The book of Judges presents two types of judges, usually designated by scholars as “major” and “minor” judges (Block describes them as “primary” and “secondary”11). Both designations connote things that are not accurate to the book’s narration. A more neutral designation is “cyclical” and “noncyclical” judges. It is important to remember that the functional distinctions between two types of judges should not be too sharply drawn.12 The differences seem to be primarily twofold: (1) in the use of the narrative framework of the cycle for the development of the plot of each major (or cyclical)
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