The book of Judges follows the book of Joshua in the Tanach (Bible) in the section called Early Prophets. Now that we have completed the book of Joshua in our weekly lecture series, we will be featuring weekly video classes on Judges.
The period is a difficult one for the Jewish people, Joshua has died and they are fragmented into tribes trying to sustain and consolidate their hold on the area of the Promised Land allotted to each.
They must do this without a central leader of the stature of Moses or Joshua, with hostile armies constantly attacking them and with the influence of local pagan worship taking its toll as they learn to keep the Torah Laws that will build their society with G-d's help.
The Judges are a series of leaders, each of whom rises for a period of years and acts to save the nation from its foes, those within and those without. The period is one of extreme ups and downs, with figures such as Deborah, Samson and Jepthah.
This week we are studying Judges chapter 2 dealing with
THE CONCEPT OF THE ERA OF THE JUDGES