INTRODUCTION.
§ 1. Title. Place of the Book in the Canon.
The title,
Judges, or,
The Book of Judges, which the book bears in the Jewish and Christian Bibles,
[1] is given to it because it relates the exploits of a succession of Israelite leaders and champions who, in the book itself as well as in other parts of the Old Testament, are called Judges.
[2] The signification of the Hebrew word is, however, much wider than that of the Greek
κριτής, the Latin
judex, or the English 'judge.' The verb
shåphaţ is not only
judicare,
[3] but
vindicare, both in the sense of 'defend, deliver,' and in that of 'avenge, punish.'
[4] The participle
shōpheţ is not only
judex, but
vindex, and is not infrequently synonymous with 'deliverer.'
[5] Again, as the administration of justice was, in times of peace, the most important function of the chieftain or king, the noun is sometimes equivalent to 'ruler,'
[6] and the verb signifies, 'rule, govern.' In this sense it is most natural to take it in the lists of Minor Judges, where we read, for example of Tola: He judged Israel twenty-three years.... And after him arose Jair, the Gileadite, and judged Israel twenty-two years.
[7] It is clear that the writer regarded these judges as a succession of
- ↑ See note at the end of this §.
- ↑ Jud. 216, 17, 18, 2 S. 77 (corrected by 1 Chr. 176) 711 (= 1 Chr. 1710) 2 K. 2322 Ruth 11 Ecclus. 4611; cf. Fl. Jos., antt. vi. 5, 4 § 85.
- ↑ The only place in Jud. where it has this sense is 44, 5; but this is perhaps not the original meaning of v.4.
- ↑ See below, p. 88, 89, and in addition to the authors cited there, Köhler, Biblische Geschichte, ii. 1. p. 24.
- ↑ Jud. 216 39,10 101,2 Neh. 927 Is. 1920; Bachmann, Richter, p. 31 n.
- ↑ Am. 28 (cf. 115) Hos. 77 Mi. 51 Ps. 210 &c. So also in Phoenician; see note at the end of this §.
- ↑ Jud. 102,3 cf. l27,8,11,14 1520 1 S. 418 715 cf. 820.
