Book of Judges

[1] The stories follow a consistent pattern: the people are unfaithful to Yahweh; he therefore delivers them into the hands of their enemies; the people repent and entreat Yahweh for mercy, which he sends in the form of a leader or champion (a "judge"; see shophet); the judge delivers the Israelites from oppression and they prosper, but soon they fall again into unfaithfulness and the cycle is repeated.

[11] The Israelites meet, probably at the sanctuary at Gilgal or at Shechem,[12] and ask the Lord who should be first (in order of time, not of rank) to secure the land they are to occupy.

[25][26] The earliest complete surviving copy of the Book of Judges in Hebrew is in the Aleppo Codex (10th century CE).

[33][34] The basic source for Judges was a collection of loosely connected stories about tribal heroes who saved the people in battle.

[35] This original "book of saviours" made up of the stories of Ehud, Jael and parts of Gideon, had already been enlarged and transformed into "wars of Yahweh" before being given the final Deuteronomistic revision.

[37] Archaeologist Israel Finkelstein proposed that the author(s) of the "book of saviours" collected these folk tales in the time of King Jeroboam II to argue that the king's Nimshide origins, which appear to originate in the eastern Jezreel Valley, were part of the "core" territory of Israel.

[38] A statement repeated throughout the epilogue, "In those days there was no king in Israel"[39] implies a date in the monarchic period for the redaction (editing) of Judges.

[42] Since the second half of the 20th century most scholars have agreed with Martin Noth's thesis that the books of Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings form parts of a single work.

Scholars also suggest that the Deuteronomists also included the humorous and sometimes disparaging commentary found in the book such as the story of the tribe of Ephraim who could not pronounce the word "shibboleth" correctly (12:5–6).

[51] The book is as intriguing for the themes it leaves out as for what it includes: the Ark of the Covenant, which is given so much importance in the stories of Moses and Joshua, is almost entirely missing,[a] cooperation between the various tribes is limited, and there is no mention of a central shrine for worship and only limited reference to a High Priest of Israel (the office to which Aaron was appointed at the end of the Exodus story).

However, the last few chapters of Judges (specifically, the stories of Samson, Micah, and Gibeah) highlight the violence and anarchy of decentralized rule.