Judges, THE BOOK OF (Heb. Shôfetim—compare Carthaginian Sufetes; LXX. Kritoi, but in Philo Krimata, 'judgments'), a canonical book of the Old Testament, the second in the series known as the 'former prophets,' relates to the period in the history of Israel from the death of Joshua to the birth of Samuel. Its authorship—or rather the authorship of any part of it, for it is drawn from more than one source—is unknown, and its final redaction, as is shown by the presence of Deuteronomic and other elements, cannot have taken place until after the exile. Its composite character is shown by the fact that it has two beginnings (see i. 1, and ii. 6). The main section of the book, extending from ii. 6 to xvi. 31, consists of an apparently consecutive narrative, grouped round six principal judges—Othniel, Ehud, Deborah, Gideon, Jephthah, and Samson—the intervals being filled with the history of Gideon's son, Abimelech, and references, more or less brief, to six minor heroes—Shamgar, Tola, Jair, Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon. The religious pragmatism of this narrative is obvious; the history falls into running cycles, all corresponding to the scheme indicated at the outset by the words: 'After the death of Joshua the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and forsook the Lord God of their fathers. . . . And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers. . . . and they were greatly distressed. Nevertheless, the Lord raised up unto them judges, and was with the judge, and delivered them. . . . And it came to pass when the judge was dead that they returned and corrupted themselves more than their fathers. . . . And the anger of the Lord was hot against Israel,' &c. The apparently consecutive character of the narrative disappears when its chronological data are carefully analysed; from these we find that the chronology of the section is based on two artificial alternative schemes, either of which, but not both together, can be reconciled with the datum in 1 Kings, vi. 1. Thus the narrative of the greater judges was originally separate from that of the minor ones. The religious standpoint of this main section of the Book of Judges, taken along with other points of internal evidence, shows that in the main it must have been composed about the 8th century B.C. There are signs of Deuteronomic redaction, however; but, on the other hand, the section contains elements that carry us much further back than the century named—such elements, for example, as the song of Deborah and the history of Abimelech. Of the remaining portions of the Book of Judges, i. 1 to ii. 5 is relatively old—older than the Book of Joshua, which relates to the same subject, the conquest of Canaan, but treats it in a much later manner. The closing section of the book is made up of two unconnected and independent narratives of very different dates. The history of Micah and the Danites (xvii. 1 to xviii. 31) is a piece of very old history; that of the Levite and the Benjamites is considered by Wellhausen to be post-exilic, and in any case must be regarded as comparatively very late.
See Wellhausen-Bleek, Einleitung (1878); also Wellhausen, Religion of Israel (Eng. trans. p. 228 sqq.). There are commentaries by Keil (Eng. trans. 1865), also in Lange's Bibelwerk (1865), in the Speaker's Commentary, and in the Kurzegef. Exeget. Handbuch by Bertheau (1845), by Studer (1835), and by Moore of Andover (1896).