We apologize for the poor audio quality. We are working to ensure this is not a continuing problem.
Speculative Timeline of the Judges (cont’d)
Tola, Jair, and Eli
There is not much to be said here that hasn’t already been said. Tola and Jair are contemporaries, one judging in Ephraim, the other in Gilead. They both arise after Abimelech. Tola saves Israel from someone we do not know, and judges for 23 years. Jair begins judging after Tola starts and judges for 22 years. This leads up to the rampant idolatry that brings on the Ammonite and Philistine oppressions.
Eli begins his judgeship twenty years before the Philistines begin their oppression. It is during this time that Hannah comes to Shiloh where Eli and the ark are and prays for a son at around Passover. Hannah’s prayers are answered, and Samuel is born and dedicated to the service of the Lord two Passovers later. Eli’s judgeship continues halfway through Philistine oppression where he dies after the ark has been taken by the Philistines.
From Jephthah to Samson and Samuel
Ammonite and Philistine oppressions begin at the same time. The Ammonites attack Gilead and the Philistines oppress the south and central areas. The Ammonite oppression only lasted 18 years when Jephthah beat them back. Jephthah did not have an age of rest because the Philistines were still at work down south. Ibzan and Abdon are judges against the Philistines, since one is in Judah and the other is in Ephraim. Elon is in the north, working in Zebulun, but it is unknown which enemy they faced if any at all. It is unlikely Philistia’s oppression extended that far north, but it is possible.
During Eli’s judgeship, when the Philistines first started their oppression, the Angel of the Lord appears to the wife of Manoah and to Manoah himself later on to tell them of the birth of their son Samson (Jdg 13). I estimate he is about 20 when he begins judging Israel, when he demands a Philistine wife (Jdg 14). Right before this happens, the ark of the covenant is taken by the Philistines and Eli dies. The ark floats around Philistia for 7 months, but is returned to Israel, and stays at Kirjath Jearim for 20 years—during Samson’s judgeship. Ibzan, Abdon, and Samson all soften up the Philistines until Samuel finally defeats them (1 Sam. 7). The ark will stay there for more than 76 years and will return to the tabernacle in the time of David. Samuel continues to serve as judge for 36 more years before Saul is crowned king, and some years after that until he dies (1 Sam 25:1).
Fig. 6 – Shown below now includes the judgeships of Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon. Much of this is speculation, though Abdon is likely not contemporary with Jephthah. Eli judges long before the Philistine oppression. Samson and Samuel are about the same age, both births announced to their parents at the same time. Samson softened up the Philistines before Samuel finally delivers Israel from them. Samuel judges all the days of his life (1 Sam. 7:15), about 36 years between deliverance from the Philistines and the reign of Saul.
I don’t understand how you can place so many judges with overlapping judgeships. The fact that they were contemporaries doesn’t mean they began their judgeships at the same time. You provide no evidence or rationale to support your timeline…
Much of this is opinion, and I fully admit I could be wrong. Of course, I think I do provide evidence and rationale, perhaps not in this lesson but in the lessons before it. So this seems to be the best fit that I could come up with. If you have a better timeline, I’d love to examine it! That said, I have come up with a written explanation more recently for why I put things where they go if you would like to see it in its entirety, covering Judges 3-16, 19-21; 1 Sam. 1-11:
——————————————–
While Job may have been the most mysterious book, Judges is the most confusing when it comes to chronology. If we take Judges 3–16 at face value, listing all the periods of oppression and the judges, including Eli and Samuel, we get 470 years. This, however, is far too long. Solomon reveals the length of time it had been from the exodus to the fourth year of Solomon as 480 years (1 Kings 6:1). With a forty year period of time wandering in the wilderness, an unknown period of time under Joshua, and the forty year reigns of both Saul and David, that adds up to more than 590 years. I believe Joshua’s time was about 40 years while the period of rest before Mesopotamian oppression was about 10 years, so add 50 years and you get 640—far too long.
One might try to resolve this by saying the periods of rest given in Judges are not to be taken literally. Given the repetition of numbers like 40, I think this is probably right. But then again, we are not given any other indication for how long these time periods ought to be, so we will assume the timing is literal. It can be resolved by realizing that the periods of oppression and the judges did not necessarily cover the entirety of Palestine and that some of them were contemporaries. The germination of this idea came from the Pulpit Commentaries (https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/tpc/judges.html).
But how much time do we have? For Joshua and Judges before the coronation of King Saul, we have the formula below.
480 (1 Kgs 6:1) – 40 (wanderings) – 40 (Saul) – 40 (David) – 3 (Solomon) = 357 years
Joshua had to be no younger than 60, so since he lived 50 more years, that leaves at least 307 years to play with (1356-1049 BC), though I think it’s closer to 317 (1366-1049 BC). You see my timeline for the judges to fit everything into these 317 years. As we move on, we will see why I have placed these events at these times.
So begins the period of the Judges. We notice that the Mesopotamians under Cushan-Rishathaim oppress the Israelites for 8 years (1356-1348 BC). Given the word “rishathaim” is translated as “double wickedness,” this is not likely this king’s actual name but an appellation. There were plenty of kingdoms in the area of Mesopotamia, so pinpointing who this is historically is not possible. Caleb’s nephew, Othniel rises up and beats back the Mesopotamians, ushering in 40 years of peace (1348-1308 BC).
Here I have placed Judges 19–21, though the last chapter is in tomorrow’s reading. While under Othniel’s leadership there were 40 years of peace, this likely refers to external affairs. The primary reason for placing this so early is it must be within the lifetime of Phinehas, Aaron’s grandson, since he was serving as the high priest after his father Eleazar’s death (20:26-28). It also cannot be much later because at the end of the story the tribe of Benjamin is devastated and Jabesh Gilead is destroyed. Both the tribe and the city would need time to recover their reputation and their numbers respectively before producing the nation’s first king, Saul, and before Saul could rescue Jabesh Gilead (1 Sam. 11). Ehud, the judge that follows Othniel, was also from Benjamin. His successful judgeship no doubt went a long way to building Benjamin’s reputation back up. In these last five chapters of Judges, the writer makes it clear the need for a king as he writes, “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (17:6; 21:25; cf. 18:1; 19:1). Then we can see what terrible things they did to have the Benjamites survive. Ehud then was the product of these events, able to rise up to deliver Israel from the Moabites.
Perhaps one of the most outrageous things I have done is to make Ehud and Gideon contemporaries, combining the periods of oppression by the Moabites and the Midianites. First, it wouldn’t be the first time these two peoples worked together against Israel. Regardless, there are several things to consider for this period of oppression. In carefully examining each of them, it is clear that not a singular nation was involved in many of them. The Amalekites, for instance, were involved in nearly all of them! In Judges 3:12-13 it is: Moab, Ammon, Amalek for 18 years. In Judges 6:3, it is: Midian, Amalek, and “the people of the East” for 7 years. The “people of the East” is a very generic term, but it typically refers to those who are in Mesopotamia. But this seems unlikely here as you see Gideon’s campaign against the kings of Midian. I think it may instead refer to Moab and Ammon, kingdoms who are east of Canaan, while Midian and Amalek are to the south. The problem is the Midianite oppression is only 7 years (1297-1290 BC), while Moab’s was 18 (1308-1290 BC). This shows that the Midianites joined the oppression later and ramped it up.
During this time period, there was great famine due to the Midianites’ plundering the Israelite farms and resources. As a result, Elimelech takes his family and leaves Bethlehem for Moabite country for ten years (c. 1295 BC). Then Gideon is called in the northern region to lead the Israelites to victory, while Ehud delivers the south from this oppression (1290 BC).
Next is the continued liberation of the northern and eastern regions by Gideon and his forces. Afterward, the land had rest for forty years (1290-1250 BC), while he creates a golden ephod that becomes an idolatrous stumbling block for the people, and he has 70 sons, including Abimelech, the son of a concubine.
During this period of rest brought on by Ehud in the south and Gideon in the north, Elimelech and his sons die in Moab, turning their wives into widows. Naomi and Ruth return to Judah and Ruth marries Boaz (c. 1285 BC). While I was initially putting this together, I noticed some people had linked the famine in Judges 6 with the one mentioned in Ruth. Then I noticed the same oppressors in Judges 3:12-13 and Judges 6:3, so I connected Ehud and Gideon. Then I thought it would be good to see the genealogy to see where it all fell into place, assuming no one is missing from the genealogy, and it just so happens Boaz and Obed are relatively early in Ruth 4:18-22. Everyone between Perez and Nahshon was born in Egypt. Salmon may have been born in the wilderness as he marries Rahab (Matt. 1:5). This makes Boaz the son of Salmon and Rahab, so Ruth must have taken place early in the period of judges. There may or may not be a huge gap between Obed and Jesse. If there is not a gap, then the average age for each father when their son is mentioned in the genealogy is born is about 97 years old. There is some hint that Boaz was an older man when he marries Ruth (Ruth 3:10). Jesse also is described as “old, advanced in years” at the time David slew Goliath (1 Sam. 17:12), having had seven boys before David. So, this genealogy merely confirms what had earlier been established. While the average age for Judah’s line between Salmon and David is 97, the average age for Levi’s line between Korah and Samuel is about 23 years old. This makes sense since this likely tracks the oldest son, while Judah’s is not required to.
Then Gideon dies and the Israelites spurn Gideon’s children and begin to fall to idolatry once again (1250 BC). Gideon’s son Abimelech rises up and names himself king of Israel for three years (1250-1247 BC), and the people weren’t quite so idolatrous. Abimelech eventually dies when he was standing too close to a tower and a woman dropped a rock on him, dealing him a fatal blow. Before he dies, he gets one of his men to kill him so that no one could say that a woman killed him.
In the north, after Ehud’s death (1210 BC) the Canaanites oppress that region under King Jabin in Hazor. This period of oppression lasted twenty years (1210-1190 BC). It was during these twenty years that Eli was born (1203 BC) and then the Philistines rise up in the south for Shamgar to beat back. The justification for putting Shamgar here is found in the description of the time period during Deborah and Barak’s song. At that time, “the highways were deserted, and the travelers walked along the byways … [and] village life ceased” (Jdg 5:6-7). This best describes a period of oppression. Then Deborah rises up, sets Barak up as general, and they run off Sisera and his army—particularly with the help of a woman and a tent peg. Eli’s birth will be justified when we talk about the Philistine oppression later on. For now, recall that he was 98 years old when he died (1 Sam. 4:15), so his birth had to be 98 years before the events of 1 Samuel 4.
The group of western invaders that historians call the Sea Peoples terrorized the area of Canaan c. 1185 BC, so their biblical counterparts, the more antagonistic Philistines, beginning to rise up not long before 1190 BC is plausible. After Deborah and Barak’s song, Deborah’s period of rest lasts for forty more years (1190-1150 BC).
After this and the time of Gideon and Abimelech, we read of two so-called minor judges, Tola and Jair. Hardly any details are given of their judgeships, but one thing to note is the length of their judgeships is given, but not a period of rest. There is also no mention of an oppressor at this time. Therefore, I believe that these judgeships are contemporary, with Tola judging in the western part of Canaan (1150-1127 BC) and Jair judging in the Transjordan region (1147-1125 BC). Tola is mentioned first so he begins first. Jair’s judgeship ends when the next period of oppression begins. During their judgeships Eli also begins his time as high priest and judge (1145 BC; 1 Sam. 4:18). He is the first high priest of Ithamar’s line to serve. It is unclear why the high priesthood jumped from Eleazar’s line to Ithamar’s, but it does switch back in the time of Solomon (c. 970 BC).
It is during this time that we read of the humble beginnings of the judge Jephthah. He was the son of a Gileadite and a harlot. He is not welcomed in his father’s house, so he joins a band of raiders in Tob.
Then the next period of oppression begins. Traditionally, we think of this as the period of Ammonite oppression, but Judges 10:7 informs us that the Philistines were involved as well. We determine when this began based on Jephthah’s speech in Judges 11. In vs. 26, he reveals that it had been 300 years since the Israelites conquered the Transjordan region in Numbers 21 (1407-1107 BC). This is likely a rounded figure, but it still works as an exact one. Since Ammonite oppression lasted 18 years, we count back to get a time when it began, 1125 BC. This is likely when the Philistines begin their oppression in Judges 13 as well. The Ammonites oppress the Transjordan for 18 years (1125-1107 BC), while the Philistines oppress Israel in Canaan for 40 (1125-1085 BC). Again, this fits remarkably well considering the Sea Peoples invasion just 60 years or so before.
I have linked the Philistine oppression in the first several chapters of 1 Samuel with the Philistine oppression in Judges 10 and 13. Note that at the end of Samson’s judgeship that he did not, in fact, deliver Israel from Philistine oppression. He certainly dealt the Philistines a serious blow, but it was only foretold that he would “begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines” (Jdg 13:5). I believe this was accomplished by Samuel in 1 Samuel 7 (vs. 13). This implies If Samuel is 20 by the time he begins to serve as a prophet in Israel (1 Sam. 3:19-20), then he must have been born around the beginning of Philistine oppression. We will consider this more later.
At around the same time that Hannah was pining for a son, the Angel of the Lord announces the birth of a son to Manoah and his wife (1125 BC). That son would be Samson. As we see, not every Danite moved north, but we see their struggles as they deal with the Philistines all around them. About nine months after these announcements, both Samson and Samuel are born (1124 BC). This, of course, assumes an age of 20 years when they both begin their work, Samson as judge and Samuel as prophet. During Samson’s judgeship, Samuel’s record is largely silent. It is passed over with a quick mention of twenty years in 1 Samuel 7:2. If you’re familiar with your Bible history, that would mean the ark of the covenant was not in its rightful place the entire time Samson serves as a judge. Still, when you read these together, the contrast between Samson and Samuel is all the more striking. Both were likely life-long Nazirites, but Samuel was dedicated for service in the tabernacle. Hannah would come every year with a robe for Samuel. At the same time, Eli’s sons were wicked priests, taking advantage of their position at the expense of the people. So a prophet comes and foretells of doom for Eli and his progeny.
We’re not sure how old Samuel was when he first began to receive revelations from God. The general understanding is that he was very young. I have suggested an age of 10 for these events (1114 BC). And that first revelation confirms the doom foretold to Eli not long before.
The Gileadites beg Jephthah to help and deliver them from Ammonite oppression. He does, but not without making a rash vow and angering the Ephraimites. This and the following take place in the 6 years of Jephthah’s judgeship (1107-1101 BC).
Samuel grows up and begins to serve as a prophet. After this, the priests, Eli’s sons Hophni and Phinehas, take the ark of the covenant into battle with the Philistines (c. 1105 BC). They lose it to the Philistines, and Hophni and Phinehas are killed in battle. When Eli hears about it, he dies at 98. Phinehas’ wife gives birth suddenly due to the stress of the news of her husband’s death, along with the death of her father-in-law and the loss of the ark. While the ark is in Philistine territory, it causes several plagues in the land, so the Philistines send it back to Israelite territory in the next chapter. In 1 Samuel 6:1, it says that the ark was in Philistine territory for seven months.
The Philistines send the ark back to Israelite territory, but the Israelites mishandle it and cause the deaths of many Israelites. So the ark stays in Kirjath Jearim for twenty years before Samuel arises to deliver Israel from Philistine oppression. But before Samuel delivers Israel, Samson begins to serve as judge (1105 BC).
Jephthah dies (1101 BC), but we also have several other minor judges mentioned: Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon. Again, just like with Tola and Jair, there is no indication who the oppressors are and there is no hint of deliverance or a period of peace. These were likely regional judges and contemporary. That said, Samson wasn’t much of a judge in the traditional sense, either. Samson was judging in the area of Dan (20 years), Jephthah was in Gilead (6 years), Ibzan was in Bethlehem Judah (7 years), Elon in the northern areas around Zebulun (10 years), and Abdon was serving around Ephraim (8 years). All these could have been contemporary with one another, though it seems likely that Ibzan and Abdon were not since they were both in the south and central region. This explains my placement for these minor judges. Since there is no hint of deliverance from the Philistines with these judges, I place them during the time of Philistine oppression.
The rest of our reading details the rest of Samson’s story. In my timeline, before the events of Judges 16, I have the birth of Saul (1089 BC). This comes from 1 Samuel 13:1, which is a damaged text. As a result, the various translations have wildly different variations. I have chosen the ASV for this, which I will explain later. It states that Saul was forty years old when he became king. That gives his birth year as 1089 BC. When Samson dies in the pagan Philistine temple, the year is 1085 BC, the same year Samuel rises up to deliver the people from Philistine oppression.
The twenty years of Samson’s judgeship was the same twenty years that the ark remained in Kirjath Jearim before Samuel rises up to deliver Israel. When he does, the Philistines are subdued, and he begins his circuit as a judge in Israel. He is about 40 when he begins this, and is about 76 when Saul becomes king. We are not told how long Samuel served as judge, but this gives a sole judgeship of 36 years. We could make his judgeship 40 years, since the beginning of this depends on the rounded figure given by Jephthah in Judges 11:26. Assuming Jephthah’s number is exact, at around 76, the people decide that Samuel is getting old and his sons are corrupt, so they ask for a king.
Since we have finished the Period of Judges, we ought to consider why I have made Joshua 30 instead of 20 at the time of the exodus. The primary reason is because we have completely filled the 307 years that are available for this time period. This would leave no period of peace after Joshua dies before the Mesopotamians begin their oppression in Judges 3. There are some places where we can squeeze a little more time (viz. with Tola and Jair), but only about a year or two. So I spread them out ever so slightly and allowed that time period to be about 10 years by making Joshua 30 at the time of the exodus. Of course, this is an approximate age and time.
Now we see the process of Saul becoming king of God’s people. He is anointed privately, then he is anointed publicly, then he proves his right to be king by delivering the people of Jabesh Gilead from the Ammonites. Then Samuel gives a speech at Saul’s coronation (1049 BC).
——————————————
Hope this helps! If you have any other more pointed critiques, please share them with us!