Judges
BOOK OF, the 7th book in order of the Old Testament. It was named Judges because at the period to which it refers Israel was ruled by men of that designation (See JUDGE). It consists of five sections: a first introduction (i-ii:5), a second one (ii: 6iii: 6), the main portion or consecutive narrative (iii: 7-xvi: 31), the first appendix (xviixviii.), and the second one (xix-xxi.), Two authors seem to have been at work on it, each falling back on ancient documents. It has been always accepted as canonical. In the New Testament it is referred to in Acts xiii: 20 and Heb xi: 32.