It’s the start of a new study on a new book. Judges has some weird and wonderful characters and storylines. If you thought the bible was all nice and lovely and about holding hands and dancing in meadows…think again!

Judges was written about 1380BC. The books of Judges and Ruth go together (both supposedly written by Samuel). They aren’t law books (like the Pentateuch), they are part of the historical books.

When looking at history, there are 4 approaches ….

• STUDY OF PERSONALITIES
• STUDY OF PEOPLES
• STUDY OF PATTERNS
• STUDY OF PURPOSE

Which one did the book of Joshua fit in to?
When looking at the study of purpose, which is what Judges and Ruth does, there are 2 directions.
First is CYCLICAL, where time passes, but cycles and patterns appear (this happens 7 times in Judges) and secondly is LINEAR, where there is obvious progression from start, middle, and end (this happens in Ruth).