Judges Overview:

The Book of Judges recounts the transition from the Mosaic period to the settled period in Israel in anticipation to the time of the Davidic king.  Moses is mentioned nearly sixty times in Joshua, and only five times in the Book of Judges.  According to one source, “Israel’s past will remain firmly rooted in Moses, but its future hopes will lie entirely with David.” (The Deuteronimistic History) This is the transition in salvation history from the time of Moses to the promised time of David.  The central narrative of Judges consists of telling the story of thirteen separate judges and “anti-judges” over Israel (i.e., Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah, Gideon, Abimelech, Tola, Jair, Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, Hillel, and Samsom).  This period of Israel’s history repeats cycles of disobedience and sin, punishment and suffering, repentance, and restoration and redemption, and finally, setback and relapse.  Judges is largely a counterexample of how not to do things.  Hence, there were few sacramental typologies are found in the text by later Christian Tradition.  

This time of moral, social and liturgical dissolution without a king or central authority was encapsulated in the lamentation of “In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes.” (Jdgs. 21:25)  Pitre and Bergsma call this time period of Judges “the ugly face of rampant relativism.” (Old Testament Introduction, p.328)  The Book of Judges does not show the Israelites in conflict with the native Canaanites, who God had commanded them to drive out of the land. Rather, the Book of Judges shows Israel living peaceably with the Canaanite populations, which Judges hints is precisely the problem.  There was synchronization with Canaanite paganism, just as God had warned about and prohibited.  Bergsma and Pitre conclude: “The book of Judges recounts one of the darkest periods – morally, spiritually, politically, socially – in Israel’s history. Abandonment of the worship of the Lord in favor of Canaanite paganism was rampant.” (p.337)  Judges shows the inadequacies of the Mosaic Covenant and anticipates a time of the new Covenant under the Davidic king, who will lead Israel to greater fidelity.