It is impossible to be precise about the chronology behind the book of Judges. That it is set in the days soon after the conquests of Joshua at a time when each of the tribes was trying to settle down in their respective territorial allotments is certain. The conflicts and the oppressions that they faced were of a regional nature. Internationally, the great imperial powers were themselves troubled and lacked the resources to impose their will in the region. Egypt, which Israel had left just a few generations previously was battle to keep at bay the so-called Sea Peoples, and it would ceased to be the great empire it once was. For reasons that historians still puzzle over, the great Hittit empire was on its last leg of its existence. The same fate faced the Assyrians though they struggled and regained their prestige and power once again a few centuries down the road. Freed from such powerful hegemons, the smaller nations in the region felt let loose to strike at their neighbours and try to make as much gain at their expenses as much as possible. Israel, being one of the new comers made an especially tempting target of such parasitical bullying. This is the general background to the times when the judges rules, sometime in the three or so centuries before c.1000 BC.
The author of the book places this period at a time when "there was no king" in Israel" (17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25). He also adds, twice among these references, that then the people of Israel "did what was right in their own eyes" (NRS). So, how did Israel got to where they were? They had began hopefully. The book of Deuteronomy emphasizes how Moses had prepared them as well as he could there on the plains of Moab just before they entered the Promised Land.Moses expounded the laws of Yahweh by which they were to live once they had taken possession of the land. There, too, Moses had gotten them to renew the covenant by which they were bound together to Him and to one another. Once they had had a substantial hold of the land under Joshua, they had gathered at the ancient city of Shechem, as ordered by Moses (Deut 11), and renewed that covenant, affirming their commitment to all that Yahweh had willed for them, as well as their commitment to live right by one another according to those terms (Jos 24). It was, naturally, unlikely that Joshua could have conquered all the lands in the years he had left as a leader, and much remained to be done by the tribes after his death. The opening chapters of the book summarizes the failure of the various tribes to complete that task. Central to their failure was their refusal to take the command to annihilate the Canaanites seriously. They simply found the convenience of compromise more to their liking; tough committed courage has always been scarce, among Israel as among all of us. It is not difficult, therefore, to see why we read soon and repeatedly in the book that the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals" (2:11; 3:7, 12; 4:1; 6:1; 10:6; 13:1). This was the sad state of affairs we see in the period covered by the book, things getting worse until even the ark of Yahweh's covenant was taken captive. And things did not look up until the coming of Samuel, whose own birth occurred amidst these dark and dreary days. And how long was this period? We can only guess. The total of the reigns of the various judges add up to a total of years. Jephthah, in his dispute over territory with the Ammonite king, asked, rhetorically, "For three hundred years Israel occupied Heshbon, Aroer, the surrounding settlements and all the towns along the Arnon. Why didn't you retake them during that time?" (Judg 11:26). About four hundred years seem, therefore, a reasonable estimate.
Low Chai Hok
©Alberith, 2021