Editing Book of Judges (section)

== Contents ==
Judges can be divided into three major sections: a double prologue (chapters 1:1–3:6), a main body (3:7–16:31), and a double epilogue (17–21).{{sfn|Guest|2003|p=190}}

=== Prologue ===
{{Further|Judges 1}}
The book opens with the Israelites in the land that God has promised to them, but worshiping "foreign gods" instead of [[Yahweh]], the God of Israel, and with the [[Canaanites]] still present everywhere.{{sfn|Spieckerman|2001|p=341}} Chapters 1:1–2:5 are thus a confession of failure, while chapters 2:6–3:6 are a major summary and reflection from the [[Deuteronomist]]s.{{sfn|Niditch|2008|pp=2–3}}

The opening thus sets out the pattern which the stories in the main text will follow:{{sfn|Guest|2003|p=190}}
# Israel "does evil in the eyes of [[Yahweh]]",
# The people are given into the hands of their enemies and cry out to Yahweh,
# Yahweh raises up a leader,
# The "spirit of Yahweh" comes upon the leader,
# The leader manages to defeat the enemy, and
# Peace is regained.

Once peace is regained, Israel does right and receives Yahweh's blessings for a time, but relapses later into doing evil and repeats the pattern above.

Judges follows the [[Book of Joshua]] and opens with a reference to [[Joshua]]'s death.<ref>{{bibleverse||Joshua|24:29|HE}}; cf. {{bibleverse||Judges|1:1|HE}}</ref> The [[Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges]] suggests that "the death of Joshua may be regarded as marking the division between the period of conquest and the period of occupation", the latter being the focus of the Book of Judges.<ref name = biblehub>[http://biblehub.com/commentaries/cambridge/judges/1.htm Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges] on Judges 1, accessed 9 October 2016.</ref> The Israelites meet, probably at the sanctuary at [[Gilgal]] or at [[Shechem]],<ref>following on from {{bibleverse||Joshua|24:1–33|HE}}</ref> and ask the Lord who should be first (in order of time, not of rank) to secure the land they are to occupy.<ref name = biblehub />

=== Main text ===
[[File:12 Tribes of Israel Map.svg|thumb|235px|A map of the tribes of Israel]]
The main text gives accounts of six major judges and their struggles against the oppressive kings of surrounding nations, as well as the story of [[Abimelech (Judges)|Abimelech]], an Israelite leader (a judge [shofet] in the sense of "chieftain") who oppresses his own people.<ref>{{bibleverse-nb||Judges|3:11–16:31|HE}}</ref> The cyclical pattern set out in the prologue is readily apparent at the beginning, but as the stories progress it begins to disintegrate, mirroring the disintegration of the world of the Israelites.{{sfn|Guest|2003|p=190}} Although some scholars consider the stories not to be presented in chronological order,{{sfn|Amit|2004|p=508}} the judges [[Fabula and syuzhet|in the order in which they appear in the text]] are:
* [[Othniel]] (3:9–11) vs. [[Cushan-Rishathaim]], King of [[Aram-Naharaim|Aram]]; Israel has 40 years of peace until the death of Othniel. (The statement that Israel has a certain period of peace after each judge is a recurrent theme.)
* [[Ehud]] (3:11–29) vs. [[Eglon (king)|Eglon]] of [[Moab]]
* [[Deborah]], directing [[Barak]] the army captain (4–5), vs. [[Jabin]] of [[Tel Hazor|Hazor]] (a city in [[Canaan]]) and [[Sisera]], his captain ([[Battle of Mount Tabor (biblical)|Battle of Mount Tabor]])
* [[Gideon]] (6–8) vs. [[Midian]], [[Amalek]], and the "children of the East" (apparently desert tribes)
* [[Jephthah]] (11–12:7) vs. the [[Ammon]]ites
* [[Samson]] (13–16) vs. the [[Philistines]]

There are also brief glosses on six minor judges: [[Shamgar]] (Judges 3:31; after Ehud), [[Tola (biblical figure)|Tola]] and [[Jair]] (10:1–5), [[Ibzan]], [[Elon (Judges)|Elon]], and [[Abdon (Judges)|Abdon]] (12:8–15; after Jephthah).{{sfn|Bacon|Sperling|2007|pp=563–65}} Some scholars have inferred that the minor judges were actual adjudicators, whereas the major judges were leaders and did not actually make legal judgments.{{sfn|Bacon|Sperling|2007|p=564}} The only major judge described as making legal judgments is Deborah (4:4).{{sfn|Bacon|Sperling|2007|p=561}}

=== Epilogue ===
By the end of Judges, Yahweh's treasures are used to make idolatrous images, the Levites become corrupt, the [[tribe of Dan]] conquers a remote village instead of the Canaanite cities, and the [[tribes of Israel]] make war on the [[tribe of Benjamin]], their own kinsmen.{{sfn |Guest|2003|pp= 202–4}}  The book concludes with two appendices,<ref>{{bibleverse-nb||Judges|17–21|HE}}</ref> stories which do not feature a specific judge:{{sfn|Soggin|1981|p=5}}
* [[Micah's Idol]] (Judges 17–18), how the tribe of Dan conquers its territory in the north.<ref>{{bibleverse-nb||Judges|17–18|HE}}</ref>
* [[Levite's concubine]] (Judges 19–21): the gang rape of a Levite's concubine leads to war between the Benjamites and the other Israelite tribes, after which hundreds of virgins are taken captive as wives for the decimated Benjamites.<ref>{{bibleverse-nb||Judges|19–21|HE}})</ref>
Despite their appearance at the end of the book, certain characters (like [[Jonathan (Judges)|Jonathan]], the grandson of [[Moses]]) and idioms present in the epilogue show that the events therein "must have taken place... early in the period of the judges."{{sfn|Davis|Wolf|2002|pp=328–61}}

=== Chronology ===
Judges contains a chronology of its events, assigning a number of years to each interval of judgment and peace. It is overtly schematic and was likely introduced at a later period.{{sfn|Hughes|1990|pp=70–77}}

===Manuscript sources===
Four of the [[Dead Sea Scrolls]] feature parts of Judges: 1QJudg, found in [[Qumran Caves|Qumran Cave 1]]; 4QJudg<sup>a</sup> and 4QJudg<sup>b</sup>, found in [[Qumran Caves|Qumran Cave 4]]; and XJudges, a fragment discovered in 2001.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/40387582|title=A New Fragment of Xjudges|author1=Eshel, Esther|author2=Eshel, Hanan|author3=Broshi, Magen|year=2007|journal=Dead Sea Discoveries|volume=14|issue=3|pages=354–358|doi=10.1163/156851707782177468|jstor=40387582|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name=Rezetko>{{cite journal |last=Rezetko |first=Robert |title=The Qumran Scrolls of the Book of Judges: Literary Formation, Textual Criticism, and Historical Linguistics |journal=[[Journal of Hebrew Scriptures]] |year=2013 |volume=13 |issue=2 |page=9 |doi=10.5508/jhs.2013.v13.a2 |doi-access=free |hdl=2066/120003 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

The earliest complete surviving copy of the Book of Judges in [[Biblical Hebrew|Hebrew]] is in the [[Aleppo Codex]] (10th century CE).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-sep-28-adfg-aleppo28-story.html|title=Scholars search for pages of ancient Hebrew Bible|date=September 28, 2008|website=Los Angeles Times}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.aleppocodex.org/links/9.html|title=The Aleppo Codex|website=www.aleppocodex.org|access-date=2020-08-29|archive-date=2012-01-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120115105923/http://www.aleppocodex.org/links/9.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The [[Septuagint]] (Greek translation) is found in early manuscripts such as the Codex Colberto-Sarravianus (c. AD 400; contains many lacunae) and the Fragment of Leipzig (c. AD 500).<ref>{{Cite web |date=10 October 2009 |title=A New English Translation of the Septuagint |url=http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/nets/edition/07-judges-nets.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081008003053/http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/nets/edition/07-judges-nets.pdf |archive-date=2008-10-08 |url-status=live |access-date=21 October 2022 |website=University of Pennsylvania}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Rezetko |first=Robert |title=The Qumran Scrolls of the Book of Judges: Literary Formation, Textual Criticism, and Historical Linguistics |url=https://repository.ubn.ru.nl/bitstream/handle/2066/120003/120003.pdf |access-date=21 October 2022 |website=Radboud University}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nuVfrzcd9xMC&q=%22leipzig+fragment+%22&pg=PA284|title=Targum and Testament Revisited: Aramaic Paraphrases of the Hebrew Bible: A Light on the New Testament, Second Edition|first=Martin|last=McNamara|date=July 26, 2010|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|isbn=9780802862754|via=Google Books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pefhAAAAQBAJ&q=%22Codex+Colberto-Sarravianus+%22+judges&pg=PA729|title=The Encyclopedia of New Testament Textual Criticism|first=Robert B.|last=Waltz|publisher=Robert B. Waltz|via=Google Books}}</ref>