<P> Biblical scholar Kenneth Kitchen argues that, from the conquest of Canaan by Joshua until the formation of the first Kingdom of Israel and Judah (ca . 1150--1025 BC), the Israelite tribes may have formed a loose confederation . In this conception, no central government would have existed but in times of crisis, the people would have been led by ad hoc chieftains, known as judges (shoftim). However, some scholars are uncertain whether such a role existed in ancient Israel . </P> <P> Working with the chronology in Judges, Payne points out that although the timescale of Judges is indicated by Jephthah's statement (Jdg 11: 26) that Israel had occupied the land for around 300 years, some of the judges overlapped one another . Noting that Deborah's victory has been confirmed as taking place in 1216 from archaeology undertaken at Hazor, he suggests that the period may have lasted from c. 1382 to c. 1063 . </P> <P> If "all the figures given in Judges (years of oppression, years the judges led Israel, years of peace achieved by the judges) are treated as consecutive, then the total duration of the events described in Judges is 410 years . If we accept a date of 1000 BCE for the beginning of David's reign over all Israel, which puts the beginning of Eli's leadership of Israel at about 1100 BCE, then the judges period would begin no later than 1510 BCE - impossible even for those who date the conquest to the fifteenth century BCE". </P> <P> There is also doubt among some scholars about any historicity of the Book of Judges . </P>

Who was israel's last judge in the bible