© Charles Chandler

 

Synopses

Tanakh	commentary
Judges 2	1-5 tells of the Lord disfavoring the people, because they made a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and did not break their altars as commanded. Perhaps the covenant in question was the proposed marriage of Shechem & Dinah, and the order to break the altars of the inhabitants would have come in 1302 bce, so this passage comes some time after that.   6-10 tells of the death of Joshua son of Nun (i.e., Jacob, who died in 1274 bce).   11-15 tells of the people being given over to plunderers, who could have been the Hebrews, anytime in the range of 1329~1288 bce.   16-23 says that the Lord provided judges to deliver the people from the plunderers, but the people still wouldn't obey. So the Lord did not drive out the inhabitants of the land as he had promised, and instead left them as thorns in the side of the people. The first initiative involving judges was Horemheb's attempt to decentralize authority, to undermine the Atenists, beginning in earnest in 1312 bce, though this initiative could have been later.   The whole chapter is worded so vaguely, and so consistent with the general Deuteronomic style, that it could be just an introduction to the recurring theme, which later on gets more accurate, but at this stage, it's just some vague references to a covenant with the locals, and not suppressing their religions, whereupon they got plundered, and not even judges appointed by the Lord could save them.
Judges 3:15-30	Ehud defeated Eglon.
Judges 3:31	Shamgar took over after Ehud died.
Events
Numbers 22 Numbers 23 Numbers 24 Numbers 25:1-5	Balak, son of Zippor (a possible relation to Zipporah, daughter of Isaac and wife of Ramose?), conspired with Esau to get rid of the Hebrews.
Genesis 41	Joseph became an advisor to the pharaoh at the age of 30, which would have been in 1288 bce, and the pharaoh would have been Seti I.
Genesis 42 Genesis 43 Genesis 44 Genesis 45 Genesis 46 Genesis 47 Genesis 48 Genesis 49 Genesis 50	Jacob's clan moved to Goshen, beginning the Israelite captivity in Egypt, especially under the long reign of Ramesses II.
Genesis 38	Judah got his daughter-in-law Tamar pregnant with the twins Perez & Zerah. [The significance of this hasn't been determined. He would have been ~40 years old, to have a married son, and he was born in 1321 bce, so this would have been ~1281 bce, after the relocation to Goshen.]