Judges

About Judges

Judges records a dark, repeating cycle: Israel abandons God, enemies oppress them, they cry out, and God raises up a deliverer—only for it all to happen again, worse each time. It was written to show what life looks like when everyone does what is right in their own eyes. The book leaves Israel longing for a faithful king, setting the stage for Samuel, David, and ultimately a greater Deliverer.

Written by

The book is anonymous; Jewish tradition names Samuel as the author, but the text itself never says who wrote it.

When

It covers the unsettled centuries between Joshua's death and Israel's first king—roughly 1350 to 1050 BC, with the start date depending on the dating of the exodus; when it was written down is uncertain, though its refrain about having no king suggests the time of the monarchy or later.

Themes

• The cycle of sin and rescue
• God's mercy to an unfaithful people
• Unlikely deliverers
• The cost of compromise
• The need for a true king

Key verses

• Judges 2:18-19And when the LORD raised them up judges, then the LORD was with the judge, and delivered them out of the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge: for it repented the LORD because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them. And it came to pass, when the judge was dead, that they returned, and corrupted themselves more than their fathers, in following other gods to serve them, and to bow down unto them; they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way.
• Judges 21:25In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.