The Period of the Judges

The era of the Judges spans roughly three centuries of cyclical spiritual failure. With no central government, “everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” A recurring pattern emerges: Israel sins by worshipping Canaanite gods, God allows a foreign nation to oppress them, the people cry out in distress, God raises up a judge (a military deliverer) who saves them, and peace follows until the judge dies—then the cycle repeats, each time worse than before. The judges include Deborah (the only woman), Gideon (who defeats Midian with 300 men), and Samson (whose supernatural strength ultimately brings down a Philistine temple). The period’s moral low point comes in the final chapters of Judges with civil war and near-annihilation of the tribe of Benjamin. Samuel bridges this era to the monarchy.