BOOK OF JUDGES: INTRODUCTION TO LITERARY STRUCTURE

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God is truly Israel's “deliverer” (a good general translation for sopet) although he uses human 

instruments to accomplish this deliverance, as reflected in the use of the verb form sopet twelve times 

in conjunction with the “judges” of this book. The biblically significant number “twelve” occurs in 

Judges in one other obvious manner according to most commentators – the number of judges 

themselves. This symbolic usage probably comes from the fact that this number is the product of four 

(the number of creation) and three (the symbolic designation for God). Thus, we see God working 

through selected representatives of his creation whether it be the twelve minor prophets, tribes of 

Israel, apostles, or judges.

Figure 1: The Structure of the Book of Judges

 I. Introduction (1:1-3:6)

A. Political Situation (1:1-2:5)

B. Religious Perspective (2:6-3:6)

II. Israel under the Judges

Othniel (3:7-11)

A. Ehud (3:12-30)

Shamgar (3:31)

B. Deborah and Barak (chs. 4-5)

                                    C. Gideon (6:1-8:35)

                                    D. Abimelech (ch. 9) 

                                                Tola (10:1-2) D 

                                                Jair (10:3-5) D

E. Jephthah (10:6-12:7)

Ibzar (12:8-10)

                                                Elon (12:11-12) 

                                                Abdon (12:13-15) 

F. Samson

I'. Concluding Appendix (17:1-21:25)

                B. Religious Perspective: Idolatry of Micah and Danites (chs. 17-18)

                A. Political Situation: Civil War with Benjamites (chs. 19-21) 

The number six is symbolically associated with man and his less than perfect status. Thus, in the Book of Judges there are six major judges, six deliverers, six periods of oppression, etc. It is an ideal number to characterize much of the Book of Judges with its repeated record of human failures. And a six-fold recurring pattern throughout Judges has been detected, including the elements: sin, servitude, supplication, savior, salvation and silence. This repetition reinforces the key theological concept of man's fallen nature. On the other hand, seven is the number symbolic of perfection or completeness and there are seven references to God's spirit coming upon a judge and seven times the people of Israel cry out to the LORD.

The parallelism between the two sets of refrains in Fig. 1 is instructive. “Every man did what was right in his own eyes” tends to have a positive connotation to today’s reader until the parallel refrain is considered: “and the people did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.” Block remarks, “These refrains declare that in this time the Israelites needed no kings to lead them into evil.” An additional definition of “judge” can also be derived from a comparison of the political refrains “Y judged Israel for x years” and “The land had rest for x years.” A judge is apparently one who brings peace.

Sections I and I'

The importance of the opening section of Judges in setting the tone for the whole book, both politically 

and morally, is well recognized. Unit IA concerns foreign wars in which the ban is applied while I'A (a 

seven-part chiasm) applies the same ban to domestic battles. Unit IB describes the problem of foreign 

idols while I'B deals with domestic idols. Section I'B has a simple structure in which three 

episodes ending in a priest being appointed are separated by set formulas. It begins with Micah being 

revealed as a thief and ends with others robbing him.

Section IA describes the geo-political situation existing at the start of the book where the tribes of Israel are found to be occupying a territory but imperfectly conquered. By the end of the book (I'A), the tribes are seen to be turning against one another, demonstrating that they are their own worst enemies.

Section II

The seven appearances of the phrase “The Spirit of the LORD” serve to unite this literary unit. Webb detects a rough progression in the way the Spirit interacts with the various judges, from coming on them (3:10 and 11:29) to clothing them (6:34) to rushing on them (three times in the Samson cycle). Another movement can, however, be discerned within the Book of Judges, that of a chiasm, as shown in Fig. 2. There is no proper central section to this literary scheme so that the real intended emphasis on the whole composition falls on the opening and closing sections that bracket Section II, both of which are almost entirely negative in tone.

Figure 2: The Structure of Section II

A. Ehud Cycle (3:7-31)

1. Othniel (3:7-11)

2. Ehud (3:12-30)

1'. Shamgar (3:31)

B. Deborah and Barak Cycle (chs. 4-5)

1. Prose Account (ch. 4)

                                                            1'. Poetic Account (ch. 5)

C. Gideon Cycle (chs. 6-8)

C'. Abimelech Cycle (ch. 9)

B'. Jephthah Cycle (10:1-12:15)

1. Two Minor Judges (10:1-5)

2. Jephthah (10:6-12:7)

1'. Three Minor Judges (12:8-15)

A'. Samson Cycle (13:1-16:31)

Beginning at the center, the Gideon Cycle is a four-part structure demonstrating in miniature the 

downward progress of the nation Israel.

1. Gideon takes a stand against idolatry (6:1-32)

2. Gideon battles Israel’s enemies (6:33-7:25)

                                    2'. Gideon battles fellow Israelites (8:1-21)

1'. Gideon lapses into idolatry (8:22-32)

The five literary units that comprise the Abimelech Cycle can be cast into a simple five-part chiastic form.

                         1. Introduction: Israel’s apostasy (8:33-35)

2. Abimelech’s rise to power (9:1-6)

3. Jotham’s fable (9:7-21)

2'. Abimelech becomes king (9:22-25)

1'. Conclusion: Judgment on Shechem (9:26-57)

The pairing of the Gideon and Abimelech cycles in Fig. 2 needs little justification since the two accounts could really be read as one extended story involving father and son. Both narratives begin near a ceremonial oak tree (6:11 and 9:6). They also share the common setting of the Benjamite city Ophrah, recurring themes of fire, attacks on a tower, and troops being divided into three companies (7:16; 9:43).

Working outward to the next significant stories in Judges, we come upon Deborah/Barak and Jephthah. 

The Deborah Cycle contains two parallel account of a key battle related in narrative and poetic fashion, 

respectively. There is a pointed contrast between Deborah as “a mother in Israel” in verse 7 and the 

tragic mother of Sisera at the end of the poem. The locales of the judges in this section appear to form a 

symmetrical structure when plotted in their order of appearance:

Ephraim (Tola)

Gilead (Jair)

                                                Gilead (Jephthah)

Zebulun? (Ibzan)

                                                Zebulun (Elon)

Ephraim (Abdon)

Deborah (the most prominent figure in the former narrative) and Jephthah share the fact that they both come from outside the traditional leaders of Israelite society. Jephthah is the son of a harlot and, of course, Deborah is a “mere” woman. Both cycles also contain interactions between individual men and women with the latter coming off as the most noble or heroic. The literary function of coupling these two cycles is to stress that God's Spirit rests on whomever He chooses.

Fig. 2 pictures the Ehud Cycle as an ABA structure in which the central character Ehud is flanked by 

two of the minor judges. The second of these, Shamgar, shares with Ehud the character of mighty 

warrior who performs his legendary feats alone. Gray notes that Shamgar’s account is actually given 

before Ehud’s death is related in 4:1 so as to structurally couple the two judges together. The 

inclusion of Othniel in this cycle is justified in part by the creation of structural symmetry for the 

section and also to strengthen the parallels, noted below, between this cycle and that of Samson.

Figure 3: The Samson Cycle (13:1-16:31)

Part I: Philistines rule over Israel (13:1-15:19)

    A. Samson's father and mother (ch. 13)

        B. Samson and the Philistine woman (ch. 14)

            1. Samson courts woman of Timnah and kills lion (14:1-10)

            1'. Samson marries woman; riddle of the lion (14:11-20)

    A'. Samson's father-in-law and wife (15:1-19)

Part II: Samson judges over Israel (15:20-16:31)

          B. Samson Destroys Doors of City Gate (15:20-16:3)

    A. In Sorek with Delilah (16:4-22)

           B'. Samson destroys Philistine Temple (16:23-31)

The paired Ehud and Samson cycles both feature solitary killers who perform daring, single-handed (left-handed, in Ehud's case) feats so that “our (your) enemy is given into our (your) hands.” The parallel between Shamgar and Samson is especially obvious in that the former killed 600 Philistines with an ox-goad while Samson slew a thousand Philistines with a donkey’s jawbone. The exploits of these two judges are the only ones in the book in which the Philistines are mentioned.

Dissolution in the Book of Judges

Despite the cyclic nature of the book, one can also trace a downward spiral as the stories unfold. Some evidence for this contention is seen in the years of peace given by the round numbers 40-80 in chs. 3-13 followed by only 20 years in chs. 15-16. The bottom line is that the literary structure clearly accentuates the fact that the period of the judges represents a definite low point in the spiritual and political history of Israel. Fortunately, the following book in the Christian canon, Ruth, paints a more positive picture.