Othniel: After not one but two extended prologues, we finally get into the stories of the judges. Othniel is the first of twelve judges, six major and six minor judges (Abimelech is an antijudge). The major judges’ stories are of varying length and complexity, while those of the minor judges can hardly be categorized as stories; they are more precisely brief notices, perhaps attached to an incident that is barely remembered. The major judges’ stories are clearly brought together within a common framework created by the Deuteronomic editor to drive home his message about Israel’s downward spiral of sin and God’s unfathomable and unfailing grace that meets their sin at every point.

One interesting feature of Othniel’s story is that we do not meet him here for the first time; we have already g…