Summary of the Book of Judges

A collection of vocabulary terms and key figures from the Book of Judges, detailing the recurring cycles of apostasy, oppression, and deliverance in Israel's history.

Adoni-bezek

The king of Bezek who was captured by Judah and had his thumbs and big toes cut off, a fate he claimed God used to repay him for doing the same to $70$ other kings.

Othniel

The son of Kenaz and Caleb's younger brother who captured Kiriath-sepher to marry Achsah and later served as the first deliverer assigned by the Spirit of the Lord to defeat Cushan-rishathaim.

Bochim

A place meaning "weepers" where the Angel of the Lord rebuked the Israelites for making covenants with the inhabitants of the land and failing to break down their altars.

Joshua

The servant of the Lord and son of Nun who died at the age of $110$ years and was buried in Timnath-heres.

Ehud

A left-handed Benjaminite who delivered Israel from Eglon, king of Moab, by using a double-edged sword a cubit in length.

Shamgar

The son of Anath who saved Israel by killing $600$ Philistines with an oxgoad.

Deborah

A prophetess and the wife of Lappidoth who judged Israel from under a palm tree and commanded Barak to lead an army against Sisera.

Jael

The wife of Heber the Kenite who killed Sisera, the commander of Jabin's army, by driving a tent peg through his temple with a hammer.

Jerubbaal

The secondary name given to Gideon after he destroyed his father’s altar of Baal, signifying "let Baal contend against him."

Gideon's 300 men

The small force chosen by God to defeat the Midianites, selected because they lapped water from the spring of Harad with their tongues like dogs.

Abimelech

The son of Gideon who killed $70$ of his brothers on one stone to become king in Shechem and was eventually killed when a woman dropped a millstone on his head at Thebez.

Jotham

The youngest son of Jerubbaal who survived Abimelech's massacre and told a parable about trees choosing a bramble as their king.

Jephthah

A Gileadite warrior and son of a prostitute who defeated the Ammonites but sacrificed his only daughter due to a rash vow made to the Lord.

Shibboleth

A password used by the Gileadites to identify fleeing Ephraimites at the Fords of the Jordan; those who could not pronounce the "sh" and said "Sibboleth" were killed.

Samson

A Nazarite unto God from the womb, granted supernatural strength by the Lord to begin the deliverance of Israel from the Philistines.

Delilah

A woman from the Valley of Sorek who was bribed by the Philistine lords with $1,100$ pieces of silver each to discover the secret of Samson's strength.

Dagon

The god of the Philistines whose temple Samson pulled down, killing himself along with about $3,000$ men and women on the roof.

Micah

A man from the hill country of Ephraim who made a carved image and hired a Levite from Bethlehem to serve as his personal priest.

Danites

The tribe that stole Micah's carved image and priest before capturing the quiet city of Laish and renaming it Dan.

Gibeah

A city of Benjamin where worthless fellows abused a Levite's concubine, leading to a civil war that nearly destroyed the tribe of Benjamin.

Jabesh-gilead

The city destroyed by the Israelites for not joining the assembly at Mizpah, with its $400$ virgins given as wives to the surviving Benjaminites.

Shiloh

The location where the remaining Benjaminites were instructed to kidnap daughters of the city during a yearly feast to secure wives and preserve the tribe.