World English Bible · The judges
Judges 10
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After , the son of , the son of , a man of , arose to Israel. He lived in Shamir in the hill country of . 2He judged Israel twenty-three years, and , and was buried in Shamir. After him , the Gileadite, arose. He judged Israel twenty-two years. He had thirty sons who rode on thirty donkey colts. They had thirty cities, which are called to this day, which are in the land of . 5 , and was buried in Kamon. The again did that which was evil in sight, and , the , the gods of , the gods of , the gods of , the gods of , and the gods of the . They abandoned , and didn't him. burned against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of the and into the hand of . They troubled and oppressed the that year. For eighteen years they oppressed all the that were beyond in the land of the , which is in . passed over to fight also against Judah, and against , and against the house of , so that Israel was very distressed. The cried to , saying, "We have against you, even because we have forsaken our , and have ." said to the , "Didn't I you from the , and from the , from , and from the ? The also, and , and the Maonites, oppressed you; and you cried to me, and I you out of their hand. Yet you have forsaken me and other gods. Therefore I will you no more. Go and cry to the gods which you have chosen. Let them you in the time of your distress!" The said to , "We have ! Do to us whatever seems good to you; only us, please, today." They the foreign gods from among them and ; and his was grieved for the misery of Israel. Then were gathered together and encamped in . The assembled themselves together and encamped in . The people, the princes of , said to one another, "Who is the man who will begin to fight against ? He shall be head over all the inhabitants of ."
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The world at this moment · The judges, 1200 BC to 1050 BC ›
No central government and no standing army. The great empires are weak, which is precisely why Israel's troubles come from close neighbors: Moab, Ammon, Midian, and the newly arrived Philistines on the coast.
- Egypt
- Broken into competing power centres and no longer able to project force into Canaan. Its withdrawal is the single biggest reason this period has no imperial overlord.
- Mesopotamia
- Assyria exists but is dormant, hemmed in and looking east. The century that would have crushed a stateless Israel simply has not arrived yet.
- The coast
- The Philistines settle their five cities after arriving from the Aegean world, bringing Mycenaean-style pottery, a taste for pork, and an early advantage in ironworking. Further north the Phoenician ports of Tyre and Sidon start the trading expansion that will eventually give the alphabet to Greece.
- Further afield
- Greece has entered its dark age: the palaces are gone, Linear B is forgotten, and writing disappears from the Aegean for three centuries. In China the Zhou dynasty replaces the Shang in 1046 BC and issues the doctrine that heaven withdraws its mandate from unjust kings, an idea with an interesting resemblance to the book of Judges.