Equip: Resources on the Book of Judges

The book of Judges stands as an important counterpoint to the book of Joshua within the Deuteronomic History (Joshua-2 Kings).

While Joshua demonstrates the blessings that come when a unified people obey God, Judges paints a clear picture of the chaos that results when a disjointed people continually turn away from God. The ancient writers of this text have painted this picture through the masterful use of wordplay and irony.

For example, Ehud, the left-handed “son of the right hand” (from the tribe of Benjamin) sacrifices the fatted “calf” (Eglon) prior to the battle.

Gideon refuses to be made king but names his son “my father is king” (Abimelech), who then becomes the oppressor of Israel. Gideon is “clothed with the Spirit of God” and immediately tests God and is convinced to fight only after overhearing the description of a dream of a Midianite.

No judge is “filled with the Spirit of God” more than Samson, yet he never acts with the intent of delivering Israel from the Philistines, but only as revenge for wrongs done against himself or a woman.

The artistry of the composers also is demonstrated in the overall narrative structure of the book. The book often is associated with the cycle of Israel’s idolatry, divine judgement through a foreign oppressor, the outcry of the people to God and God’s provision of a deliverer. Yet, while this cycle fits for the first few judges, it gradually breaks down.

Beginning with the story of Jephthah, the people no longer are crying out to God but seek their own deliverer who ultimately killed 42,000 Israelites, more than the total of non-Israelites killed by all the other judges.

While God does send Samson, it is not directly in response to the people’s outcry, and Samson would only “begin to save Israel.”

Following Samson, the cycle is entirely missing, and God is completely absent from the narrative as 11 of the tribes turn to fratricide against Benjamin, the tribe of the first judge. The gradual breakdown of this cyclical pattern seems subtly to highlight the collapse of society as everyone “did what was right in their own eyes.”

Old Testament Library: Judges by Susan Niditch

Susan Niditch offers a masterful contribution to biblical scholarship that combines literary sensitivity, theological depth and historical awareness. Her readings highlight the artistry of the text—its irony, characterization and recurring motifs.

Niditch brings a balance of critical insight and interpretive nuance to this often violent and perplexing book by situating the text within its ancient Near Eastern setting, while engaging modern questions of ethics, power and identity from her particular feminine perspective. This is especially evident in her valuable insight into the stories of the women in Judges, particularly figures like Deborah, Jael and the Levite’s concubine.

Niditch also is attuned to the theological ambiguities of Judges. Rather than offering tidy resolutions, she underscores the fragmented moral landscape of the book, where divine presence and human violence often are intertwined in disturbing ways.

Her treatment of divine agency, particularly in narratives like Jephthah’s vow, resists apologetic readings and instead invites ethical engagement.

Overall, Niditch’s Judges is a lucid, provocative and deeply informed commentary. It is indispensable for scholars, students and clergy seeking to understand the complex interplay of narrative form, cultural background and theological meaning in one of the Hebrew Bible’s most challenging books.

Blackwell Bible Commentaries: Judges by David Gunn

Unlike traditional commentaries focused primarily on historical-critical or theological exegesis, David Gunn’s volume exemplifies the series’ commitment to reception history by tracing how Judges has been interpreted, adapted and contested across diverse cultural contexts—from art and literature to film, politics and popular media.

Gunn excels in demonstrating how the book of Judges, with its morally ambiguous characters and stark portrayals of violence, persistently has challenged and inspired readers. His treatment of key figures draws on a vast array of interpretive sources, including medieval midrash, early modern drama, feminist criticism and contemporary cinema.

Particularly compelling is his analysis of the Levite’s concubine narrative, which Gunn explores through the lenses of feminist theology, psychoanalytic theory and political discourse on gendered violence.

One of the strengths of Gunn’s work is his ability to show how the biblical text is not static but dynamically reshaped by each community and context that engages it. This approach broadens the scope of biblical scholarship and invites interdisciplinary dialogue, although it may challenge readers expecting more traditional verse-by-verse commentary or theological synthesis.

This points to one potential drawback to the volume. It occasionally presumes a high level of familiarity with both biblical studies and critical theory, which may limit accessibility for general readers. Nevertheless, Gunn’s Judges is a landmark work as it reorients the interpretive focus from what the text “meant” to what it has come to “mean.”

New International Commentary on the Old Testament: The Book of Judges by Barry G. Webb

Barry Webb’s Judges is a theologically rich commentary that reflects the series’ evangelical orientation, while engaging critically with the text’s literary and historical dimensions.

Webb brings a deep sensitivity to the book’s narrative structure by presenting Judges as a coherent literary work shaped by the Deuteronomistic editors yet bearing distinct theological insights of its own.

He identifies patterns of degeneration and cyclical violence within the narrative, interpreting them not merely as historical records, but as theological indictments of Israel’s covenantal unfaithfulness. His analysis of the “judges” as deeply flawed deliverers supports his central thesis that Judges is a tragedy pointing to the need for righteous kingship.

Webb also engages seriously with the moral and theological difficulties of the text, such as the violence in the Samson narrative or the harrowing tale of the Levite’s concubine. While his commitment to a redemptive theological reading sometimes leads to less sustained critique of these episodes, Webb nonetheless does not shy away from their ethical complexity.

Overall, Webb’s Judges serves both pastors and academics who seek to understand the theological heartbeat of Judges while grappling with its literary artistry and ethical challenges.

Don Raney is the graduate academic adviser and adjunct professor of biblical studies at the Lubbock campus of Wayland Baptist University. He has a Ph.D. in Old Testament and has served as a pastor and hospice chaplain. The views expressed in this resource article are those of the author.