Judges of Israel
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(Acts 13:20)—leaders raised up by God after Joshua to deliver and govern Israel. The encyclopedia’s traditional list includes Othniel, Ehud, Shamgar, Deborah and Barak, Gideon, Tola, Jair, Jephthah, Ibzan, Elon, Abdon, Samson, Eli, and Samuel. Eli and Samuel stand at the close of the broader period but are not narrated as judges in the Book of Judges itself. Paul’s “about four hundred and fifty years” in Acts 13:20 is punctuated differently among ancient manuscripts and translations, so it should not be made the basis of an exact chronology.