Judges

I. Introduction (1:1-3:6)

A. Efforts and difficulties in occupying Canaan (1:1-2:5)

1. Judah's efforts and failures (1:1-21)
2. Joseph's efforts and failures (1:22-29)
3. Zebulun's failures (1:30)
4. Asher's failures (1:31-32)
5. Naphtali's failures (1:33)
6. Dan's failures (1:34-36)
7. Israel's failure to obey God (2:1-5)

B. Life after Joshua (2:6-3:6)

1. Death of Joshua and his generation (2:6-10)
2. Israel's disobedience (2:11-15)
3. Summary of Israel under the judges (2:16-23)
4. List of Israel's enemies in Canaan (3:1-6)

II. First Series of Judges (3:7-8:32)

A. Ohniel (3:7-11)
B. Ehud (3:12-30)
C. Shamgar (3:31)
D. Deborah (4:1-5:31)

1. Enemy - King Jabin of Canaan (4:1-3)
2. Introduction of Deborah (4:4-5)
3. Deborah and Barak prepare for war (4:6-10)
4. An important note regarding Heber the Kenite (4:11)
5. Sisera, Jabin's general, prepares for war (4:12-13)
6. Israel's victory (4:14-24)

a. Defeat of Sisera (4:14-16)
b. Ja`el, wife of Heber the Kenite, kills Sisera (4:17-22)
c. King Jabin sudued (4:23-24)

7. Song of Deborah (5:1-31a)
8. Conclusion (5:31b)

E. Gideon (6:1-8:35)

1. Enemy - Midianites (6:1-10)
2. God's dramatic call of Gideon (6:11-27)
3. Gideon destroys an altar to Baal (6:28-32)
4. Midian prepares for battle (6:33)
5. Gideon prepares for battle (6:34-40)

a. Rallying the troops (6:34-35)
b. Sign of the fleece (6:36-40)

6. Gideon decreases size of his army (7:1-8)
7. Defeat of Midian (7:9-25)
8. Gideon placates Ephraim (8:1-3)
9. Gideon takes vengeance on Succoth (8:4-21)
10. Gideon creates an idolatrous snare for Israel (8:22-27)
11. Conclusion (8:28)
12. Death of Gideon (8:29-32)
13. Israel's disobedience (8:33-35)

III. Abimelech (9:1-57)

A. Establishes himself as a king through intrigue and murder (9:1-6)
B. Jotham's response (9:7-21)

1. Jotham's parable (9:7-15)
2. Jotham's speech (9:16-21)

C. His three-year reign (9:22-49)
D. His death (9:50-57)

IV. Second Series of Judges (10:1-16:31)

A. Tola (10:1-2)
B. Jair (10:3-5)
C. A second introduction (10:6-16)
D. Jephthah (10:17-12:7)

1. Enemy - Ammonites (10:17-18)
2. Introduction of Jephthah (11:1-3)
3. Israel asks Jephthah to help (11:4-11)
4. Jephthah negotiates with Ammonites (11:12-28)
5. Jephthah's vow (11:29-31)
6. Jephthah's victory (11:32-33)
7. Jephthah fulfills his vow by sacrificing his daughter (11:34-40)
8. Jephthah fights Ephraim (12:1-6)
9. Death of Jephthah (12:7)

E. Ibzan (12:8-10)
F. Elon (12:11-12)
G. Abdah (12:13-15)
H. Samson (13:1-16:31)

1. Enemy - Philistines (13:1)
2. Birth of Samson who is to be a Nazirite (13:2-25)
3. Samson falls in love with a Philistine woman (14:1-15:8)

a. Samson asks for the Philistine woman as a wife (14:1-4)
b. Samson kills a lion and later eats honey from the corpse (14:5-9)
c. Samson's riddle (14:10-14)
d. Philistines solve Samson's riddle (14:15-18)
e. Samson takes vengeance on Philistines (14:19)
f. Samson's wife-to-be given to his friend (14:20)
g. Samson discovers deception (15:1-3)
h. Samson burns the Philistines' fields (15:4-5)
i. Philistines retaliate by burning Samson's lovee and her father (15:6)
j. Samson avenges his love (15:7-8)

4. Samson continues to fight Philistines (15:9-16:3)
5. Samson and Delilah (16:4-22)

a. Samson falls in love with Delilah (16:4)
b. Delilah seeks the secret of Samson's strength (16:5-14)
c. Samson reveals his source of strength (16:15-17)
d. Samson is conquered and blinded (16:18-22)

6. Samson's death (16:23-31)

a. Final feat (16:23-30a)
b. Epitaph (16:30b)
c. Burial (16:31)

V. Epilogue (17:1-21:25)

A. Migration of Dan (17:1-18:31)

1. Micah and the Levite (17:1-13)

a. Micah places an idol in a shrine (17:1-6)
b. A Levite becomes Micah's priest (17:8-13)

2. Dan finds a new land and a Levite for a priest (18:1-26)
3. Dan secures an inheritance (18:27-31)

B. Destruction of Benjamin (19:1-21:24)

1. A Levite brings back a runaway concubine (19:1-21)
2. Crime in Gibeah (19:22-28)
3. Israel notified of the terrible crime (19:29-30)
4. Israel demands justice (20:1-114)
5. Preparation for battle (20:15-17)
6. War against Benjamin (20:18-48)
7. Rebuilding a tribe (21:1-23)

a. Israel mourns the near loss of Benjamin (21:1-7)
b. Jabesh-gilead destroyed to find wives for Benjaminites (21:8-14)
c. Wives for remaining Benjaminites taken from Shiloh (21:15-23)

8. Israelites return to tribal areas (21:24)

C. Conclusion (21:25)