W. Robert Godfrey

So we have Jephthah as a major judge, and then we have Ibzon, Elon, and Abdon, three minor judges.

And then Samson, the last.

So Samson is the culminating judge, the last judge of the 12.

And his story is the longest story of a judge in the book of Judges.

Only slightly longer than Gideon's, but a little longer.

And so we can really say that Gideon and Samson are the two most prominent judges, the ones most important in the telling of the story in a certain sense.

And so Samson is the 12th of the judges, the last of the judges in the book.

Now we know Samuel is a judge.

So the book of Judges we know is not exhaustive about the judges.

They don't necessarily mention every judge that ever was.

One way of looking at the book of Judges is as a series of snapshots

This is not a comprehensive history of Israel during the period between Joshua and Saul.

That's roughly the period it's looking at, but it's not comprehensive.

It's not telling us the whole history.

It's a series of family snapshots from around Israel because each of the judges is largely regional.

They're not ruling the whole country.

They're leading a section of the country usually.

So if you want a history of Israel in every detail, Judges is not the book for you.

And that immediately alerts us to the fact it's obviously not what God intended.

God is not giving us an encyclopedia full of interesting tidbits, which is the way you eventually ruin people's interest in history.