Judges maps & timelines

Geographic Context

Judges ranges across the whole of the land Israel had failed to fully possess. The oppressions and deliverances are largely regional: Othniel in the south against Mesopotamian invaders; Ehud in the east against Moab across the Jordan; Deborah and Barak in the north, where Sisera’s chariots massed in the Jezreel Valley near the Kishon River and Mount Tabor; Gideon in the central valley against Midianite camel-raiders from the eastern desert; Jephthah in Gilead east of the Jordan against Ammon; and Samson in the southwest, along the Philistine border of the Shephelah near Timnah, Zorah, and Gaza.

The epilogue moves from Ephraim’s hill country (Micah’s shrine) to the far north, where the tribe of Dan resettles at Laish, and to Benjamin, where Gibeah’s atrocity provokes a civil war centered near Bethel and Mizpah. The tabernacle stands at Shiloh throughout, the nominal center of a nation that has largely forgotten it.

Timeline of Major Events

• c. 1375 BC - Joshua’s generation dies; the cycle of apostasy begins (chapters 1-2).
• c. 1370-1240 BC - The earlier judges: Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, then Deborah and Barak defeat Sisera.
• c. 1191 BC - Gideon delivers Israel from Midian; Abimelech’s brief, bloody kingship follows.
• c. 1100-1085 BC - Jephthah delivers Israel from Ammon; the minor judges lead.
• c. 1075-1055 BC - Samson judges Israel during the Philistine oppression.
• The epilogue (chapters 17-21) - Set early in the period, it portrays the moral chaos of the whole era: idolatry at Dan and civil war with Benjamin.