Editing Book of Judges (section)

=== Prologue ===
{{Further|Judges 1}}
The book opens with the Israelites in the land that God has promised to them, but worshiping "foreign gods" instead of [[Yahweh]], the God of Israel, and with the [[Canaanites]] still present everywhere.{{sfn|Spieckerman|2001|p=341}} Chapters 1:1–2:5 are thus a confession of failure, while chapters 2:6–3:6 are a major summary and reflection from the [[Deuteronomist]]s.{{sfn|Niditch|2008|pp=2–3}}

The opening thus sets out the pattern which the stories in the main text will follow:{{sfn|Guest|2003|p=190}}
# Israel "does evil in the eyes of [[Yahweh]]",
# The people are given into the hands of their enemies and cry out to Yahweh,
# Yahweh raises up a leader,
# The "spirit of Yahweh" comes upon the leader,
# The leader manages to defeat the enemy, and
# Peace is regained.

Once peace is regained, Israel does right and receives Yahweh's blessings for a time, but relapses later into doing evil and repeats the pattern above.

Judges follows the [[Book of Joshua]] and opens with a reference to [[Joshua]]'s death.<ref>{{bibleverse||Joshua|24:29|HE}}; cf. {{bibleverse||Judges|1:1|HE}}</ref> The [[Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges]] suggests that "the death of Joshua may be regarded as marking the division between the period of conquest and the period of occupation", the latter being the focus of the Book of Judges.<ref name = biblehub>[http://biblehub.com/commentaries/cambridge/judges/1.htm Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges] on Judges 1, accessed 9 October 2016.</ref> The Israelites meet, probably at the sanctuary at [[Gilgal]] or at [[Shechem]],<ref>following on from {{bibleverse||Joshua|24:1–33|HE}}</ref> and ask the Lord who should be first (in order of time, not of rank) to secure the land they are to occupy.<ref name = biblehub />