Judges - An Overview

Still on general introduction to Judges.

An overview of the book can be given as follows:

1:1-3:6 - A general introduction to the book and the period, most of the key themes of the book are
                introduced in these verses.
3:7-31 - the first three Judges
4:1-5:31 - Deborah and Barak (a very interesting section as it allows us to compare a Hebrew prose
                 account of an event with a poetic retelling of the same event.)
6:1-8:35 - Gideon
9:1-12:15 - various Judges, two chapters on Jephthah
13:1-16:31 - Samson
17:1-18:31 - Micah's idols
19:1-21:24 - A levite and his concubine
21:25 - programatic summary of the book

Such an overview allows us to identify the major narrative sections, Gideon, Samson, Deborah and Barak, Jephthah. Because we have not limited the key themes of Judges to the lives and events of the Judges chapters 17 to 21 do not appear as some kind of appendage roughly added to this text, but are a key part of the shape of Judges and its theological importance. These chapters are of course some of the most 'offensive' in the OT and it is good to tie them closely into the structure of the book and therefore the main story line of the whole OT.