Which Judge ruled the longest in Israel?

Answer 1

A:The longest unambiguously attested period of rule by a judge is forty years, the period that Othniel, Deborah, Gideon and Eli each ruled. There were 80 years of peace after the time of Ehud, but he is not attested as ruling for this period of time. Jo Ann Hackett (The Oxford History of the Biblical World, "There Was No King in Israel": The Era of the Judges) points out that the number of years of peace brought about by each of the major judges, or the number of years of their ruling, is a multiple of 20. In other words, these periods were assigned because they were easy for the tradents to remember when they recited the traditions of the Judges and passed them down orally to the next generation. We can not really say that the judges recorded in the Book of Judges all existed, or that they ruled in the same sequence as reported or for the number of years described.

Answer 2

A:The longest unambiguously attested period of rule by a judge is forty years, the period that Othniel, Deborah, Gideon and Eli each ruled. There were 80 years of peace after the time of Ehud, but he is not attested as ruling for this period of time. Jo Ann Hackett (The Oxford History of the Biblical World, "There Was No King in Israel": The Era of the Judges) points out that the number of years of peace brought about by each of the major judges, or the number of years of their ruling, is a multiple of 20. In other words, these periods were assigned because they were easy for the tradents to remember when they recited the traditions of the Judges and passed them down orally to the next generation. We can not really say that the judges recorded in the Book of Judges all existed, or that they ruled in the same sequence as reported or for the number of years described.