judges Summary and Overview

The judges were temporary and special deliverers, sent by God to deliver the Israelites from their oppressors; not supreme magistrates, succeeding to the authority of Moses and Joshua. Their power only extended over portions of the country, and some of them were contemporaneous. Their first work was that of deliverers and leaders in war; they then administered justice to the people, and their authority supplied the want of a regular government. Even while the administration of Samuel gave something like a settled government to the south, there was scope for the irregular exploits of Samson on the borders of the Philistines; and Samuel at last established his authority as judge and prophet, but still as the servant of Jehovah, only to see it so abused by his sons as to exhaust the patience of the people, who at length demanded a king, after the pattern of the surrounding nations. The following is a list of judges, whose history is given under their respective names:-- First servitude, to Mesopotamia -- 8 years. First judge: Othniel. 40 years. Second servitude, to Moab -- 18 years. Second judge: Ehud; 80 years. Third judge: Shamgar. --- Third servitude, to Jabin and Sisera-- 20 years. Fourth judge: Deborah and Barak. 40 years. Fourth servitude, to Midian-- 7 years. Fifth judge: Gideon; 40 years. Sixth judge: Abimelech; 3 years. Seventh judge: Tola; 23 years. Eighth judge: Jair. 22 years. Fifth servitude, to Ammon-- 18 years. Ninth judge: Jephthah; 6 years. Tenth judge: Ibzan; 7 years. Eleventh judge: Elon; 10 years. Twelfth judge: Abdon. 8 years. Sixth servitude, to the Philistines-- 40 years. Thirteenth judge: Samson 20 years. Fourteenth judge: Eli; 40 years. Fifteenth judge: Samuel. More than likely some of these ruled simultaneously. On the chronology of the judges, see the following article.

JUDG'ES . 1. This was the title of a class of magistrates among the Israelites. They were appointed originally by Moses, at the suggestion of his father-in-law, to relieve him of a part of the duties of the chief magistracy. Ex 18:13-26. The judicial authority was primarily administered by the elders and by the heads of families. After the kingdom was established the king became the supreme source of justice, "consulting, very probably, on occasion, the high priest as to the interpretation of the Law, the right of asking counsel of God through the priest being claimed as a royal prerogative." -- Ayre. See Num 27:21; 1 Sam 14:18 (ephod, not ark); 1 Sam 22:10, 1 Sam 22:13, 1 Sam 22:15; 1 Sam 23:6. But under him there were local judges, many of whom were Levites. 1 Chr 23:4. The great reform of Jehoshaphat included a sort of supreme court sitting in Jerusalem. 2 Chr 19:5-11. In later times the Sanhedrin was this court. Numerous exhortations are given in the Bible concerning judicial fairness. Deut 16:19; Prov 24:23; Ps 82. 1. Besides these, there were others called Judges, whose history is given in the book of that name, but they were a class of men raised up in special emergencies and invested with extraordinary civil and military powers, not unlike the archons of Athens and the dictators of Rome. See Hebrews. They were given to the Israelites about the space of 450 years, until Samuel the prophet. Acts 13:20. List of Judges, and probable Term of Service. Years. Othniel, about b.c. 1400........................40 Under Eglon ......................................18 Ehud, etc ........................................80 Under the Philistines ............................unk. Shamgar ..........................................unk. Under Jabin ......................................20 Deborah and Barak ................................40 Under Midian ......................................7 Gideon ...........................................40 Abimelech .........................................3 Tola .............................................23 Jair .............................................18 Under the Ammonites ..............................18 Jephthah ..........................................6 Ibzau .............................................7 Elon .............................................10 Abdon .............................................8 Under the Philistines ............................40 Samson ...........................................20 Eli ..............................................40 Under the Philistines ............................20 Samuel, about ....................................12 Saul, the first king, b.c. 1091. It is only proper to add that the chronology of the Bible is very uncertain until we get to David's reign, and that these 15 specified Judges may not all have been successive. The period of the Judges was a semi-barbarous age, where might was right, and every one did what seemed good in his sight. But it was also a period of divine interpositions and deliverances. It was the heroic age of Jewish history. Judges, Book of, derives its title from the fact that it gives us the history of the Israelites under the administration of 15 Judges, viz. from 18 or 20 years after the death of Joshua to the time of Saul. The chronology is uncertain. This book has been well styled a commentary upon the text "Righteousness exalteth a nation; but sin is a reproach to any people." Prov 14:34. It may be divided into two parts: I. Chs. 3-16, an account of God's successive deliverances; II. Chs. 17-21, an account, detached from the preceding and out of chronological order, of the invasion of Laish by the Danites, in connection with the story of Micah and his priest, Jonathan, chs. 17 and 18; and an account of the revenge of the insult to the Levite, chs. 19-21, the whole prefaced with an introduction, chs. 1-3. The book is quite evidently a compilation from existent and trustworthy materials. Its date is uncertain.