Literary Background
Many of the events and customs described or alluded to in the book of Judges, as well as the literary forms incorporated therein, find counterparts in extra-Biblical writings from the second and first millennia BC. The book contains annalistic summaries of conquests, a victory hymn, prayers, prophecies, political speeches, a fable, geographic equations (Bethel = Luz), reports of scouting expeditions and many other types of stories—all of which are attested outside the Bible. However, the literary style represented by the book of Judges is unlike anything found outside the Bible in the ancient Near East.
Whereas archaeologists’ spades have unearthed inscriptions that have literary links with virtually every type of writing found in Judges, nowhere do we find a coherent portrayal of history incorporating the forms and contents of these documents like we find in Judges. Whereas other ancient Near Eastern societies managed to preserve literary artifacts that contain snippets of historical and cultural information, these remain isolated and unintegrated; they provide the raw materials necessary for historical composition, but none represents the kind of intentional historiography found in the book of Judges. Whenever the book was compiled, the editor employed a variety of sources, undoubtedly oral and literary, and crafted a document that represents a remarkable literary achievement.
Historical Background
For the most part, the events described in the book of Judges take place in Canaan, the small strip of land on the eastern Mediterranean sandwiched between Egypt to the south and the territories occupied by the Phoenicians and Arameans in the north.
According to chronologies established by archaeologists, the events described in Judges transpired in the Late Bronze Age (1550–1200 BC) and the Early Iron Age (1, 1200–1000 BC). Establishing the chronological sequence of the events described in Judges poses special problems. While many of the places named in the book can be firmly identified geographically, not a single character in the book is named in any contemporary ancient Near Eastern literature.
Efforts to gain a contextual ancient Near Eastern perspective on events described in Judges are aided greatly by extra-Biblical textual and material evidence. These are referred to regularly in the notes, but it may be helpful to summarize here their significance for understanding the period of the judges. With respect to literary evidence, the Merneptah Stele, erected in c. 1209/08 BC to commemorate the Egyptian pharaoh’s Libyan victories, concludes with a stanza celebrating his conquests in Canaan. This document provides the earliest extra-Biblical attestation of an entity known as “Israel,” confirming that by the end of the thirteenth century BC, the nation was a significant force in Canaan.
The so-called Amarna letters, discovered at Tell el-Amarna in Egypt in 1888–1889, provide the clearest window into the Canaanite political situation at the beginning of the period of the judges. This cache of more than 300 clay tablets inscribed in Akkadian, the language of trade and diplomacy in the fourteenth century BC, contains the written correspondence between the Egyptian king Amenhotep IV (also called Akhenaten, c. 1352–1336 BC) and his vassal kingdoms in Canaan and Syria. These letters describe a political landscape dominated by small city-states often at odds with each other and harassed by a troublesome group of landless people known as Apiru.
The religious situation in Canaan during this period has been illuminated by the discovery of several collections of clay tablets from twelfth-century BC Ugarit on the Mediterranean coast in northern Syria. Discovered in palace and temple libraries, these texts were written in alphabetic and syllabic Akkadian cuneiform, and they have yielded a host of invaluable ritual and mythological texts, clarifying the relationships among the Canaanite deities mentioned in Judges and the nature of Canaanite religion.
Later in the book of Judges the Philistines become major players. Our knowledge of the culture of the Philistines has been greatly enhanced in recent decades by archaeological excavations at Ashdod, Ekron, Ashkelon and Tel Qasile. Archaeological excavations have illuminated many critical elements in the narratives of Judges, including the accounts of the demise of Abimelek (Jdg 9), especially the fortifications of Shechem and the conquest of the northern city of Dan/Laish (Jdg 18) and many others. ◆
Key Concepts
• Leadership was lacking in the time of the judges, which worked to the disadvantage of the people.
• Israel worshiped other gods alongside Yahweh and thus failed to keep the covenant.