Time frame of Phinehas in Judges 20:28

[RamistThomist]

In Judges 20:28 Phinehas is mentioned as still ministering, yet this material is at the end of Judges. Should this be read chronologically, which Phinehas was alive during Samson’s time, or should we see it as a general survey?

 

[py3ak]

I think it's not chronological. After exhibiting in narrative that only a Spirit-empowered man can deliver Israel, but that the right Spirit-empowered man has not come along yet, the material at the end of Judges functions to point out that while there is a problem of leadership, the people are pervasively corrupt.

 

[RamistThomist]

I think it's not chronological. After exhibiting in narrative that only a Spirit-empowered man can deliver Israel, but that the right Spirit-empowered man has not come along yet, the material at the end of Judges functions to point out that while there is a problem of leadership, the people are pervasively corrupt.

Yes, I don't think it is chronological, either. I think it is either a survey or a recapitulation.

 

[Scottish Presbyterian]

I think Judges 1-16 is roughly chronological, though it's possible some of the judges overlapped. But the events of Judges 17-21 all seem to be fairly early in the period, not subsequent to chapter 16.

Samson seems to have been a contemporary of either Eli or Samuel (given the Philistines being the principal enemy, and the fact that they were ruling over Israel at the time). That would put him a long time after Phineas.