Biblical judges are not to be confused with modern legal judges. While judge is the closest literal translation of the Hebrew term used in the Bible, the position is more one of unelected non-hereditary leadership than that of legal pronouncement. In the Biblical context of the Book of Judges, the term designates those who act as deliverers. The word, however, means more than this: it refers to leaders who took charge of the affairs of the tribes in case of war, and who assumed leadership of their respective tribes in the succeeding times of peace. In accordance with the needs of the time, their functions were primarily martial and judicial. A judge or justice is an official who presides over a court. ... Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afro-Asiatic language family spoken by more than 7 million people, mainly in Israel, the West Bank, the United States and by Jewish communities around the world. ... The Bible (sometimes The Book, Good Book, Word of God, The Word, or Scripture), from Greek (τα) βιβλια, (ta) biblia, (the) books, is the classical name for the Hebrew Bible of Judaism or the combination of the Old Testament and New Testament of Christianity (The Bible actually refers to at least two... Look up Context in Wiktionary, the free dictionary See also ConTeXt, a macro package for the TeX typesetting system. ... Book of Judges (Hebrew: ספר שופטים) is a book of the Bible originally written in Hebrew. ... Martial law is the system of rules that takes effect (usually after a formal declaration) when a military authority takes control of the normal administration of justice. ... The judiciary, also referred to as the judicature, consists of justices, judges and magistrates among other types of adjudicators. ...

Biblical origin

According to the introduction to the Book of Judges (2:10-3:6), after the death of Joshua, a new generation of Israelites grew up and rather than worshipping Yahweh, instead worshipped the Baals and the Asherah, provoking God to anger. This divine wrath is described as causing the Israelites to be plundered by raiders and made it so that they were never able to defeat their enemies when they went out to fight. Hence they fell under the influence of the Canaanites, Philistines, Amorites, and other foreign rulers. Joshua or Yehoshúa (יְהוֹשֻׁעַ The LORD of/is help/court, Standard Hebrew Yəhošúaʿ, Tiberian Hebrew Yəhôšuªʿ) is a Biblical character, much of whose life is described in the Book of Joshua. ... An Israelite is a member of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, descended from the twelve sons of the Biblical patriarch Jacob who was renamed Israel by God in the book of Genesis, 32:28 The Israelites were a group of Hebrews, as described in the Bible. ... The Tetragrammaton in Phoenician (1100 BC to 300 CE), Aramaic (10th Century BC to 0) and modern Hebrew scripts. ... Baal was a Semitic god worshipped by the Canaanites and Phoenicians, who brought his worship to other parts of the Mediterranean. ... For the small research submarine, see Asherah (submarine). ... Canaanite can describe anything pertaining to Canaan: in particular, its languages and inhabitants. ... The historic Philistines (פלשתים) (see other uses below) were a people who inhabited the southern coast of Canaan around the time of the arrival of the Israelites, their territory being named Philistia in later contexts. ... Amorite (Hebrew ’emōrî, Egyptian Amar, Akkadian Tidnum or Amurrūm (corresponding to Sumerian MAR.TU or Martu) refers to a Semitic people who occupied the country west of the Euphrates, from the second half of the third millennium BC and also appear in the Tanakh and also the god...

However, God offered an olive branch, raising up people from time to time to save them from their enemies, referred to as judges. However on many occasions the people do not listen to the judges and refuse to obey God's commands. Even though God raises up judges for them several times, each time the judge dies they go back to their old ways. Finally (Judges 2:20-23) it is revealed that it was part of God's plan for the Israelites to be unable to drive out the remnant Canaanite tribes - they were left to test whether the people would keep the way of the LORD and walk in it as their forefathers did.

List of Biblical Judges

The following (in order) are identified as Judges in the Book of Judges - great judges are those deemed worthy of large narratives in the Book:

• Othniel
• Ehud (great judge)
• Shamgar
• Deborah (great judge)
• Gideon (great judge)
• Tola
• Jair
• Jephthah (great judge)
• Izban
• Elon
• Abdon
• Samson (great judge)

Textual critics believe that Abimelech was also originally considered a judge, becoming changed to a "king" owing to his being regarded as evil, at which point Shamgar was added to the list so that there were still 12 in the Book. Textual criticism also views the minor judges as being added to the list simply to make the total number equal 12, which had religious significance to the Israelites. Ehud Ben Gera (אֵהוּד Union, Standard Hebrew Ehud, Tiberian Hebrew ʼĒhûḏ), in the biblical Book of Judges (3:12-4:1) was the judge who fought against the Moabites, which were ruled by King Eglon. ... The Philistines from the maritime plain had made incursions into the Hebrew upland for the purposes of plunder, when Shamgar, the son of Anath, otherwise unknown, headed an uprising for the purpose of freeing the land from this oppression. ... Deborah or Dvora (דְּבוֹרָה Bee, Standard Hebrew DÉ™vora, Tiberian Hebrew Dəḇôrāh) was a prophetess and the fourth Judge and only female Judge of pre-monarchic Israel in the Old Testament (Tanakh). ... Gideon (גִּדְעוֹן, Standard Hebrew Gidʿon, Tiberian Hebrew Giḏʿôn) is a character who appears in the Bibles Book of Judges. ... For tola, an Indian unit of mass, see Tola (measure) Tola (תּוֹלָע Worm; grub, Standard Hebrew Tolaʿ, Tiberian Hebrew Tôlāʿ) was one of the judges of Israel whose career is documented in Judges 10:1-2. ... JAIR: Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research (ISSN 1076-9757) covers all areas of artificial intelligence (AI), publishing refereed research articles, survey articles, and technical notes. ... Jephtha יפתח -- one of the so called Judges in Israel between the conquest of Canaan and the first king. ... In the Bible, Elon (Hebrew אֵילֹן Oak, Standard Hebrew Elon, Tiberian Hebrew ʾÊlōn) was a judge of Israel. ... This entry incorporates text from Eastons Bible Dictionary, 1897, with some modernisation. ... Samson or Shimshon (שִׁמְשׁוֹן Of the sun (perhaps proclaiming he was radiant and mighty) or [One who] Serves [God], Standard Hebrew Å imÅ¡on, Tiberian Hebrew Å imšôn) is the third to last of the Judges of Israel mentioned in the Tanakh. ... Textual criticism is a branch of philology that examines the extant manuscript copies of an ancient or medieval literary work to produce a text that is as close as possible to the original. ... Abimelech or Avimelech (אֲבִימֶלֶךְ / אֲבִימָלֶךְ father/leader of a king; my father/leader, a king, Standard Hebrew Aviméleḫ / Avimáleḫ, Tiberian Hebrew ʾĂḇîméleḵ / ʾĂḇîmāleḵ) was a common name of the Philistine kings, much as Pharaoh was of the Egyptian kings. ... The Philistines from the maritime plain had made incursions into the Hebrew upland for the purposes of plunder, when Shamgar, the son of Anath, otherwise unknown, headed an uprising for the purpose of freeing the land from this oppression. ...

The First Book of Samuel also mentions: (Redirected from 1 Samuel) The Books of Samuel, also referred to as [The Book of] Samuel (Hebrew: שְׁמוּאֵל), are (two) books in the Hebrew Bible (Judaisms Tanakh and originally writtten in Hebrew) and the Old Testament of Christianity. ...

• Eli (great judge)
• Samuel (great judge)

According to textual criticism the initial portion of the first book of Samuel, containing these two names, was probably originally the final part of the Book of Judges. Hence the original form of the book, according to textual criticism, listed 8 judges, 7 good and 1 bad, 7 being a religiously significant number. Eli may refer to: Eli (אלי) (IPA: ) is a variant on the name of God (see El (god)) as spoken in Hebrew and Aramaic. ... For other people with the name Samuel see Sam In the Old Testament, Samuel or Shmuel (שְׁמוּאֵל Name/Heard of God, Standard Hebrew Šəmuʼel, Tiberian Hebrew Šəmûʼēl) is a leader of ancient Israel. ...