Judges Bible Study Resources — Wednesday in the Word

Study questions, maps, charts, key words, history, background, outlines, and links to help you study the Old Testament book of Judges.

Jump to: Background; Maps; Encyclopedias; Key Words; Commentaries; Articles; GotQuestions Next

Basics

Setting: Death of Joshua to birth of Samuel (approx 1250-1050 BC).
Structure: Theological prologue and epilogue with exploits of the judges in between.
Purpose: To show that YHWH will not give up on Israel, even in a dark period of sustained apostasy. Israel still has a future, in spite of herself.
Themes: Obedience to God and His covenant will bring blessing but disobedience will bring the curse of war and foreign oppression. God will not forget His people, even if they forget him.

Structure

Prologue 1:1-3:6 – explains the pattern to come
Exploits of the judges 3:7-16:31 (see Chart of Judges)
Epilogue: Israels deterioration (17-20)
Judges 17: religious disintegration
Judges 18: tribes disintegrate
Judges 19: moral/social disintegration
Judges 20: political disintegration

Pattern: The author of judges selects 12 judges (one from each tribe) whose stories tell the same basic reoccurring cycle (for example: Judges 2:6-19).

Israel sins.
God judges their sin and they suffer at the hands of cruel oppressors until they cry out to God for relief.
God sends them a deliverer (or a judge) who delivers them from their oppressors.
When that judge dies, the cycle starts all over. But it is a downward spiral. Each cycle is worse than before.
“In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” (Judges 17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25).

Other ways to describe the cycle of Judges

Rest > Rebellion > Retribution > Repentance > Restoration
Sin > Suffering/Servitude > Supplication > Salvation
Apathy > Apostasy > Affliction > Answered Prayer
Disobedience > Desperation > Deliverance

Simple Outline

1:1-2:5 – Settlement of the land in the first generation
2:6-23 – The pattern of Israel’s history from the first generation to the monarchy described
3:1-16:31 – The pattern illustrated in the judges
17:1-21:25 – Appendix illustrating the depth of Israel’s fall

What is a judge?

a military leader
deliverer from oppression
administrator
Spirit of God comes upon them to give the ability to deliver

Genre: Understanding Narrative

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Section 1: Background

Background & Outlines

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Section 2: Maps

Maps from Bible-History.com

Maps from Holman Bible Atlas

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Section 4: Key Words

Key Words

Lord (137x); Israel (154x)
evil (9x) – Strong’s H7451a in Jdg 2:11; Jdg 3:7; Jdg 3:12; Jdg 4:1; Jdg 6:1; Jdg 9:23; Jdg 10:6; Jdg 13:1; Strong’s H7563a in Jdg 2:15.
judged (11x) – Strong’s H8199 in Jdg 3:10; Jdg 10:2; Jdg 10:3; Jdg 12:7; Jdg 12:8; Jdg 12:9; Jdg 12:11; Jdg 12:13; Jdg 12:14; Jdg 15:20; Jdg 16:31; judge (5x/3v; same word) in Jdg 2:18; Jdg 2:19; Jdg 11:27.
deliver Strong’s H3467 (17v) – in Jdg 3:9; Jdg 6:14; Jdg 6:15; Jdg 6:31; Jdg 6:36; Jdg 6:37; Jdg 7:7; Jdg 10:11; Jdg 10:13; Jdg 10:14; Jdg 12:2; Jdg 12:3; Jdg 13:5; Jdg 20:13; Jdg 20:28; delivered (8x; same word) – Jdg 2:16; Jdg 2:18; Jdg 6:9; Jdg 7:2; Jdg 8:22; Jdg 8:34; Jdg 9:17; Jdg 10:12; deliverer (2x) in Jdg 3:9; Jdg 3:15.
deliver Strong’s H5337 (2x) – in Jdg 10:15; Jdg 18:28; delivered – (3x, same word) in Jdg 6:9; Jdg 8:34; Jdg 9:17.

Oppressor	Judge	Reference
Arameans	Othniel	Judges 3:7-11
Moabites	Ehud	Judges 3:12-30
Philistines	Shamgar	Judges 3:31
Canaanites	Deborah-Barak	Judges 4:1-5:31
Midianties	Gideon Tola Jair	Judges 6:1-8:35
Ammonites	Jephthah Ibzan Elon Abdon	Judges 10:6-12:7
Philistines	Samson	Judges 13:1-16:31