Biblical Literature, The role of the judges

Under these conditions, the successors to Joshua - the judges - arose. The Hebrew term shofet, which is translated into English as �judge,� is closer in meaning to �ruler,� a kind of military leader or deliverer from potential or actual defeat. In a passage from the so-called Ras Shamra tablets (discovered in 1929), the concept of the judge as a ruler is well illustrated:Our king is Triumphant