King James Bible Dictionary

(Heb. shophet, pl. shophetim), properly a magistrate or ruler, rather than one who judges in the sense of trying a cause. This is the name given to those rulers who presided over the affairs of the Israelites during the interval between the death of Joshua and the accession of Saul (Judges 2:18), a period of general anarchy and confusion. "The office of judges or regents was held during life, but it was not hereditary, neither could they appoint their successors. Their authority was limited by the law alone, and in doubtful cases they were directed to consult the divine King through the priest by Urim and Thummim (Numbers 27:21). Their authority extended only over those tribes by whom they had been elected or acknowledged. There was no income attached to their office, and they bore no external marks of dignity. The only cases of direct divine appointment are those of Gideon and Samson, and the latter stood in the peculiar position of having been from before his birth ordained to begin to deliver Israel.' Deborah was called to deliver Israel, but was already a judge. Samuel was called by the Lord to be a prophet but not a judge, which ensued from the high gifts the people recognized as dwelling in him; and as to Eli, the office of judge seems to have devolved naturally or rather ex officio upon him." Of five of the judges, Tola (Judges 10:1), Jair (3), Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon (12:8-15), we have no record at all beyond the bare fact that they were judges. Sacred history is not the history of individuals but of the kingdom of God in its onward progress.

In Exodus 2:14 Moses is so styled. This fact may indicate that while for revenue purposes the "taskmasters" were over the people, they were yet, just as at a later time when under the Romans, governed by their own rulers.

Appointed by Persians
Ezra 7:25

Kings and other rulers as
2 Samuel 8:15; 2 Samuel 15:2; 1 Kings 3:16-28; 1 Kings 10:9; 2 Kings 8:1-6; Psalms 72:1-4; Matthew 27:11-26; Acts 23:34-35; Acts 44:24; Acts 25:11-12

Priests and Levites as
Deuteronomy 17:9; 2 Chronicles 19:8; Ezekiel 44:23-24; Matthew 26:57-62

Deborah, a woman, served as a judge
Judges 4:4

Held circuit courts
1 Samuel 7:16
Court; Justice; Witness

Character of, and precepts relating to
Exodus 18:21-22; Exodus 22:9; Exodus 22:28; Leviticus 19:15; Deuteronomy 1:12-17; Deuteronomy 16:18-20; Deuteronomy 17:8-11; Deuteronomy 19:16-19; Deuteronomy 25:1-3; 1 Samuel 2:25; 1 Samuel 8:3; 1 Kings 3:9; 2 Chronicles 19:5-10; Psalms 58:1-2; Psalms 72:1-2; Psalms 72:4; Psalms 72:12-14; Psalms 82:2-4; Proverbs 24:23; Isaiah 5:22-23; Isaiah 28:5-6; Ezekiel 44:24; Daniel 9:12; Micah 7:3; Zephaniah 3:3; John 7:24

Corrupt, instances of:

Eli's sons
1 Samuel 2:12-17; 1 Samuel 2:22-25

Samuel's sons
1 Samuel 8:1-5

The judges of Jezreel
1 Kings 21:8-13

Pilate
Matthew 27:24; Mark 15:15; Mark 15:19-24

Felix
Acts 24:26-27

God as
God, Judge, and His Justice

JUDGE, noun [Latin judex, supposed to be compounded of jus, law or right, and dico, to pronounce.]

1. A civil officer who is invested with authority to hear and determine causes, civil or criminal, between parties, according to his commission; as the judges of the king's bench, or of the common pleas; judges of the supreme court, of district courts, or of a county court. The judge of a court of equity is called a chancellor.

2. The Supreme Being.

Shall not the judge of all the earth do right? Genesis 18:25.

3. One who presides in a court of judicature.

4. One who has skill to decide on the merits of a question, or on the value of any thing; one who can discern truth and propriety.

A man who is no judge of law, may be a good judge of poetry or eloquence, or of the merits of a painting.

5. In the history of Israel, a chief magistrate, with civil and military powers. The Israelites were governed by judges more than three hundred years, and the history of their transactions is called the book of Judges.

6. A juryman or juror. In criminal suits, the jurors are judges of the law as well as of the fact.

JUDGE, verb intransitive [Latin judico.]

1. To compare facts or ideas, and perceive their agreement or disagreement, and thus to distinguish truth from falsehood.

JUDGE not according to the appearance John 7:24.

2. To form an opinion; to bring to issue the reasoning or deliberations of the mind.

If I did not know the originals, I should not be able to judge by the copies, which was Virgil and which Ovid.

3. To hear and determine, as in causes on trial; to pass sentence. He was present on the bench, but could not judge in the case.

The Lord judge between thee and me. Genesis 16:5.

4. To discern; to distinguish; to consider accurately for the purpose of forming an opinion or conclusion.

JUDGE in yourselves; is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered? 1 Corinthians 11:13.

JUDGE, verb transitive To hear and determine a case; to examine and decide.

Chaos shall judge the strife.

1. To try; to examine and pass sentence on.

Take ye him and judge him according to your law.

John 18.

God shall judge the righteous and the wicked. Ecclesiastes 3:17.

2. Rightly to understand and discern.

He that is spiritual, judgeth all things. 1 Corinthians 2:15.

3. To censure rashly; to pass severe sentence.

JUDGE not, that ye be not judged. Matthew 7:1.

4. To esteem; to think; to reckon.

If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord--

Acts 16:15.

5. To rule or govern.

The Lord shall judge his people. Hebrews 10:30.

6. To doom to punishment; to punish.

I will judge thee according to thy ways. Ezekiel 7:3.

JUDG'ED, participle passive Heard and determined; tried judicially; sentenced; censured; doomed.

JUDG'ER, noun One who judges or passes sentence.

The judges were temporary and special deliverers, sent by God to deliver the Isr'lites from their oppressors; not supreme magistrates, succeeding to the authority of Moses and Joshua. Their power only extended over portions of the country, and some of them were contemporaneous. Their first work was that of deliverers and leaders in war; they then administered justice to the people, and their authority supplied the want of a regular government. Even while the administration of Samuel gave something like a settled government to the south, there was scope for the irregular exploits of Samson on the borders of the Philistines; and Samuel at last established his authority as judge and prophet, but still as the servant of Jehovah, only to see it so abused by his sons as to exhaust the patience of the people, who at length demanded a king , after the pattern of the surrounding nations. The following is a list of judges, whose history is given under their respective names:

First servitude, to Mesopotamia

8 years. First judge: Othniel. 40 years. Second servitude, to Moab

18 years. Second judge: Ehud; 80 years. Third judge: Shamgar.

- Third servitude, to Jabin and Sisera

20 years. Fourth judge: Deborah and Barak. 40 years. Fourth servitude, to Midian

7 years. Fifth judge: Gideon; 40 years. Sixth judge: Abimelech; 3 years. Seventh judge: Tola; 23 years. Eighth judge: Jair. 22 years. Fifth servitude, to Ammon

18 years. Ninth judge: Jephthah; 6 years. Tenth judge: Ibzan; 7 years. Eleventh judge: Elon; 10 years. Twelfth judge: Abdon. 8 years. Sixth servitude, to the Philistines

40 years. Thirteenth judge: Samson 20 years. Fourteenth judge: Eli; 40 years. Fifteenth judge: Samuel. More than likely some of these ruled simultaneously. On the chronology of the judges, see the following article.

During the time when the land was ruled by judges.
Judges 2:16-19; Acts 13:20

Othniel
Judges 3:9-11

Ehud
Jude 3:15-30

Shamgar
Judges 3:31

Deborah
Jude 1:4-5

Gideon
Jude 6:11-40; Jude 1:7-8

Abimelech
Jude 9:1-54

Tola
Judges 10:1-2

Jair
Judges 10:3-5

Jephthah
Jude 1:11; Judges 12:1-7

Ibzan
Judges 12:8-10

Elon
Judges 12:11-12

Abdon
Judges 12:13-14

Samson
Jude 1:13-16

Eli judged Israel
1 Samuel 4:18

Samuel as judge
1 Samuel 7:6; 1 Samuel 7:15-17

The sons of Samuel
1 Samuel 8:1-5

Is so called because it contains the history of the deliverance and government of Israel by the men who bore the title of the "judges." The book of Ruth originally formed part of this book, but about A.D. 450 it was separated from it and placed in the Hebrew scriptures immediately after the Song of Solomon.

The book contains,

1. An introduction (1-3:6), connecting it with the previous narrative in Joshua, as a "link in the chain of books."

2. The history of the thirteen judges (3:7-16:31) in the following order-

FIRST PERIOD (3:7-ch. 5) | Years | I. Servitude under Chushan-rishathaim of | Mesopotamia 8 | 1. OTHNIEL delivers Israel, rest 40 | II. Servitude under Eglon of Moab- | Ammon, Amalek 18 | 2. EHUD'S deliverance, rest 80 | 3. SHAMGAR Unknown. | III. Servitude under Jabin of Hazor in | Canaan 20 | 4. DEBORAH and, | 5. BARAK 40 | (206)

SECOND PERIOD (6-10:5) | | IV. Servitude under Midian, Amalek, and | children of the east 7 | 6. GIDEON 40 | ABIMELECH, Gideon's son, reigns as | king over Israel 3 | 7. TOLA 23 | 8. JAIR 22 | (95)

THIRD PERIOD (10:6-ch. 12) | | V. Servitude under Ammonites with the | Philistines 18 | 9. JEPHTHAH 6 | 10. IBZAN 7 | 11. ELON 10 | 12. ABDON 8 | (49)

FOURTH PERIOD (13-16) | VI. Seritude under Philistines 40 | 13. SAMSON 20 | (60) | In all 410

Samson's exploits probably synchronize with the period immediately preceding the national repentance and reformation under Samuel (1 Samuel 7:2-6).

After Samson came Eli, who was both high priest and judge. He directed the civil and religious affairs of the people for forty years, at the close of which the Philistines again invaded the land and oppressed it for twenty years. Samuel was raised up to deliver the people from this oppression, and he judged Israel for some twelve years, when the direction of affairs fell into the hands of Saul, who was anointed king. If Eli and Samuel are included, there were then fifteen judges. But the chronology of this whole period is uncertain.

3. The historic section of the book is followed by an appendix (17-21), which has no formal connection with that which goes before. It records (a) the conquest (17, 18) of Laish by a portion of the tribe of Dan; and (b) the almost total extinction of the tribe of Benjamin by the other tribes, in consequence of their assisting the men of Gibeah (19-21). This section properly belongs to the period only a few years after the death of Joshua. It shows the religious and moral degeneracy of the people.

The author of this book was most probably Samuel. The internal evidence both of the first sixteen chapters and of the appendix warrants this conclusion. It was probably composed during Saul's reign, or at the very beginning of David's. The words in 18:30, 31, imply that it was written after the taking of the ark by the Philistines, and after it was set up at Nob (1 Samuel 21). In David's reign the ark was at Gibeon (1 Chronicles 16:39)

of which the book or Ruth formed originally a part, contains a history from Joshua to Samson. The book may be divided into two parts:

1. Chs. 1-16. We may observe in general on this portion of the book that it is almost entirely a history of the wars of deliverance.
2. Chs. 17-21. This part has no formal connection with the preceding, and is often called an appendix. The period to which the narrative relates is simply marked by the expression, "when there was no king in Isr'l." ch. (Judges 19:1; 18:1) It records

   (a) The conquest of Laish by a portion of the tribe of Dan, and the establishment there of the idolatrous worship of Jehovah already instituted by Micah in Mount Ephraim. (b) The almost total extinction of the tribe of Benjamin. Chs. 17-21 are inserted both as an illustration of the sin of Isr'l during the time of the judges and as presenting a contrast with the better order prevailing in the time of the kings. The time commonly assigned to the period contained in this book is 299 years. The dates given in the last article amount to 410 years, without the 40 years of Eli; but in (1 Kings 6:1) the whole period from the exodus to the building of the temple is stated as 480 years. But probably some of the judges were contemporary, so that their total period is 299 years instead of 410. Mr. Smith in his Old Testament history gives the following approximate dates: Periods...Years

   Ending about B.C.:

3. From the exodus to the passage of Jordan...40

   1451.

4. To the death of Joshua and the surviving elders...[40]

   1411.

5. Judgeship of Othniel...40

   1371. 4,5. Judgeship of Ehud (Shamgar included)...80

   1291.

6. Judgeship of Deborah and Barak...40

   1251.

7. Judgeship of Gideon...40

   1211. 8,9. Abimelech to Abdon, total...[80]

   1131.

8. Oppression of the Philistines, contemporary with the judgeships of Eli, Samson (and Samuel?)...40

   1091.

9. Reign of Saul (including perhaps Samuel)...40

   1051.

10. Reign of David...40

    1011. Total...480. On the whole, it seems safer to give up the attempt to ascertain the chronology exactly.

JUDGESHIP, noun judj'ship. The office of a judge.