Page "Book of Judges" Paragraph 22

Scholars agree that the Deuteronomists ' hand can be seen in Judges through the book's cyclical nature: the Israelites fall into idolatry, God punishes them for their sins with oppression by foreign peoples, the Israelites cry out to God for help, and God sends a judge to deliver them from the foreign oppression.

After a brief period of peace, the cycle repeats.

Scholars also suggest that the Deuteronomists also included the humorous and sometimes disparaging commentary found in the book such as the story of the Ephraimite who could not pronounce the word " shibboleth " correctly ( Judg.

16 ).