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| Introduction | |
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| Why Study the Book of Judges? | |
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| The Judges: The Characters, the Period(s), and the Book | |
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| What Were the Judges? | |
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| The Period(s) of the Judges | |
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| The Formation and Shape of the Book of Judges | |
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| The Book of Judges in the Context of the Canon | |
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| The Land | |
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| The Canaanites | |
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| Violence and Vengeance | |
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| The Role of Women | |
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| Humor | |
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| Theology in the Book of Judges | |
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| Commentary | |
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| From Joshua to the Judges | |
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| Judges 1:1-3:6 | |
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| Fighting and Smiting: The Canaanites Remain | |
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| Serving God or Serving Baal? | |
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| The Stories of the Judges | |
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| Judges 3:7-16:31 | |
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| Othniel: An Auspicious Beginning | |
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| Ehud: "A Left-Handed Man" | |
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| Shamgar: A Non-Israelite Judge? | |
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| Deborah, Barak, and Jael: Women to the Rescue | |
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| The Prose Narrative | |
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| The Song of Deborah and Barak | |
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| Gideon and the Question of Sovereignty | |
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| The Call of Gideon and Gideon's Good Start | |
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| Interpretation | |
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| "For the Lord and for Gideon": The Defeat of Midian and Amalek | |
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| Gideon's Turn for the Worse | |
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| Abimelech: Gideon's Violent Legacy | |
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| Tola and Jair: The Calm between the Storms | |
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| Jephthah and His Daughter: The Agony of Victory | |
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| How Much Can God Stand? | |
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| From Outlaw to Diplomat | |
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| Keeping a Vow, Killing a Daughter | |
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| Jephthah's Violent Legacy | |
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| Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon: An Interlude of Blessing | |
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| Samson, His Mother, and His Lovers | |
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| The Mother of a Hero, or the Mother As a Hero? | |
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| Lover Number One: The Woman from Timnah | |
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| Lover Number Two: The Woman of Whoredom at Gaza | |
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| Lover Number Three: Delilah and Samson's Fatal Attraction | |
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| Reflections: Samson and Culture Wars, Then and Now | |
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| Complete Deterioration and Terror | |
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| Judges 17:1-21:25 | |
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| Micah, the Levite, and the Danites | |
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| A Battered Woman and a Brutal War | |
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| Terror Reigns: The Levite and His Concubine | |
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| Civil War: From the Victimization of One to the Victimization of Many | |
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| Reflections: Chaos and Crisis, Then and Now | |
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| Bibliography | |
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| Commentaries and Resources for Teaching and Preaching | |
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| Literature Cited | |