View source for Judge (biblical)

== Functions and duties of a Judge ==
A biblical Judge had duties beyond those of a modern [[judge]], and even beyond those of a national chief justice. The careers of the judges of the [[Bible]] had three phases, and in each phase the judge discharged one of his three primary duties.

=== Conviction ===
The first task that a Biblical judge had to perform was to convict the people of their sins. The sin in question here was a national or collective sin: turning away from God and worshiping other gods. These other gods were usually the local agricultural and fertility cults that were rife in [[Canaan (land)|Canaan]], and included [[Baal]] and [[Asherah]], aka Ashtoreth, aka Astarte. The modern equivalent of this sin would be the elevation in the individual or public consciousness of any [[God-substitute]], or the elevation of [[human|man]] as his own god, as the "captain of his soul," as [[Timothy McVeigh]] described himself before he suffered execution.

A judge would measure his success by the genuine repentance of the people, and the demonstration of that repentance by their actions in putting away all their foreign gods and [[God-substitute]]s and serving the True [[God]] alone.

=== Deliverance ===
Once the judge had accomplished the first task, he could usually be sure of achieving the second. God always returned to deliver His people when they returned to Him. The deliverance, or liberation, was usually from a threat from a foreign power. The threat varied from raiding and pillaging to the exacting of tribute to actual invasion and occupation or, in the original case, slavery.

=== Administration ===
Once the judge had achieved deliverance, he would administer justice and keep the people focused on serving God alone for as long as he lived. This was a very difficult task, and not all of the celebrated Biblical judges performed this to Divine satisfaction. To be effective, the judge had to set a good example in his personal conduct in addition to judging cases fairly and honestly and in a Godly fashion.