Best Commentaries on Judges

Younger’s commentary is a reliable resource for readers seeking an introduction to the original meaning and contemporary significance Joshua. Longman notes that while this series usually majors in contemporary significance, this volume equally considers the text’s original meaning.

Cundall’s commentary is accessible to a wide range of readers, and it’s conservative in content. Longman points out that Cundall “argues for a conservative position on the historicity of Judges and Joshua, believing the two books give complementary, and not contradictory, perspectives on the conquest.”

Wilcock’s engaging commentary makes the story of Judges come alive again. Challies notes that this commentary is especially helpful for those who are reading devotionally and “seeking to meditate on Scripture while drawing personal application.”

Webb’s commentary is a helpful tool to pastors who are looking for a detailed verse-by-verse exposition of Judges. Webb seeks to faithfully employ a conservative hermeneutic when working with the text.

As a first foray into Judges, Dale Ralph Davis cannot be bettered. He marries attention to the text, rich pastoral application, and tasteful humor. While the material is accessible, there is also enough to stretch the serious reader. His writing can aid any preacher seeking to be anchored in the text but mindful of redemptive and canonical details in the biblical narrative. Mathison says that Davis’s writing is “very practical, but it avoids the kind of moralizing exposition that rips passages out of context in order to make some vague inspirational point.”

At more than 700 pages, Block’s commentary is as comprehensive as a single-volume commentary can be. Block comments on much of the literature on Judges preceding his own, making this volume a helpful resource for students seeking to get up to speed on the scholarly conversations about Judges.

The ZECOT is an excellent commentary series. The layout engages the reader is the various aspects of the exegetical task, from parsing individual words to syntactical and discourse analysis to reflecting theologically on the text. While the Judges volume is weaker on the latter, it is a super tool to aid engagement with the original Hebrew text.

Butler’s commentary on Judges seeks to faithfully narrate scholarship on Judges and persuasively put forth new content to readers. His contributions are generally conservative and theologically strong.

Niditch brings a surprisingly fresh perspective to the table by applying her knowledge of folklore and oral tradition to Judges. Longman writes, “While there is much of interest for the scholar even when one might disagree with her analysis, this commentary is not recommended for ministers and laypeople.”