2.  Obscurity  of  the  Period  of  the  Judges.  The  ob
scurity  just  noticed  about  the  length  of  the  period  of  the
judges  extends  also  to  its  events.  These  events  were  re
corded  at  a  time  not  far  removed  from  their  occurrence,  and
hence  numerous  details  which  were  then  so  well  known  both
to  the  writer  and  his  readers  as  not  to  require  a  distinct  men
tion,  are  now  altogether  unknown  to  us.  To  this  first  cause
of  obscurity  we  may  add  another,  derived  from  the  fact  that
the  writer  of  the  book  of  Judges  intended  to  compose  much
less  a  history  of  the  period  than  a  thesis  in  which  he  would


14-8  OUTLINES    OF    JEWISH    HISTORY.
prove  by  some  well-selected  facts  that  Israel's  apostasy  from
Jehovah  invariably  resulted  in  national  misery,  whereas  its
conversion  was  invariably  followed  by  Divine  rescue  from
oppression  and  by  national  prosperity  (cfr.  Judges  ii,  1 1,  sq.).
Accordingly,  the  facts  he  sets  forth  are  not  presented  in  those
historical  circumstances  of  time,  place,  etc.,  which,  however
necessary  for  our  good  understanding  of  this  period  of  Jew
ish  history,  were  really  foreign  to  his  purpose.     But  the  main
cause  of  obscurity  will  ever  be  the  very  peculiar  government
of  the  Hebrew  commonwealth  during  this  same  period,  for
whilst  "  kings,  priests,  heads  of  tribes,  etc.,  offer  points  of
comparison  with  the  same  functionaries  in  other  nations,  the
judges  stand  alone  in  the  history  of  the  world  ;  and  when  we
think  we  found  officers  resembling  them  in  other  nations,  the
comparison  soon  breaks  down  in  some  point  of  importance,"
and  becomes  almost  useless  (KITTO,  Cyclopaedia  of  Biblical
Literature,  art.  Judges).
