Table of Contents
Introduction 1
1 Why Study the Book of Judges? 1
2 The Judges: The Characters, the Period(s), and the Book 3
a What Were the Judges? 3
b The Period(s) of the Judges 5
c The Formation and Shape of the Book of Judges 8
3 The Book of Judges in the Context of the Canon 12
a The Land 16
b The Canaanites 17
c Violence and Vengeance 20
d The Role of Women 21
e Humor 23
4 Theology in the Book of Judges 24
Commentary
Part 1 From Joshua to the Judges 27
Judges 1:1-3:6
1:1-2:5 Fighting and Smiting: The Canaanites Remain 27
2:6-3:6 Serving God or Serving Baal? 34
Part 2 The Stories of the Judges 41
Judges 3:7-16:31
3:7-11 Othniel: An Auspicious Beginning 41
3:12-30 Ehud: "A Left-Handed Man" 43
3:31 Shamgar: A Non-Israelite Judge? 47
4:1-5:31 Deborah, Barak, and Jael: Women to the Rescue 49
4:1-24 The Prose Narrative 50
5:1-31 The Song of Deborah and Barak 55
6:1-8:35 Gideon and the Question of Sovereignty 61
6:1-32 The Call of Gideon and Gideon's Good Start 62
Interpretation
6:33-8:3 "For the Lord and for Gideon": The Defeat of Midian and Amalek 65
8:4-35 Gideon's Turn for the Worse 68
9:1-57 Abimelech: Gideon's Violent Legacy 71
10:1-5 Tola and Jair: The Calm between the Storms 76
10:6-12:7 Jephthah and His Daughter: The Agony of Victory 77
10:6-16 How Much Can God Stand? 78
10:17-11:28 From Outlaw to Diplomat 80
11:29-40 Keeping a Vow, Killing a Daughter 81
12:1-7 Jephthah's Violent Legacy 89
12:8-15 Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon: An Interlude of Blessing 90
13:1-16:31 Samson, His Mother, and His Lovers 92
13:1-25 The Mother of a Hero, or the Mother As a Hero? 94
14:1-15:20 Lover Number One: The Woman from Timnah 101
16:1-3 Lover Number Two: The Woman of Whoredom at Gaza 106
16:4-31 Lover Number Three: Delilah and Samson's Fatal Attraction 107
Reflections: Samson and Culture Wars, Then and Now 110
Part 3 Complete Deterioration and Terror 117
Judges 17:1-21:25
17:1-18:31 Micah, the Levite, and the Danites 120
19:1-21:25 A Battered Woman and a Brutal War 125
19:1-30 Terror Reigns: The Levite and His Concubine 127
20:1-21:25 Civil War: From the Victimization of One to the Victimization of Many 133
Reflections: Chaos and Crisis, Then and Now 137
Bibliography 139
Commentaries and Resources for Teaching and Preaching 139
Literature Cited 140
