The Authenticity of the Book of Judges

This book is not a commentary as such on the Book of Judges. It is rather an examination into the question of the Book’s authenticity as an historical document.

It looks into the question of the Book’s early writing, and into its integrity and truthfulness as an historical record.

Of particular consideration will be the many microscopic details which will tell us either way if the Book of Judges is authentic or not. These corroborative details are the ones that the critics seem to miss all the time. They will happily disparage Judges, just as they do the rest of the Bible, with baseless allegations of late composition, error, misinformation, propaganda, or just plain fraud, whilst referring to each other for their evidence and authority. But they will not even attempt to deal with the finer evidences that shout the Book’s authenticity. That’s where this present study comes in.

The accounts of certain of Israel’s Judges will be examined. Each period of jurisdiction is documented in the Book of Judges, and these records were brought together (under God) when the Book of Judges was finally compiled – the period of the Judges being closed in the 11th century BC when King Saul began to reign.

These accounts will then be compared with whatever archaeology has discovered, including the contents of the Tell El-Amarna Tablets, a rich source of contemporary documentation that we have already encountered in our study of the Book of Joshua in this series.

The Tell El-Amarna Tablets are a source of immense embarrassment for the ‘higher critics,’ which is why they at first denigrate, and then steer well clear of them. I don’t blame them. If I were a critic, I’d do the same. But here, we don’t ignore them. We make full and fair use of their contents wherever and whenever they touch upon events and personages that appear in the Book of Judges.

So exactly when was the Book of Judges written? Is it as ancient as it claims to be? This book enables you to weigh the evidence for yourself.

Weight: 125g