Hebrew Bible History – the Era of the Judges

The Era of the Judges (roughly 12th-11th centuries B.C.E.)

When practicing bible study,
we learn that Following Joshua’s death, the Israelites were faced with
many enemies surrounding them, from within the land of Canaan as well
as the surrounding people. There was no one leader who could unify the
people and the Book of Judges tell us of political, moral and religious
deterioration at this time.

Confronting the various enemies, different figures took the role of
leaders upon themselves as a result of the desperate state inflicted on
the people, bringing peace and quiet for limited periods of time. They
were called judges, a word denoting not only legal judges but also
leaders. These judges were members of different tribes of Israel,
ruling sequentially, according to the Book of Judges, although many
scholars assume their rule was at parallel times and contained to their
own tribes or regions. They were first and foremost military figures,
such as Gideon, who beat the Midianites with military cleverness, and
Samson, whose incredible personal strength defeated the philistines on
many occasions.

At the conclusion of this era,
the Israelites were involved in interior conflicts that led to
inner-wars and bloodshed, due to the lack of leadership, as the book of
Judges tells us (Judges 17:6): “In those days, there was no king in
Israel. Every man did what was right in his eyes.” These were resolved
by uniting Israel under the rule of King Saul, followed by King David.