Judges

Judges is the seventh book of the Bible and continues the story after Joshua's death. It covers a period of roughly three hundred years during which Israel has no central leadership, no king, no single ruler, only local heroes called "judges" who rise up to deliver the people from various crises. The book is traditionally attributed to Samuel, though the actual author is unknown.

The book follows a repeating pattern that the narrator describes openly: Israel turns away from God; God allows a neighboring people to oppress them; the Israelites cry out for help; God raises up a judge to rescue them; there is peace for a time; then the cycle starts again. The pattern is repeated through the careers of twelve different judges.

Some of these figures are famous. Deborah, a prophetess, leads Israel against the Canaanite general Sisera. Gideon defeats a vast Midianite army with three hundred men carrying torches and trumpets. Samson, the strongest man in Israel, tangles repeatedly with the Philistines until his hair is cut and he is captured. Other judges receive only a verse or two.

The closing chapters describe two grim stories, the establishing of an unauthorized shrine and a civil war that nearly destroys the tribe of Benjamin. The book ends with a refrain it repeats throughout: "In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes."