04.09. Judges to Samuel

Judges to Samuel The time of the judges was a turbulent time for Israel. After the death of Joshua and the elders that outlived him, they did not fully obey the commands of God. The book of Judges chronicles the cycles of disobedience, oppression, crying out to God and then being rescued by God. During this time, especially towards the beginning, the Israelites were still living a more nomadic type of life as they had been accustomed to in the wilderness for 40 years.

Some archaeological evidence from the period includes:

• The Merneptah Stele has an inscription on it in which the Egyptian Pharaoh Merneptah describes a campaign, part of which states that the “Israel is laid waste and its seed (grain) is not¹⁸”

• There are a series of “letters” (Amarna letters) to Pharaoh Akhenaten that were discovered in Egypt that are dated to about the time that the Israelites were coming into Canaan. These make mention of a people named as “Habiru” that were taking over,^19,20 .

• The destruction of Hazor by Joshua (Jos 11:1-13 and Deborah and Barak (Jdg 4:1-24) is verified by archaeological evidence²¹.

• The destruction of Laish and immediate rebuilding (Jdg 18:7-30) is verified by the excavations of the site²²

• Eglon, a Moabite king possessed Jericho for a time. (Jdg 3:12-30) A building which appears to be the residence of Eglon has been found²³.

There are a few miracles recorded during this time

• Gideon was afraid and wanted to make sure that it was God that was commanding him. He asked for a sign using the fleece. God answered him and the first time the fleece was wet and the ground was dry and the second time the ground was wet and the fleece was dry. (Jdg 6:36-40)

• The angel of the Lord ascended on the flame of the alter. (Jdg 13:20)

• Water comes from the hollow that was split. (Jdg 15:19)

• While there are not any miracles recorded for Samuel, we do read

Thus Samuel grew and the LORD was with him and let none of his words fail. All Israel from Dan even to Beersheba knew that Samuel was confirmed as a prophet of the LORD. (1Sa 3:19-20)

• There is one event that indicates a couple of things in 1Sa 7:8-12. The first is that the Israelites acknowledged that God was the one who could save them from the Philistines. The second is that they acknowledged Samuel being able to intercede for them. God answered them and the Philistines were defeated.

The archaeological evidence, while not extensive, again supports the Biblical account for this time period. During this time period, the Israelites were to obey the law as recorded by Moses. When the Israelites turned away from God, and went after other gods and were oppressed as a result, they finally called out to God, who then raised up a deliverer for them.