1. Judges 1:22–2:5 (ESV)
  2. Structure and outline

The function of Judges 1:22-36 in the prologue

Judges 1:22–2:5 (ESV)

22 The house of Joseph also went up against Bethel, and the LORD was with them.

Judges 1:22 launches a new section of the prologue (Judges 1:1 – 3:6), taking the reader outside of the section on Judah (Judges 1:1–21). This new section, Judges 1:22–36, recounts the successes of the northern tribes of Israel, with a decreasing ability for such tribes to take possession of the land. This section is essentially bracketed by references to the the house of Joseph, in Judges 1:22–23 and Judges 1:35, with Judges 1:36 serving as a kind of appendix.1