The Book of Judges ends with the story of the fraternal war between Benjamin and the other Israelite tribes, following the ravishing of the concubine of a Levite at the hands of the people of Gibeah in Benjamin.
The narrative about the migration of the patriarchal ancestor of the Israelite nation emphasizes their origin in Mesopotamia and their subsequent association with Egypt, the two great riverine cultures of the ancient Near East. Ur of the Chaldees was the venerable city of the moon god Sin in southern Mesopotamia, Sumer.
According to an early tradition, there was an unsuccessful attempt to invade the land of Canaan from Kadesh-barnea in the south.
The Bible records two major conflicts between the Israelite tribes and the Canaanites of the cities in Galilee: the battle of the waters of Merom (Josh 11:1–15) and the battle of Deborah (Judg 4 and 5). In both accounts, the leader of the Canaanite league is Jabin, king of Hazor.
Three chapters in the Book of Judges (6–8) are devoted to the career of a hero – Gideon – from the central hills of Ephraim, from the clan of Abiezer, a branch of the tribe of Manasseh.
Attention is focused on Transjordan with the legend of Jephthah (Judg 10:6–12:7), a hero whose life reflects a number of themes from this type of literature, not only in the Levant but in the eastern Mediterranean in general.
The Family of Nations
The trade of Tyre
The satrapy “Beyond the River”; the Levant under Persian administration
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