Lecture 31.docx

Well, my goal is to provoke an interest in you for the book of judges. I don't want you to be like most Christians throughout the church age that have ignored this book, or just see it merely as in some way these judges prefigured Jesus Christ. They were deliverers, so rejoice Christ has come and le...

Well, my goal is to provoke an interest in you for the book of judges. I don't want you to be like most Christians throughout the church age that have ignored this book, or just see it merely as in some way these judges prefigured Jesus Christ. They were deliverers, so rejoice Christ has come and let's not really dig any further into the book. But the book is here for a purpose for Israel and also for believers as well. Now as I intimated before the break that once we get to this concept of why is the book in canon, we come to the first major interpretive issue of the book. And there has been a continuing discussion, not as focused as it has become in the last generation. But as I said, this is the sense of positive, negative in dealing with the book. Just to have the book called Judges and realizing the positive role that judges were to have within Israel. They were the guardians of justice. They were the arbiters of making sure that God's ways were followed by his people. That Israel was walking in the commandments of the Lord and therefore reaping his blessing. And the very fact that these judges who judge do so after being raised up by the Lord as military deliverers, as saviors in a military sense that then leads to the proper worship of the Lord. And to a certain extent fits into those first two chapters of Judges where you have the incomplete military conquest and then the incomplete obedience of the religious aspects of Torah and passing that on to your children. Here come judges who basically rectify or are raised up by the Lord to fulfill the role given in the Torah to rectify the second role being saviors, being military leaders, generals who win battles of the amazing sort as you go through. There's almost no battle for in the book of Judges that follows any kind of standard military strategy. Just a reminder again, the victory comes from the Lord, not through military strategy. Gideon the Minionite is a great example of that. You got to keep getting rid of troops, your army's too big. Now you got 300, that's about right for you to take on the Minionites. And of course that's all to show once again that salvation comes from the Lord. And it might not be now hailstones from heaven and the sun and the moon standing still. It might not be marching around the city for seven days, seven times on the seventh day and seeing the walls come down. But nevertheless Judges is also by the narrative of the military events showing that look the only way you can explain these victories is by the Lord. Even the mud that bogs down the Canaanite chariots in chapter four. Well who's the Lord of the Storm? You know that's the Canaanites. Their major God is Baal. Baal is the Lord of the Storm. But he can't control the storm to give dry ground to the Canaanites. Yahweh controls the storm. He controls when the rain comes. And the rain comes at the proper time for him to neutralize the Canaanites chariots so that Israel can win the military victory. These are all the insights you get as you go through the Judges' battles that ultimately you can't explain the victory without realizing Yahweh is the one giving the victory. So these Judges begin with being military deliverers who then were to lead the people in the way of righteousness. Which of course we're told in chapter two never happened. And so we have this, okay, are we going through the book and reading it in a positive sense or are we going through the book and reading it in a negative sense? And the answer is yes. It's a both and, not an either or. Now classically and still with the commentators as a whole, the purpose of the book is viewed as a demonstration for the need of the monarchy in Israel. That final statement, in those days there was no king in Israel. And I realize that is not only the conclusion to Judges, but it also is an introduction to the next book which is going to be Samuel, which is going to be the institution of the human kingship over all of Israel. In those days there was no king in Israel. And so these Judges are prototypes within the tribes of what God wants to do for all Israel. Bring a king who will judge Israel by Torah. By the way that's the paradigm of the king in Deuteronomy 17 as you remember. And we'll take a look at next week when we get to Samuel. A king, we saw this talking about Josh, was a prototype. A king was to make a copy of the Torah and meditate upon it and have it guide his steps. So he was to be guided by Torah in all of his activities and being guided himself by Torah he would become an instrument of Torah among the people. So in those days there was no king, only Judges. And the Judges in their persons and then the lack of response of Israel to them shows the need for a king who can exert authority over all Israel. Demonstrating the need for the monarchy. And we could say that this is the purpose of kingship. It's as I will put it, the way Judges fits within the former prophets as a whole. It has a role to play between Joshua and Samuel and kings. And that's the role to show the necessity of the human kingship established by God over Israel. But it also shows the need for a national monarch because of the depravity of the people. And this gets into a second emphasis of the book which is assimilation. And Dan Block has coined a phrase which now dominates literature on Judges and that is in the narratives we see the progressive canonization of Israelite society. And he is absolutely correct. But by the end of the book Israel is acting more like Canaanites than Canaanites. By the way did you pick up all of the echoes of Sodom and Gomorrah in Judges chapter 19? That's what I mean by you're amazed that Israel still survives. If this had been Sodom and Gomorrah, this is third generation Israel. God should have obliterated the Gibeonites and the Menjimites who then defend what they have done. And of course the Menjimites almost are completely obliterated as a tribe. I mean so many echoes of the Sodom and Gomorrah episode of Genesis 18 and 19 that are in the narrative of chapter 19 really all the way through chapter 21. But particularly chapter 19 with the Levite and the angels who went to Sodom. The Levites' concubine being given to the crowd in the same way that Lot was willing to give his daughters to the crowd in Sodom. And the angels refused to do so but there's no angelic presence. There's nothing stopping. In other words it's even worse than the narrative in Genesis chapter 19. You get an indication in chapters 19 to 21 what would have ensued if Lot could have had his way without that angelic intervention. And how disastrous and chaotic the consequences were. Which again almost leaves the obliteration of the tribe of Benjamin. But really in light of Genesis, Gibeonite should itself have become like brimstone and the ashes like Sodom and Gomorrah and the benjamite should have been destroyed in the same way as the inhabitants of those cities were as well. Again it's tempered by the grace of God that allows a city and a tribe to survive. And of course this is indicative of all Israel during the time of the judges. So he's right. And so we do see the canonization of Israel by society after the conquest and settlement of the land and yet through it all we see God's grace just sustaining. But the emphasis more upon this assimilation. As the first one would say, now how is God using these circumstances to bring honor and glory to his name. On page 292 you have a paragraph from Rukah in the world and the word on the purpose for the book. The reason the book of judges was written can be determined from two major refrains. Christ did that which was even the Lord's sight and in those days there was no king in Israel. So these two statements show the book is concerned with describing Israel's relationship to God between the period of Joshua and the monarchy. And the overall effect is to call Israel to return to her God from her idolatrous ways as her position as a holy nation was in jeopardy and that's only going to come about through the kingship. So it's a both and, not an either or. And the latest edition of Expositors Bible Comedy which has come out argues the same that it's not a matter of opposing these purposes against one another that you combine them. Now I would say this, if you just took judges out of its canonical context and just read it beginning in 1 1 through 21 25 just read it as a separate piece of narrative and not think about its antecedents and what comes after. Then I think you are led to emphasize the second aspect. It's a brutal book relating the consequence of Israel's idolatry and certainly does emphasize the canonization of Israel. But within the greater canon and the former prophets, why does God sustain Abraham? Why does he sustain Abraham's seed? I should say why does he sustain the Abrahamic promise? Why does he have the loyalties of the Abrahamic covenant? Because he prepares us for Samuel and kings because chapter 17 of Genesis the promise is given to Abraham that kings are going to come from you. In Genesis 4 and 9 is going to be a kingship established based upon the Abrahamic covenant in the tribe of Judah and of course in Samuel we will find out it's in the family of David. So if Israel becomes like Sodom and Gomorrah and God deals with Israel like Sodom and Gomorrah what happens to the Abrahamic promise? It too is obliterated, it's gone. So within his greater canonical context we see that yes we are reading this history to be reminded that God is in control and even directing this history to his ultimate end which is to bring kings out of the line of Abraham's going to be through David because I was already thinking about the ultimate Davidic king who is going to come out of the depths of Israel's depravity as well. And remember I pointed out that the Abrahamic promise is a great reminder to Israel in exile. We've already seen that in Psalm 105, 106 we'll see it again in the book of Esther at the end of, toward the end of this course and that also reminds us that this is going to be Israel's hope during the extreme of God's punishment upon them because of their sin that they might come to know the Lord according to Ezekiel when we get there so that in the depths of their judgment during the day of the Lord they also will be reminded of God's graciousness and compassion because of the Abrahamic covenants and the ultimate fulfillment of the covenant is still to come. So judges plays a very, very important role biblically. Now when we come to, so let me get to my purpose statement, I just try to bring it together. The failure of Israel during the period of the judges and their failure is, is idolatry which leads to greater and greater abominations. You almost have a repeat of Leviticus 18 and 19, the abominations of the Canaanites that become prevalent among the people of Israel, this failure during the period of the judges demonstrated Israel's need for a righteous king. That the nation needed what in prototype was seen in the judges which is a deliverer who can lead them in the righteous ways of Torah. And the design for the judges themselves which never becomes a reality during the period of the judges, alright, God now is going to start to move in what we see in Samuel to bring about that next step of messianic movement that the latter prophets will anticipate what took place in the past, again being a prototype of what God is going to do in the future. Now literary structure, the only debate is where the divisions should be placed. The fact that we have a three-fold structure in the book of judges, can I put it this way gentlemen is seen by all. Again, right after the purpose on page 292, Rooker gives you an outline that reflects the structure of the book and it begins with Israel's failure, continues with the cycles of apostasy and deliverance that concludes with these narratives which show the depths of the failure of Israel. Alright so the fact you got three major divisions, no debate, you're going to take a look at commentary, after commentary, after commentary, this three-fold division of the book is so clear that even your four-year-old daughter can figure that out. Alright, that it's clear you've got a narrative introduction, a cycle that takes place primarily around these six primary judges and then you've got these two narratives which reflect on the circumstances that characterized the period of the judges. But Rooker takes a more traditional approach, seeing the first division going from 1-1 to 3-6 with two sections, one ending in 2-5 and of course the second ending in 3-6. Then you come to my chart and I agree I am in the minority because I see the beginning, the introduction, the narrative of Israel's disobedience, I would see chapter 1 is dealing with the military aspect, chapter 2 as a whole is dealing with the religious aspect, chapter 3 verses 1-6 then just becomes an introduction, not only to Othniel but an introduction to the six cycles of these primary judgeships of Israel's deliverance during the period of the judges and by the way the pattern of Israel's experiences, this is my way to show the downward spiral. So this was not a mistake on the outline. Things are going down as you read this narrative. And though there could be a discussion about where it begins, whether 3-1 or 3-7, nevertheless everyone would see the fact that this is where the heart of the narrative is found and then in chapter 17 through 21 we now have the epilogue and I get my D's, Israel's disobedience, Israel's deliverance through the judges and to keep the D's Israel's dereliction, that was the worst term I could come up with, with a D. So there are derelict people, a better term might be an abominable people, a perverse people, a Canaanite type people. But dereliction is my D so there you go, I'm a preacher so I've got to figure out an alliteration. Now it is significant and I give you the chart before the outline. I'm not the first one to see this and I'm not the last one. There's my notes and the notes of the first chapter. And I'm going to read them all. You will notice the same structure that is given to you on page 293 of the World and the Word. So again commentators agree that we see echoes, echoes between the judgeship of Neal and Samson which interestingly are the two which have a particular emphasis upon their wives, their women. By the way, Neal obviously having a virtuous wife, Samson having a Philistine wife and then a Philistine woman that will lead to his destruction. Ahud and Jephthah both who have messages to a king, both who slay at the fords of Jordan where the Barak and Abimelech who both have a narrative of death by a woman. Now Barak is not but the death by the woman but Sisera the general of the Canaanites is. This was a shameful act to take place in Israel and among the Canaanites. And the general of the Canaanites is directly put to death by a woman. So both narratives significantly feature this death by a woman narrative and then in between we have Gideon. Now this base of the story is the story of the death by a woman. And it's a very interesting story. And I'm going to end by saying that in between we have Gideon. Now this basic chiasm, echoing is further developed by David Dorsey and his literary structure of the Old Testament. And tying in what is said about Othniel is introduced in chapter 1 in the narrative of Judah's battles and them being the first judge in 3, 7 to 11. Alright we see more echoes between Othniel and then Samson and basically all Dorsey does, I've just given you some essential elements of echoing, he brings up even more. And again this has been shown again and again by different commentators on the book. Which then leads to this narrative in chapter 6 to 8. The second longest narrative section in the book dealing with Gideon, the only one that is longer is the one dealing with Samson. And Gideon well has a most interesting character. And Gideon is a very interesting character. And Gideon is a very interesting character. He really doesn't want to be a judge, he does everything he can to get out of being a judge. And finally gives up and follows the Lord. Follows the Lord completely in battle but then starts to have temptation and in fact begins the process among the judges of starting to fight against his fellow Israelites. Interestingly somebody was picked up by a Jebhtha's account as well. And so to use Dan Block's famous statement of an article he wrote, will the real Gideon please stand up? Now we know from Hebrews 11 he is a man of faith. But he is not a man of unsullied faith. But then nor was Barak nor are Jebhtha and Samson. But certainly there is a movement and then his son Abimelech becomes a negative example, everyone recognizes that. And ultimately Jebhtha and Samson though used to deliver, and actually never really become a man of faith, but they are not a man of faith. And some judges of Israel leading them in righteousness. That way we say the evaluation is negative. I like to put it this way, they are the best of what Yahweh had in those generations. And of course as Israel is getting further and further away from the Lord, the judges also are getting further and further away from the Lord's standard in Torah as well. Yes these are men of faith and they are men of Yahweh, but they are the best available to Yahweh in those given situations. The stock is getting lower and lower that he can use for his purposes. Now getting to the outline of judges, and I have modified this a little bit to make sure you can get the situation. What I call the tribal situation, the incomplete conquest by Israel, followed by the religious situation, the idolatry of Israel, and the again at this point you can take a look at page 293. And Ruker gives, and we use his divisions here are mine, same basic thrust that we have in chapter one the farthest in the world, and he gives the same basic thrust that we have in chapter two. And Ruker gives foreign wars of subjugation with harem being applied, that is to the Canaanites. Already seen some of those echoes. Who will go first? Judah. Chapter one and again in chapter 20. But then when we get to 20, 21 we have, and this really should start in 19, civil wars with the harem being applied. Now it's being applied not to the Canaanites, it's being applied to the Israelites. It's a whole tribe that is put under the ban and devoted to destruction. So we see very definite echoes because we're dealing with military conflicts and their outcomes. And in both cases the outcomes are not beneficial for Israel. In chapter two we have the difficulties with religious idols, with idolatry. What do we have in chapter 17 and 18? We have a narrative dealing with the establishment of religious idolatry within a whole tribe of Israel. It begins in a family and ends up in the whole tribe of Dan. We have a whole tribe by the third generation dedicated to the worship of idolatry within Israel. That's how bad things get. By the way, it's the tribe of Dan. Which judge came from the tribe of Dan? No implication, he himself was involved in idolatry. But who comes out of the weakest tribe of Israel during the period of the judges? Samson. Keep those things in mind as you are reading. But this is just a simple, simpleization as you get into the material on Judges you will see, and even Dorsey if you wanted to read his comparisons and contrast between the first two chapters and the last five chapters of the book. It is significant then that after this introduction we have the historical cycles and the idea with the different judges and their opponents. And then we've already talked about in the appendix how we have inverted the echoing of chapters one and two. Now religious narrative comes first, the idolatry narrative, and then the military narrative which obviously has religious overtones too because it's a Levite and his concubine. Not a very flattering Levite. These are the men who had two functions. A Levite was to help the priests at the tabernacle and by the way notice that there is really no priestly or tabernacle narrative given to us in Judges. The priests are absent. We only have one prophet, chapter 10, who is a man of God who does call Israel to repentance and they do repent. That's the one place we see repentance on the part of Israel. So certainly prophetic ministry was rare during the time of the Judges. We have priests, we have Levites, but they certainly don't play a predominant role in the narrative. And when we finally do get a Levite, it was when he went to the central sanctuary supposed to help the priests with the offerings and was scattered throughout Israel to be a testimony to the Torah. Whoa, you read chapter 19 and 20 and we don't have a very good example of Levite ministry during the period of the Judges. So what these last narratives and Judges are preparing us for is basically the whole breakdown of the structure. The Judges are not who they should be. The priests are not functioning as they should. By the way that prepares for Eli and Samuel. We finally will have a priest who is a judge and as you read the first three chapters and you read about his judgeship, chapter 4 with the taking of the ark and Eli's death, again not a very good representation for the Lord within the priesthood. And then you get Samuel being raised up as a prophet because the war of the Lord was rare in those days. Prophecy was not very well known. And so you got these instruments of the way in which the Lord was to function as king and leader within Israel and you've got a decline in the Judges, you've got a decline in the priesthood. We have no prophetic ministry that is emphasized until we get to Samuel. These are sad days as far as Israel is concerned. And it is interesting that this book which speaks about the religious and social disintegration of Israel is so highly supported by the Bible that we might have a few discussions on exactly where divisions begin and end. But the structure is so clear that just reading it through a couple of times the structure becomes very, very evident. In other words, the Bible is so clear that it is so clear that it is so clear that just reading it through a couple of times the structure becomes very, very evident. In other words, you've got a book that comes from the Lord that shows coherence and structure that narrates a nation that was falling apart. Do you see the irony? The narrative is about disintegration, but the order is the structure, the literary structure of the book emphasizes order. In other words, no matter what you read in the narrative, God has not lost control. So the structure plays a very, very important part in the book and in its narrative because you're going to be tears are going to be coming down your eyes as you're reading the individual narratives and then you step back and look at the book as a whole and you realize your tears are wiped away because God never lost control during the whole period of the judges. So the structure plays a vital role. Well, it does in every book, but particularly here in the book of judges. We've got to have the same phenomenon and lamentations, but here is Jeremiah lamenting, weeping over what has taken place in one of the most highly structured books of the Old Testament just like judges. In the midst of calamity, there is still order because God is still in control. You see that just like lamentations, judges communicate in the same way. As you really get it, you realize don't lose your confidence in Yahweh. Now, if Block and Webb and others are right and younger and Davis, that our contemporary Western culture is best represented by what is taking place for Israel in Israel in the book of judges, why should you just rejoice in the structure? Because in the midst of calamity and disintegration all around us, what should you remind of as you're reading judges? God has not lost control. There's still an order behind all the disorder that we see. I was having breakfast looking at Sibelius giving her testimony, and of course those of you who are going to watch this now on tape, this might be ancient history by the time you watch it, but she was giving her testimony about all the calamities that have happened to the website. Everything's gone wrong. And I thought, what a great illustration of our whole society. Our whole society is like the website. It's one catastrophe after another. It's just one calamity after another. And the best minds can't put it back together again. I thought, you know, what a wonderful metaphor, what a wonderful picture. And so she's here, I'm sorry, we're doing the best we can. And I'm going, yeah, well, that's always, you know, clam after clam, we're doing the best we can. But you know what? God's in control. The computer might be down, but God is in control. That's what you get. And I thought, what a wonderful way to prepare for teaching judges this morning. So there you go. That's how I thought. By the way, I was meeting with others. I didn't have any choice what was on the TV. I just had to listen. Well, Lord, you have a reason for me listening to this. It's getting me ready for teaching judges. All right, well, bibliography. And notice now I've added a second star. This has been updated since what you downloaded. The new work by Barry Webb in the NICOT. Reading it, and he gives high accolades to the discussion by Dan Block in the NAC as well. I would still say Block maybe still has the better discussion. That's the best I can say. And I just read through the introduction last night of Webb. Certainly has a lot that you can fill in for Block. This point would be hard pressed. I still think probably the first read for you is better with Dan Block's NAC, which is first and foremost written for preachers, although Dan Block can never do something simple. It's always very, very detailed exegetically. But as Webb says, his commentary is simple, but he's got a lot of material in his footnotes for scholars. Webb also has sought to write, not so much for pastors like Block, preachers, but for those who just want to study, you're again educated layman and puts a lot of his technical material in footnotes as well. But I think you're going to find a lot of benefit by reading Block first and then filling in information that's also in Webb. And Trent Butler's work on Judges I believe is stronger and better than his work on Joshua, although again, still a little more tins with some of the liberal ideas and I would want an evangelical, but certainly less of that here in his biblical commentary than was in Joshua. And then again, Dale Ralph Davis' outstanding exposition, Judges So Great a Salvation. And then Kent Younger's work in the NIVAC is also very, very good work based upon more of a Blockian type of exegesis and then he also talks about contemporary application. And you're going to find these commentators basically on the same page as the meaning of Judges and his contemporary application. In fact, their coherence is, well you'd almost think it was something of the Holy Spirit. And I think we'll convince you of the importance of the book and the importance of preaching the book. So these are excellent resources, as I said, all have been published in the last 22 years. Every one of these books, Butler just came out three or four years ago, Webb has just come out in the last 18 months, etc. So these are now fine resources. You have no excuse for not preaching Judges. Now what are the other two major interpretive issues of the book? And again, the chronological problem is dealt with in the world and the word. It's also dealt with in your reading in about five pages of Merrill's work, 166 to 170. Those five pages he introduces you to the problem. And 291 for the world and the word. In another book, the chronological problem is dealt with in a nutshell. I've given you a chart. Here's the problem. The problem is as you go through the book of Judges, you begin obviously with the death of Joshua and then the elders who came after Joshua. So approximately 30 to 40 years after the conquest began, 1406 to 6 BC, we're looking at the end of that era and the beginning of the third generation, which is the beginning of the period of Judges. All right, in the book of Judges, we have the primary Judges and indented, I've also placed based upon the narrative, the secondary Judges as well. I've also given you the tribes from which they came. And by the way, notice that in most cases we know from which tribe these Judges came. Their first identification was with their tribe, not necessarily with the nation of Israel as a whole, as we've brought out going back to Exodus chapter 18. I've also placed the oppressors that God raised up against the six primary Judges. And then the years of oppression followed by the years of rest after the military victory by the specific Judge. Adding the years of oppression, the years of rest, and adding them together we get a total of 410 years. But as I've said, the institution of Judgeship continues in the early narrative of Samuel through the first seven chapters. And we have two more Judges, Eli and Samuel, both interestingly from the tribe of Levi. And in Eli's case, we have an indented Judges, and we have a indication of how long he was a Judge. In Samuel's case, we really have no data given to us, but we would assume that with Eli and Samuel we are dealing with at least 60 plus years, which added together equals about 490 years if the Judges narrated in Scripture are to be seen as coming in consecutive order. Alright, and here is the problem from our knowledge of extra biblical chronology and even biblical chronology. 480 years of 1 Kings chapter 6 verse 1. And then even going back, fourth year of the first year of the second of Solomon, following a 40 year reign of David, following a question mark, we don't exactly know how much was Saul, but most would say somewhere between 20 to 40 years, which leads to the kingship of Saul beginning, I would say taking the 40 years at about 1050 BC. Alright, and then we've got to, alright, already at 1050 BC, we continue on to add back the 480 years as we've seen to the Exodus 40 years after the conquest, 1406 BC, probably a good starting point as we've said for the period of Judges around 1375 BC. We have 300 and 25 years for the period of Judges, but we have about 490 years given within the text. Now remember we got the number of 325 from Scripture, the 480 years between the Exodus and the beginning of the temple. Alright, and so what we have to realize is that the Bible itself has given us this chronology, it's not extra biblical data, but what do we do with the period of Judges? Well, the book of Judges itself shows us that we should not necessarily take everything in strict chronological sequence. Take a look at chapter 3, 31. After him, after Ahud, came Shamgar, who struck down 600 Philistines with an ox goat and he also delivered Israel. So as a military deliverer, nothing is said about any kind of judgeship which follows. So when did this take place? Notice chapter 4 verse 7, then the sons of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord after Ahud died. So Shamgar, and I know years are given for him, but in some way he's added but he's not part of the consecutive narrative. Shows in some way that maybe this kind of narrative came during the years of Ahud. Now that is true of the first of the secondary judges, maybe the same thing is true as we get to Tolar and Jehor, etc. That their years also are in some way combined with these other primary judges. And even the last two primary judges, can I put it this way, that seem to have the same starting dates as far as the oppression and then their ministry is concerned. Notice in chapter 10 verse 6, familiar refrain, the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord after Ahud. Notice chapter 7 verse 7, the sons of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord and the anger, verse 7, of the Lord burned against Israel and he saw them into the hands of the Philistines and in the hands of the sons of Ammon. So his response to this idolatry was both, well the Ammonites and the Philistines. The Ammonites to the east, the Philistines to the west. Interestingly Jephthah is going to become the judge who is raised up to bring deliverance from the Ammonites. Samson will be raised up in chapter 13 and following to begin the deliverance from the Philistines which actually is going to be completed by Samuel when we get to 1 Samuel chapter 7. So it would seem going back to our chart that the 15 year, the 18 years of oppression before Jephthah comes upon the scene and the 40 years of oppression before Samson comes upon the scene begin in the same year. There is an overlap. At the same time because of their sin he was in the hands of the Ammonites for 18 years and was also in the hands of the Philistines for 40 years as well. This again gets us to a realization that what the judges did was for the benefit of all Israel but primarily first and foremost they were deliverance for whom? Their individual tribes. And Jephthah and Samson have an impact, come from different tribes, have impact upon different tribes within Israel. Obviously what they do brings a benefit to the whole nation. Which means and there is multiple solutions depending upon where you look. Three different solutions, the MacArthur Study Bible and the chart of background and chronology of the Old Testament and Merrill's Kingdom of Priests. When the period of the judges begins, how exactly they see the overlap and you know put it together. Kitchen and I got to show you this because kitchen takes a late date so he really has an overlap. This is the chart that he gives and notice for him the period of judges all begins in different places right around the period of 11, about 1180 to about 1140, 1130 BC. And so he broadens everything. You've got what's taking place in the south and the center and the north and the east among the different tribes and he plots all of the judges and says when you start to see this overlapping I can get all the judges not only in 325 years, he basically gets the whole of the judges in about 175 years. But once you've got overlapping judgeships you can overlap them. Now I'm going to show you this because I think his basic chronological scheme is not accurate and even Webb, I was surprised. I thought Webb being British educated I was going to assume he was going to be a late datist and interestingly he said on the base of biblical data he leans also toward the early date. Amazingly here's a guy who has been schooled in late date for the Exodus and writes his commentary and says when you put it all together it seems chronologically the best sense is made of the early date after all. So there you go. That should bring rejoicing to your heart for the rest of the week. Alright so the solution is overlapping judgeships and I'm not going to commit myself to an exact chronology. I'm not sure we can put it together with the data we have today both biblically and extra biblically. But I do believe the period the judges in judges is between approximately 1375 to right around 1065 to 1050 BC. How close Sampson and Samuel overlap I don't know but certainly this is where the period of the judges is approximately 300 to about 310, 315 years.