Sam 5:6-9, cf. and 1 Chr 11:4-9). The remark Judg 18:30 “and the sons of Dan set up the carved image, and Jonathan, son of Gershom, son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land.” The last words of this verse (ad jom geloth haarez – literally “until the day of the captivity of the land”), which have the character of a chronological date and are variously interpreted by commentators, according to the more probable explanation, accepted since David Kimchi by many commentators, point to the captivity of the Ark of the Covenant by the Philistines (1 Sam 4:10-11), which captivity was as it were equivalent to the captivity of the land itself (cf. Ps 77:59-64); c) the remark Judg 18:31 “and they had the carved image that Micah made all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh.” As is clear from these words, the writer of the book regarded the fact of the tabernacle’s being in Shiloh as already past and could have written them only after the tabernacle had been in Shiloh. The tabernacle appears last in Shiloh in the time of Eli and Samuel (1 Sam 1:3 and onward 1 Sam 3:21, 1 Sam 4:3); in the time of Saul it appears in Nob (1 Sam 21:21); and in the time of David, in Gibeon (1 Chr 16:39, 1 Chr 21:29). Thus, the “house of God,” or the tabernacle, was in Shiloh only until the reign of Saul; after that it was never brought there again. From a comparison of all these data it is evident that the author of the Book of Judges, to whom these testimonies belong, lived after the captivity of the Ark of the Covenant by the Philistines and after the tabernacle’s being in Shiloh, lived at a time when the Hebrews had already established kingly rule and when the beneficence of such rule had become evident, but yet before the conquest of Jerusalem by King David. In accordance with these data, Jewish tradition considers the author of the Book of Judges to be the prophet Samuel, as is said in the Talmud, “Samuel wrote his book, Judges, and Ruth” (Baba bathra, f 14, 6), and as Kimchi, Abarbanel, and most of the rabbis acknowledge. Most Christian commentators similarly, on the basis of the indicated data, consider the author of the Book of Judges to be the prophet Samuel. Later writers of other sacred books were undoubtedly familiar with the Book of Judges. Thus, the writer of 4 Kings by pragmatic illumination of the Assyrian captivity (2 Kgs 17:7-23), in just the same way Nehemiah by his penitential prayer (Neh 9:26 and onward, cf. Ps 105:34 and onward) point to Judg 2:11-23. The prophet Hosea (Hos 9:9; Hos 10:9) mentions the sin of the inhabitants of Gibeah (Judg 19). The prophet Isaiah (Isa 9:4; Isa 10:26) mentions the day of Midian (Judg 6:1-7:1). The psalmist in psalm Ps 67:8-13 (according to the Hebrew text) quotes almost literally several verses from the song of Deborah (Judg 5:4-5, Judg 5:28-30), and in Ps 82:7-12 mentions events during the time of Deborah and Gideon. In Zechariah’s prophecy about the time of the Messiah (Zech 9:9), the description of the King riding on a donkey and a young colt recalls an expression from the Book of Judges about the sons of Jair (Judg 10:4) and the sons of Abdon (Judg 12:14), as well as an expression of Deborah (Judg 5:10) about all in general the leaders of Israel as riding on white donkeys. Besides this, St. Basil the Great in the judges mentioned in Isa 1:26 finds it possible to understand the judges from the time of the judges of Israel.

The canonical authority of the Book of Judges has never been questioned either in the Jewish or in the Christian church. It is found in all translations and lists of canonical books of the Old Testament, in particular in Melito of Sardis, Origen, in the 85th apostolic canon, in the 60th canon of the Council of Laodicea, in the synopses of St. Athanasius of Alexandria, and St. John Chrysostom, and St. Cyril of Jerusalem, in Epiphanius of Cyprus, St. Ephrem the Syrian, in blessed Theodoret, blessed Augustine, in the translation of blessed Jerome and others, and everywhere it occupies a place immediately after the Book of Joshua.