Shoftim

HEBREW ONLY The book of Judges presents a serious challenge to its readers. After the national leadership of Moses and Joshua, and before the leadership of the kings, the judges led the people. Surprisingly, centralized national leadership does not continue uninterrupted. Only when serious national problems arise, God sends a leader to solve the problem. The period of the judges is painted as a series of military and religious crises, and it is characterized by instability, ending with a period of anarchy. The return of national leadership is found only in the book of Samuel. What is the role of the period of the judges, between the two periods of centralized national leadership? Why was it necessary to pass from the leadership of Joshua to the leadership of the kings by way of the judges? What is the message of the book of Judges? In this book, bible scholar Professor Eliyahu Asis, offers answers to these questions, and a new understanding of the book of Judges and its purpose based on a close, careful analytic reading of its stories, which offer fascinating insights both on the period of Scripture, as well as on our own time.