Here are a few additional introductory notes on the book of Judges.
·
The “years” of Judges. The record tells how many years each judge
served (e.g. 3:11: Othniel, 40 years; 3:30: Ehud, 80 years, etc.). How are these to be understood? Since there was no centralized government
they are not necessarily consecutive. Each
Judge, it seems, ruled or “judged” certain areas but not necessarily the entire
nation. Thus, there could be overlapping
or there could be gaps between different judges.
o
One key truth is in 1 Kings 6:1, that 480 years
passed from the time Israel left Egypt until the 4th year of
Solomon. The combined years in Judges
are 410. If you add 40 each for the
wilderness years, and the reigns of Saul and David, plus 4 years for Solomon
you have 534 years. Then you must add
time for the conquest under Joshua as well as the years until Joshua’s death
and the elders beyond that. Obviously this
is many more than 480 years. Most of the
adjustment must come from the time of the Judges.
o
Judges 11:26 provides another detail, that by
the time of Jephthah the eastern 2 1/2 tribes had lived in that area. In my view we are not given enough
information in Judges to create a detailed timeline. I will recommend this article from the
Biblical Timeline page if you wish to give more time to the subject: The-Judges.pdf
(thebiblicaltimeline.org).
·
Judges 3:3 gives a listing of the nations that
were left in the land after the time of Joshua.
These nations pop up, from time to time, in the record of Joshua as well
as 1,2 Samuel and the Kings and Chronicles.
·
Many years down the road, in the time after
Solomon, the nation will be divided. The
tribe of Ephraim will have a significant role in the northern Kingdom of
Israel. There are, I believe,
indications of the competition between Ephraim and Judah from the time Israel
entered the land. Joshua 17:14-18;
Judges 8:1-3; 12:1-6 are passages I refer to sometimes as the “whining” of
Ephraim. Israel’s first capitol, of
sorts, was Shiloh which is in Ephraim.
That is where Joshua divided up the land to the remaining tribes. The tabernacle, we have noted, was also
there. Yet, in the end, Jerusalem and
Judah ended up being the seat of power from David’s time and the resting place
of the Temple from Solomon’s time. Lest
you wonder, the second longest Psalm (78) is concerned with this matter.
·
The Angel of the LORD plays a significant role
in Judges. This, as you will see in
Judges, and as we have noted often in the OT, is the LORD Himself on earth for
a particular purpose. He is present in
this way in Judges 2:1-4; in the story of Gideon (Ch. 6); and in the story of
Samson (Ch. 13).
We hope you will be encouraged to read and
study this book of history. You will
learn the sinfulness of man and the greatness and grace of God.
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