7.  As it respects the arrangement of materials, the book of Judges opens with a two-fold introduction, giving, first, a brief notice of the wars carried on against the Canaanites by certain tribes after Joshua’s death, of the failure of the people to effect a complete extirpation of the Canaanites, and of the reproof administered to them by an angel of the Lord (chap. 1-2:5); secondly, a survey of the course of events during the time of the judges, with especial reference to God’s faithfulness in the fulfilment of his promises and threatenings.  Chap. 2:6-3:6.  Then follows the body of the work, giving an account of the seven servitudes to which the people were subjected for their sins, and of the judges raised up by God for their deliverance, with some incidental notices, as the history of Abimelech, (chap. 9) and the quarrel of the men of Ephraim with Jephthah.  Chap. 12:1-6.  The book closes with a two-fold appendix, recording, first, the conquest of Laish by the Danites, and in connection with this the story of Micah and his idolatrous establishment (chaps. 17, 18); secondly, the punishment of the Benjamites for espousing the cause of the wicked men of Gibeah (chaps. 19-21).  These events are not to be conceived of as subsequent to those recorded in the body of the book, but as contemporaneous with them.

8.  The remark:  “In those days there was no king in Israel” (chaps. 18:1; 19:1) plainly implies that the date of the book of Judges must be assigned to a period after the establishment of the kingdom.  The statement, on the other hand, that the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites from Jerusalem, “but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem unto this day” (chap. 1:21), limits the time of its composition to the period before David’s conquest of the city. 2 Sam. 5:6-9.  The author of the book is unknown.  Jewish tradition ascribes it to Samuel.  It may well have been written during his life, and possibly under his supervision, though on this point we can affirm nothing positively.  The writer must have availed himself of earlier written documents.  See Chap. 15, No. 5.

9.  The chronology of the book of Judges is a matter of debate among biblical scholars.  Some contend for a longer period, in accordance with the reckoning of the apostle Paul, who says that after God had divided to the people the land of Canaan by lot, “he gave unto them judges about the space of four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet.”  Acts 13:20.  Others seek to reduce the period so as to bring it into harmony with the statement in 1 Kings 6:1, that Solomon began to build the temple “in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt.”