Part 4: The judges and united monarchy

The Israelites of the central highlands were governed by chieftains – tribal leaders who delivered their people from oppression. In Hebrew they are called shoftim, which in English is usually translated as judges.

During the 11th and 10th centuries BCE, the Israelites often needed protection from violence, perhaps because their olive fields and vineyards garnered envy; or maybe just because human beings have a glorious history of being jerkwods and ransacking their neighbors. Whatever the reason, these people would band together during times of shared threat, often under the banner of a shofet.

Some shoftim were military leaders (Othniel, Ehud, Barak, Gideon, Jephthah); some were lone warriors (Shamgar and Samson); and some were prophets (Deborah and Samuel). Thus, a shofet is a term that covers a wide range of leaders who flourished in the period prior to the united monarchy.

At some point, the chaos and instability of living under these imperfect rulers became too much, and the Bible tells us that the people began clamoring for a king. More likely what happened is that a handful of these chieftans began winning greater military victories until finally, thanks to the success of what was basically his junta, King Saul was anointed king. This was effectively the birth of the monarchy.

The United Monarchy
The Book of I Samuel describes the transition of rule from the judges to the monarchic system. It is a monarchic system unique in the ancient Near East, for it is not absolute. Kings are not free to do however they wish, and they are bound to a higher power and morality, which is upheld by the prophets.

Saul was a sketchy king of dubious character, and it wasn’t until King David that the full potential of the monarchy was reached. What were once juntas becomes a full-blown standing army. The king resides in a “house of cedar,” which would be a substantial dwelling in those days. We see divisions of labor with the roles of priests and scribes. And a corvee’ and taxation system is established to support the growing bureaucracy.

What we know about this period from outside the Bible is very little, because the neighboring powers of Assyrians, Arameans, Egyptians and Libyans were preoccupied with their own wars. This might explain why the Israelites had the peace and independence to even develop a monarchy.

That said, there is reason to believe that there is some genuine historical accuracy to these books of the bible (Judges, I Samuel, II Samuel) – at least if you filter through the biases and assumptions made by the authors.

The books were written about 400 years after the events took place, but some of the content has been corroborated through archaeology and extra-biblical sources. This is clear indication that these books were based on earlier scrolls or records, which were lost after the Bible’s redaction.

The only extra-biblical mention of King David is in the famous Tel Dan Inscription dated to the 9th century. Found in the upper Galilee near the Golan, it refers to a “House of David” being situated in the southern part of the kingdom.


Another important extra-biblical source is a stele from the Egyptian Pharoah Shishak (945-924 BCE). The Shishak Relief in the Karnak Temple records his conquests in the land of Canaan, and mentions an astronomical phenomenon that enables us to date his expedition precisely to the year 925 BCE.

Amazingly, a parallel expedition by a king of almost the same name is described in I Kings 14:25, and archaeologists have uncovered destruction in several cities both the relief and the Bible record. What this gives us is what might be called “The Magic Trifecta”: three-pronged proof of a series of specific events.

Meanwhile…
Under the united monarchy, settlements in the highlands grew. Gezer, Megiddo and Hazor were the largest, touting double casement walls, fortified gates, large buildings and little domestic architecture. They also belie architectural influence from Syrians, Hittites and Phoenicians.

We see continued widespread worship of limited polytheism among the Israelites. Baal, the storm god, enjoys an upsurge in the north, and the Yahwists, who dominate the south, start to see this worship as problematic. A growing division between the two camps emerges.

Elijah and other radical prophets start ranting against Baal worship – although that story was written in the south, after the north falls to the Assyrians, so it’s hard to know how much of it is retroactive fault-finding. In both regions, archaeology shows that cults of all four gods are the common folk practice of the Israelite people.