text · B0016
Sefer Shoftim ספר שופטים
The turbulent centuries between Yehoshua and the monarchy — the cycles of lapse, oppression, and rescue under the shoftim. The baraita of Bava Batra places its writing at the era's very end: Shmuel, the last of the shoftim and the prophet who anointed the first kings, wrote down the record of the age he closed. On the timeline the book therefore appears centuries after the events it narrates — the written Torah's library grows when an era ends and its prophet commits it to writing.
I. Who
- Hebrew
- ספר שופטים
- Also known as
- Shoftim, Judges, Book of Judges
- Era
- bible
II. When
- Traditional
- written down by Shmuel c. 2830–2880 AM per Bava Batra 14b–15a
- Academic
- part of the Deuteronomistic History; composition dated between the late monarchy and the exilic period
- Duration
- ≈52 years
- Precision
- approximate
IV. What
- Language
- Biblical Hebrew
V. How do we know
| Claim | Evidence | Confidence | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Shmuel wrote his book, and Shoftim, and Ruth" (שמואל כתב ספרו ושופטים ורות) — the baraita of Bava Batra assigning Shoftim to Shmuel. | rabbinic | ★★★★☆ | |
| Timeline placement c. 2830–2880 AM, within Shmuel's traditional lifetime; the events narrated span the earlier shoftim era (2516–2830 AM). The writing date is schematic, derived from the writer's era. | tradition reconstruction | ★★★☆☆ |