“In Those Days There Was No King”: An Introduction to the Book of Judges

“In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” (Judges 21:25, KJV)

Outline

  • Prologue: From Joshua’s Triumphs to Israel’s Testing
  • The Name and the Office: שֹׁפֵט (Shophet) and שֹׁפְטִים (Shophetim)
  • Authorship, Date, and the Refrain of Kingship
  • What Kind of Book Is Judges?
  • Chapter One as Overture: Eight Incomplete Campaigns
  • Bochim: Covenant Lawsuit and Tears
  • The Kernel: The Cycle That Spirals
  • The Judges as Saviours: Patterns and Particulars
  • Hebrew Notes for the Reader
  • Epilogue (Chs. 17–21): “Every Man Did That Which Was Right in His Own Eyes”
  • From Judges to Ruth: From Famine and Folly to Bethlehem’s Seed
  • Exhortations for Today’s Ecclesias
  • A Garland of Witness (select)
  • Conclusion: Longing for the King
  • Meditations on Key Episodes
  • Structure and Trajectory (with Notes on Composition)
  • A Note on Chronology and the ‘Years’
  • Observations 
  • A Bethlehem Thread and the Door to Ruth
  • A Closing Prayer
  • Extended Exegesis: Judges 1-2
  • Extended Meditation: Deborah and Barak (Judges 4-5)
  • Messianic and Christadelphian Threads ¹

Prologue: From Joshua’s Triumphs to Israel’s Testing ¹

The Book of Judges (Sefer Shophetim, שֹׁפְטִים) stands as the Spirit’s sober chronicle of Israel’s life between conquest and kingship. Joshua’s passing leaves a hinge in the nation’s story: “Now after the death of Joshua… the children of Israel asked the LORD, saying, Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first?” (Judg. 1:1). The divine answer is programmatic: “Judah shall go up: behold, I have delivered the land into his hand” (1:2). In seed form we discern the Judah-first trajectory (Gen. 49:8–10) that will reach its crest in David and, by faith, in the Lion of the tribe of Judah (Rev. 5:5).

But Judges is not a parade of heroes. It is the inspired anatomy of the heart under covenant pressure. As the Angel of the LORD confronts Israel at Bochim (“Weepers”): “I said, I will never break my covenant with you… but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this? … they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you” (Judg. 2:1–3). The tears that follow (2:4–5) are real—but repentance must be proved by obedience (cf. 1 Sam. 15:22).

The Name and the Office: שֹׁפֵט (Shophet) and שֹׁפְטִים (Shophetim) ²

The title “Judges” might mislead the modern ear. The Hebrew shophet (שֹׁפֵט) ranges wider than “magistrate.” These were Spirit-raised saviours and governors—deliverers (מֹשִׁיעִים, moshi‘im) whom “the LORD raised up” (Judg. 2:16–18). They “judged” in the sense of setting right—vindicating Yahweh’s claims and shepherding His people back to covenant order. Thus Deborah could both “judge” under the palm (4:5) and sing God’s victory (ch. 5); Gideon could “judge” while tearing down Baal’s altar (6:25–32).

Etymologically the verb shafat (שָׁפַט) denotes to decide, to rule, to set in order. In Judges the office is charismatic rather than dynastic: not a throne secured by succession, but a yoke of service taken up under the Spirit’s rush (cf. Othniel, 3:10; Gideon, 6:34; Jephthah, 11:29; Samson, 14:6, 19; 15:14).

Authorship, Date, and the Refrain of Kingship ³

Four times the book sounds its refrain: “In those days there was no king in Israel” (17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25). Twice it adds: “every man did that which was right in his own eyes” (17:6; 21:25). This clearly presumes a vantage from the monarchic period; yet the refrain is not a naïve call for any human king. Gideon himself rejects dynastic rule with the words, “the LORD shall rule over you” (8:23). The point is: Israel failed first and foremost in acknowledging Yahweh as King. Their Canaanization was not due to the lack of a palace but to the lack of covenant loyalty (Deut. 33:5; Exod. 19:6).

The epilogue (Judg. 17–21) ties this off with two windows: the Danite shrine at Laish (religious and cultic Canaanization) and the outrage at Gibeah (moral and ethical Canaanization). In both, nameless Levites—those charged with spiritual care—become agents of decline. The narratives anchor themselves geographically in Israel’s heartland (Ephraim, Benjamin) and liturgically at Shiloh, where the house of God stood (21:19).

What Kind of Book Is Judges? ⁴

Judges is prophetic history: history written to exhort. Its architecture is deliberately didactic. After the overture of partial conquests (1:1–36) and the Angel’s lawsuit at Bochim (2:1–5), the “Program” (2:11–19) unfurls the cycle: (1) Israel does evil; (2) Yahweh sells them into oppressors’ hands; (3) they groan unto Yahweh; (4) the LORD raises a saviour; (5) there is rest—until relapse. The refrain, “they ceased not from their own doings, nor from their stubborn way” (2:19), prepares us for a downward spiral, punctuated by moments of grace.

Yet the Spirit has arranged the stories to preach beyond their surface. Othniel, bright and brief, is paradigmatic. Ehud’s left-handed stratagem, Deborah’s mothering wisdom, Gideon’s fearful faith and later lapse, Jephthah’s tragic zeal, Samson’s strength and weakness—all are threads in a tapestry whose true centre is Yahweh’s longsuffering and kingship.

Chapter One as Overture: Eight Incomplete Campaigns

The opening catalogue of victories and failures is a moral map. Judah leads, as God commanded (1:2), and gains notable triumphs (1:4–7, 10–15). Yet, in scene after scene, the refrain “they could not drive out” mutates into “they did not drive out” (cf. 1:19, 21, 27–33). Compromise takes root: Canaanites are put to tribute, not expelled; iron chariots excuse unbelief (1:19); eventually Dan is squeezed from its inheritance (1:34–36). The historian’s candour is pastoral: “these things were written for our learning” (Rom. 15:4).

The episode of Adoni-bezek (1:4–7) highlights retributive justice—“as I have done, so God hath requited me.” Caleb and Othniel (1:12–15) embody faith’s initiative and domestic grace; Achsah’s plea for “springs of water” pictures inheritance enriched by generous fathers. The house of Joseph’s “kindness” to the man of Luz (1:22–26) foreshadows a kindness misapplied: the spared man rebuilds Luz elsewhere; Bethel itself soon becomes Bochim, and “kindness” to Canaan morphs into unfaithfulness to Yahweh (2:1–5).

Bochim: Covenant Lawsuit and Tears

At Bethel—ironically “House of God”—the Angel of the LORD “came up” to sit in judgment. His charge cuts to the root: covenant disloyalty. Israel had struck bargains with inhabitants and their altars. The consequence is pedagogic and painful: thorns and snares. The people weep and sacrifice, but the deeper call is to obey and to teach the next generation, lest memory perish: “there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel” (2:10).

The Kernel: The Cycle That Spirals

The narrator’s summary (2:11–19) compresses the teaching of Judges. Israel “served Baalim” (the Baals), “forsook the LORD,” “followed other gods,” and “bowed themselves unto them.” Therefore “the anger of the LORD was hot,” and “he delivered them into the hands of spoilers.” Yet “his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel” (10:16). He “raised up judges, which delivered them.” Still, “when the judge was dead, they returned, and corrupted themselves more than their fathers” (2:19). The cycle is not a circle but a spiral—downward in human fidelity, upward in divine mercy.

The Judges as Saviours: Patterns and Particulars

Othniel (3:7–11) is the model: the Spirit comes upon him; he delivers; the land rests. Ehud (3:12–30) employs cunning; Shamgar (3:31) strikes with an ox goad. Deborah and Barak (4–5) present wisdom and courage in duet: she, a prophetess and “mother in Israel” (5:7); he, hesitant yet obedient when faith is kindled by prophetic word. The Song (ch. 5) is Scripture’s window into how heaven reads the battle: Yahweh marches from Seir; stars in their courses fight; tribes are honored or rebuked; Jael is blessed; Sisera’s mother is unmasked. “So let all thine enemies perish, O LORD: but let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might” (5:31).

Gideon (6–8) begins in weakness—“my family is poor… I am the least” (6:15)—but learns that “the LORD is peace” (6:24) and that “the battle is the LORD’s” (cf. 7:2). Yet victory tempts: the ephod becomes a snare (8:27). Abimelech (ch. 9), the bramble-king, parodies kingship and sheds blood to sit on a throne. Tola and Jair stabilize briefly (10:1–5). Jephthah (10:6–12:7) combines faith in Yahweh’s sovereignty with rashness of tongue; his vow and family tragedy warn us to bridle zeal with knowledge. Samson (13–16) is a Nazirite from the womb, anointed by grace, yet a mirror of Israel—strong yet seduced, called yet compromised. His death is a victory by sacrifice, beginning to save Israel from Philistia (13:5), a triumph over Dagon (16:23–30).

Hebrew Notes for the Reader

• שֹׁפֵט / שֹׁפְטִים (shophet / shophetim): judge(s), governor(s), deliverer(s).

• מוֹשִׁיעַ / מוֹשִׁיעִים (moshi‘a / moshi‘im): saviour(s), deliverer(s) whom Yahweh raises (2:16).

• חֵרֶם (ḥērem): the ban—devotion to destruction as an act of justice and cleansing (cf. Judg. 1; Deut. 7).

• חֶסֶד (ḥesed): covenant loyalty, lovingkindness—rightly ordered toward Yahweh first; misplaced “kindness” becomes compromise (Judg. 1:24; 2:2–3).

• בַּעַל (Baal): “lord/master,” the Canaanite storm deity; serving Baal is a spiritual adultery against Israel’s Husband (2:11–13).

Epilogue (Chs. 17–21): “Every Man Did That Which Was Right in His Own Eyes”

The final narrative diptych shows religion and morality unravelling. Micah’s house of gods (17:1–13) grows into Dan’s shrine (18:1–31): a Levite is hired, then stolen; private idolatry becomes tribal liturgy; at last a rival cult stands in Israel’s north “until the day of the captivity of the land.” The second panel (19–21) is darker still: a Levite’s concubine is abused and slain at Gibeah; civil war follows; Benjamin is nearly extinguished; oaths entangle the nation; the solution degenerates into the seizure of women at Shiloh. The book closes without resolution, save the refrain that points beyond itself to the true cure—Yahweh’s kingship embodied in a righteous ruler.

Note the literary stitching: both panels are framed by Bethlehem of Judah and Mount Ephraim; both involve a nameless Levite; both pivot around Shiloh; in both, bands of six hundred men appear; and over both hovers the refrain about the absence of a king.

From Judges to Ruth: From Famine and Folly to Bethlehem’s Seed

The canon places Ruth after Judges as a shaft of light through the gloom. Where Judges ends in social anarchy, Ruth ends with genealogy and hope—Obed, Jesse, David (Ruth 4:17, 22). Bethlehem, which features ominously in the epilogue (Judg. 17–19), is redeemed as the cradle of loyal love and the seedbed of the king. Thus Judah’s first place in Judges 1:2 is not a political slogan but a thread.

Exhortations for Today’s Ecclesias 

1) Catechise memory. “Another generation… which knew not the LORD” (2:10) did not arise in a vacuum. Elders must speak often one to another (Mal. 3:16), recounting Yahweh’s mighty acts in Christ and the apostles, and teaching the commandments of the Lord (Matt. 28:20).

2) Refuse thin kindness. Love of neighbour is real, but covenant ḥesed is ordered: first to Yahweh, then to all. “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers” (2 Cor. 6:14). Misplaced chesed becomes a snare (2:3).

3) Seek Spirit-born leadership marked by humility. The judges are not models in all things; their flaws preach the need for the righteous Branch. We wait for the King whom God has appointed—His Son—who will “judge the world in righteousness” (Acts 17:31). Meanwhile, in ecclesial life, cultivate wisdom like Deborah’s, courage like Barak’s, repentance like Gideon’s, and perseverance like Samson’s final prayer.

A Garland of Witness (select) ⁶

• Judges 2:16–18: “Nevertheless the LORD raised up judges, which delivered them… for it repented the LORD because of their groanings.”

• Judges 5:31: “So let all thine enemies perish, O LORD: but let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might.”

• Judges 8:23: “I will not rule over you… the LORD shall rule over you.”

• Judges 13:5: “He shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines.”

• Judges 21:25: “In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.”

Conclusion: Longing for the King

Judges is Scripture’s honest mirror. We behold ourselves: halting obedience, misdirected zeal, tears without repentance, strength squandered. Yet above our failures shines Yahweh’s faithful love. He raises saviours again and again until the story itself aches for the true Judge. In the fullness of time, God has given us His King—the Son of David, the Lord Jesus Christ—through whom the covenant is sealed and the kingdom assured. “The LORD shall judge the ends of the earth; and he shall give strength unto his king, and exalt the horn of his anointed” (1 Sam. 2:10). Until he comes, let us be “valiant for the truth upon the earth” (Jer. 9:3), and sing with Deborah, “Praise ye the LORD for the avenging of Israel” (Judg. 5:2).

Meditations on Key Episodes

“I Deborah arose… a mother in Israel” (Judg. 5:7). See the mother at the window too—Sisera’s mother (5:28). Two mothers frame the song: one nurtures Israel with wise judgments under a palm; the other consoles herself with the thought of women as spoil—“a womb or two for every man” (5:30). Here is a midrash for our hearts: Which mother’s voice trains our imaginations? Do we see persons as image-bearers to be served, or as possessions to be consumed? Deborah sits in the open, accessible beneath a palm between Ramah and Bethel; Sisera’s mother peers through lattice and listens to flatteries. Deborah’s speech steadies the nation; Sisera’s mother’s speech betrays a diseased culture. Thus the Spirit confronts the ecclesia: be mothers and fathers in Israel; judge faithful judgments; refuse the imagination of plunder.

Deborah’s song teaches us to read history theologically. She begins not with chariots but with God: “LORD, when thou wentest out of Seir… the earth trembled” (5:4–5). She summons rulers, “Awake, awake” (5:12), praises willing tribes (Zebulun and Naphtali), rebukes hesitating ones (Reuben’s great thoughts, Dan’s ships, Asher’s creeks), and curses neutrality—Meroz (5:23). Jael is blessed, not for cruelty, but for siding decisively with Yahweh’s cause (5:24–27). So midrash speaks: in every ecclesial crisis there are songs to be sung—songs that interpret our days in the light of the covenant, that bless willingness and call indifference by its name.

Gideon the thresher becomes Gideon the thrower-down. Midrash asks: Why the fleece (6:36–40)? Because Yahweh will stoop to strengthen weak knees. Why the three hundred (7:2–7)? Because “lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me.” Watch Gideon after victory: he speaks well (“I will not rule over you… the LORD shall rule over you,” 8:23), yet he makes an ephod that becomes a snare (8:27). The lesson is two-edged: piety of words must be matched by purity of worship; leaders must beware of turning memorials into magnets for idolatry.

Jephthah the outcast knows Scripture and confesses providence (11:21–27), yet his vow entangles him (11:30–40). Midrash laments: zeal without knowledge wounds those nearest us. Let our mouths be governed by the wisdom that is “first pure, then peaceable” (Jas. 3:17).

Samson is Israel in one man—chosen from the womb, Nazirite unto God, gifted with the Spirit, yet lured by foreign loves. He “shall begin to deliver Israel” (13:5), but he will not finish. Even his prayer for water (15:18–19) bears his name more than God’s fame. Yet in blindness he sees and in death he conquers (16:28–30). Midrash whispers: strength is perfected in weakness; better the broken man leaning upon God than the strong man leaning upon himself.

At the end, Israel gathers at Mizpeh to punish wickedness (ch. 20) but ties itself in knots with oaths (ch. 21). Midrash warns: zeal without due deliberation can multiply folly. The last solution—seizing daughters at Shiloh—echoes the first outrage in grotesque parody. Only hope beyond the book can heal this: a king after God’s heart, and a new covenant inscribed on hearts.

Structure and Trajectory (with Notes on Composition) ⁴

Judges moves from relatively bright beginnings to deepening night. Early deliverers (Othniel, Ehud, Deborah/Barak) are comparatively sound; later figures (Gideon, Jephthah, Samson) manifest increasing ambiguity. The Samson cycle especially pivots to personal drama and to Israel’s accommodation: Judah prefers peace with Philistia (15:11). The narrator underscores that Yahweh himself stirs the conflict lest coexistence calcify (14:4). Samson’s life, framed by miraculous birth and tragic death, embodies the nation’s calling and compromise.

The epilogue balances two stories: Micah and Dan (17–18) and the Levite and Benjamin (19–21). Note the linking threads: nameless Levites; the Bethlehem–Ephraim axis; Shiloh’s presence; companies of six hundred; and the fourfold refrain about the absence of a king. The design invites us to see how private compromise flowers into public apostasy and how ethical collapse follows theological drift.

A Note on Chronology and the ‘Years’

Judges provides many temporal notices—years of oppression, years of rest, lengths of judgeships. Taken consecutively, they exceed the span implied by 1 Kings 6:1 (the temple begun “in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt”). The simplest resolution is overlap: local judgeships and regional oppressions occurring concurrently. The point of the numbers is not to furnish a strict timeline but to punctuate moral lessons: sin brings servitude; repentance brings rest; relapse shortens the interval of peace.

The narrative’s dating markers also include liturgical and political horizons: Shiloh’s sanctuary in operation; the Danite cult continuing “until the day of the captivity of the land”; the refrain about kingship. These threads situate the final composition in a monarchic perspective while preserving earlier materials and memories.

Observations⁵

A helpful way to enter Judges is to ask, as some brethren have: God repeatedly raised up a judge “according to the need of the moment”; but could such unpredictable leadership sustain covenant life across generations? The book’s answer is twofold. First, yes—when Israel hearkens, even ad hoc deliverers are enough, for Yahweh is King. Secondly, no—when memory fades and compromise grows, no human arrangement will suffice. The Song of Deborah itself reads the same battle from heaven’s vantage and from earth’s response, reminding us to seek God’s perspective and to cultivate a willing people.

Thus practical exhortations abound: cultivate willing hearts, refuse neutrality, read providence through the lens of Scripture, and prize mothers in Israel—women and men whose faith stabilises communal life.

A Bethlehem Thread and the Door to Ruth

Bethlehem of Judah appears thrice across the closing narratives (Judg. 17–19) and then blossoms in Ruth. In Judges, Bethlehem is bound up with hired Levites and a broken household; in Ruth, it hosts boasted ḥesed and a redeemer. Midrash gathers the three scenes and looks ahead: out of the place stained by folly God will bring the son of Jesse; out of the rubble of the judges God will bring the Judge of all the earth.

A Closing Prayer

O Yahweh, King of Israel, teach us in our days to refuse what is right in our own eyes and to love what is right in Thine. Raise up among us true deliverers—men and women with wise hearts and steady hands—until the Day when Thy Son reigns in Mount Zion and judges the ends of the earth. “So let all thine enemies perish, O LORD: but let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might.” Amen.

Extended Exegesis: Judges 1-2

The historian's artistry in chapters 1-2 deserves close attention. The narrative opens with a question that places Israel where faith must live: 'Who shall go up for us?' (1:1). Faith listens for the LORD's answer, and it comes: 'Judah shall go up.' Judah does, and the LORD gives victories (1:4-7, 9-15). Yet the same Judah 'could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron' (1:19). The grammar is suggestive: not 'for the LORD could not,' but 'Judah could not' - unbelief disguising itself as realism. Iron chariots do not hinder the God who drowned chariots in the sea (Exod. 14:25-28).

Achsah's request - 'Give me a blessing; for thou hast given me a south land; give me also springs of water' (1:15) - echoes covenant wisdom: ask boldly of a generous father. The house of Joseph, by contrast, promises 'mercy' (chesed) to a Canaanite man if he will show them the city's entry (1:24-25). The word mercy is fair, but the act is mis-aimed. Mercy to enemies whom God has sentenced becomes disloyalty to God who rescued them; kindness untethered from truth corrodes obedience. The spared man rebuilds Luz elsewhere; Bethel itself will soon be linked with Bochim, and misplaced kindness will flower into idolatry.

Chapter 2 reframes chapter 1. The Angel of the LORD comes up from Gilgal to Bochim and rehearses grace: 'I made you to go up out of Egypt... I said, I will never break my covenant with you' (2:1). Then he lays the charge: 'But ye have not obeyed my voice' (2:2). The sanction follows: 'they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you' (2:3). Israel weeps and sacrifices, but the deeper issue is transmission; the elders die, and 'there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel' (2:10). Forgetfulness is not innocent; it is culpable neglect of catechesis.

The programmatic cycle (2:11-19) is theological catechism. The verbs march: served Baalim, forsook the LORD, followed other gods, provoked, delivered, groaned, raised up judges, delivered, returned and corrupted. Note the pathos: 'it repented the LORD because of their groanings' (2:18). Yahweh's anger is not capricious, and His compassion is not indulgence. Judges will be raised and will die; the question is whether Israel will be raised and live. The answer, absent a faithful king and a renewed heart, is tragically predictable.

Extended Meditation: Deborah and Barak (Judges 4-5) ⁵

Judges 4 gives us the prose of providence; Judges 5 gives us the poetry of praise. Jabin's iron oppresses twenty years (4:3), but iron is no match for faith. Deborah, 'a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth,' sits under her palm (4:4-5). She summons Barak with Yahweh's word: 'Hath not the LORD God of Israel commanded, saying, Go and draw toward Mount Tabor... and I will draw unto thee to the river Kishon Sisera... and I will deliver him into thine hand?' (4:6-7). Barak hesitates: 'If thou wilt go with me, then I will go' (4:8). Faith grows by fellowship; Deborah agrees, yet prophesies that the honor will go to a woman (4:9).

The battle turns not on numbers but on the LORD's approach: 'The stars in their courses fought against Sisera. The river of Kishon swept them away' (5:20-21). The Song catalogs courage and cowardice. Ephraim, Benjamin, Machir, Zebulun, Issachar, Naphtali - blessed for volunteering. Reuben - great searchings of heart, but no marchings of feet. Gilead, Dan, Asher - staying among sheepfolds, ships, and shores. A curse is pronounced on Meroz 'because they came not to the help of the LORD' (5:23). Midrash for us: omission can be treachery. Neutrality in a day of battle is not wisdom but sin.

Jael's act remains startling. Yet Scripture pronounces her 'blessed above women in the tent' (5:24). She sides with Yahweh's cause at risk to herself; Sisera, who made women wombs for spoil (5:30), perishes by a woman's hand. The Song ends with a benediction and a vision: 'So let all thine enemies perish, O LORD: but let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might' (5:31). In Christ, that sun has risen; the call remains for saints to fight the good fight in the armour of God (Eph. 6:10-18).

Messianic and Christadelphian Threads

Christ is the answer to the ache of Judges - not a king like the nations, but Yahweh's anointed Son, of Judah and of David, who will rule in righteousness (Isa. 11:1-5). Gideon declines to be king and confesses the truth: 'the LORD shall rule over you' (8:23). We, with brethren through the years, hold that Jesus is the Son of God, not God the Son; that he is the promised seed who will sit on David's throne in Jerusalem; that the Kingdom will be restored to Israel and extended over all the earth (Acts 3:19-21; Luke 1:32-33). Until then we live as strangers and pilgrims, learning obedience through the things we suffer (Heb. 11; 1 Pet. 2:11-12).

Therefore Judges trains our hope: human deliverers are provisional; only the righteous Branch can heal the land. Meanwhile, the ecclesia is called to embody kingdom life now: 'every man' is not to do 'what is right in his own eyes,' but to walk 'by the faith of the Son of God' (Gal. 2:20), in communities ordered by the apostolic doctrine and fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayers (Acts 2:42).

Notes & References

1. Bible HP Mansfield:(unpublished), used throughout for thematic framing and chapter-observations.

2. JUDGES Soncino: historical, lexical, and geographical notes (e.g., Bezek/Adoni-bezek, Jerusalem’s lower city vs. citadel, topography, Kenites, chariots and לְהוֹרִישׁ).

3. Daniel I. Block, Judges, Ruth (New American Commentary). Structural trajectory, epilogue diptych, Samson cycle, dating markers.

4. Barry G. Webb, Judges & Ruth: God in Chaos (Preaching the Word). Pastoral ‘Program’ (2:16–3:6), Deborah’s Song homilies, Gideon’s rise and lapse, Abimelech’s anti-kingship, Samson’s grace and death.

5. In the Bible (inbible.co.uk). Judges overview and studies on Judges 4–5; used for devotional and structural observations (accessed 17 August 2025).

6. Scripture quotations from the King James (Authorised) Version.

Appendix: Original Spliced Text (Verbatim, Preserved)

“In Those Days There Was No King”: An Introduction to the Book of Judges (A Christadelphian Midrash)

Prologue: From Joshua’s Triumphs to Israel’s Testing

The book of Judges opens with a sobering hinge: “Now after the death of Joshua” (Judg. 1:1). The era of conquest gives way to an era of testing. Joshua, the faithful captain, had “left no successor”—and in this he foreshadowed our Lord, who after accomplishing redemption ascended, leaving his people to walk by faith until his appearing (cf. Josh. 24; Acts 1:9–11). The notes before us rightly remark: “Joshua had left no successor; in this he was like the Lord whom he typed.” 

The theme of Judges is not unrelieved gloom. It is, rather, a mirror of the human heart and a testimony to the longsuffering of Yahweh. As the outline asserts: this is “a remarkable history of long suffering. None need despair because Yahweh is merciful—nor should [we] presume for He is just.” So the book is both warning and comfort: “Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God” (Rom. 11:22). Where Israel falls, Yahweh raises; where Israel supplicates, Yahweh saves; and yet where Israel compromises, Yahweh chastens, “till they were greatly distressed” (Judg. 2:15).

The Name: שֹׁפְטִים (Shophetim) and the Office They Held

In Hebrew the title is שֹׁפְטִים (Shophetim), from the root שפט (shaphat)—to judge, govern, regulate, set right. The shophet is not a robed jurist in a stationary court, but a Spirit-endowed deliverer who “judges” by setting the nation in order, administering justice, and saving (cf. Judg. 2:16; 3:9, 10, 15). The attached notes capture this well: the judges were neither hereditary monarchs nor popular appointees; they served as vice-regents of Yahweh, his deputies for specific crises. “And the LORD raised up judges, which delivered them out of the hand of those that spoiled them” (Judg. 2:16).

Who Wrote Judges? When Was It Composed?

The notes reasonably propose Samuel as a probable author: internal markers suggest composition after the establishment of the monarchy (cf. “no king in Israel,” and the retrospective viewpoint), yet before David captured Jerusalem, since Judges 1:21 notes the Jebusites still in the city—something David later ended (2 Sam. 5). The conclusion is tentative, but coherent: the book reflects on Israel’s need for righteous kingship while remembering a time when the Jebusite stronghold stood unconquered. “Nevertheless the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem” (Judg. 1:21); only David would subdue that citadel.

What Kind of Book Is This?

Judges is not a continuous chronology but a curated series of episodes to teach spiritual truth. This aligns with the didactic purpose stated in Judges 2:20–23—Yahweh left nations to test Israel, “to prove Israel by them… whether they will keep the way of the LORD.” The book therefore proceeds by cycles, not by annals; by midrashic arrangement—examples that admonish (1 Cor. 10:11). We are to read it as a moral history: Israel’s compromises spotlight God’s covenant faithfulness and righteous discipline.

The Theological Kernel: Four Beats of a Sorrowful Song

Sinning → Suffering → Supplication → Salvation.

Scripture itself casts this cadence in Judges 2:11–19 (KJV): Sinning (“And the children of Israel did evil…”), Suffering (“the anger of the LORD was hot…”), Supplication (“when they were greatly distressed”), Salvation (“Nevertheless the LORD raised up judges…”). The pattern demands separation from idols: “Thou shalt make no covenant with them” (Deut. 7:2); “Be ye separate” (2 Cor. 6:14–18).

Chapter One as the Overture: “Eight Incomplete Campaigns”

Judah’s bold start, Simeon’s partnership, the failure before iron chariots (1:19), Benjamin’s lapse at Jerusalem, Joseph’s treaty at Bethel/Luz, Manasseh/Ephraim’s tribute-taking, Zebulun/Asher/Naphtali dwelling among Canaanites, Dan pressed into the hills—this is the downward spiral from zeal to coexistence to capitulation. Judges 1 is a theology of half-measures.

Adoni-Bezek: A Tale of Retribution and Influence

Canaanite custom, not Yahweh’s law, appears in the mutilation of thumbs and toes. The lesson: it is not enough to conquer Canaan; Canaan must not conquer our methods.

Caleb and Othniel: Faith’s Bright Thread

Caleb’s “another spirit” and Othniel’s Spirit-anointed deliverance (3:9–11) shine as faithful exceptions; Yahweh gives (nathan) the victories and the inheritance.

Jerusalem Between Judah and Benjamin

Jerusalem straddled tribal lines: Judah’s partial hold, Benjamin’s failure, until David.

Luz/Bethel and the House of Joseph

A good beginning, a compromised method: an oath to a Canaanite and a relocated Luz; later Jeroboam will corrupt Bethel anew (1 Kgs. 12:29).

The Kenites: Gentile Faith Amid Israel’s Lapse

Moses’ in-laws join Judah; the Rechabites will exemplify fidelity (Jer. 35).

The Vocabulary of Separation: ḥērem, Bezek, Negev, Hormah

חֵרֶם (ban), בֶּזֶק (lightning), נֶגֶב (parched land), חָרְמָה (devoted)—each term preaching holiness and warning.

The Angel at Bochim: Covenant Voices

“Ye shall make no league…” (2:2). Bochim’s tears must become tearing down of altars.

The Judges Themselves: “Saviours” Whom Yahweh Raised

Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah/Barak, Gideon, Tola, Jair, Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, Abdon, Samson—flawed vessels, faithful God.

Why Did Israel Fail? A Midrashic Diagnosis

Failure through compromise: from attempted obedience to tribute to dwelling among them to being driven back.

Place-Notes for Readers of Judges

Jerusalem, Bethel/Luz, Gezer/Taanach/Beth-shean, Dan to Laish—sermons in stone.

The Angel’s Sermon and the Apostolic Echo

Bochim’s verdict and the call: “Keep yourselves from idols” (1 John 5:21).

The Judges as Types and Shadows

Othniel (model), Ehud (unexpected instrument), Deborah/Barak (word and faith), Gideon (peace by purging Baal), Jephthah (vow), Samson (Nazirite struggle)—all pointing to the greater Judge.

From Judges to Kings—and Beyond

The refrain longs not for any king, but for a king after God’s heart, and beyond David to Messiah.

Reading Judges with the Psalms and Prophets

1 Sam. 12, Ps. 78 & 106, Neh. 9, Heb. 11—interpretive keys for repentance and return.

A Midrashic Conclusion: Exhortations for Today’s Ecclesias

Remember the covenant; beware half-measures; cultivate Caleb/Othniel’s spirit; honour God’s instruments, not pagan methods; read geography as theology; heed the Gentile witness; long for the true King. “Turn us again, O LORD God of hosts…” (Ps. 80:19).