Gideon of Judges 6–8 was regarded by the "critical school" as a composite narrative, combining Jahwist, Elohist and Deuteronomic sources, with further interpolations and editorial comments of the Second Temple period. Emil Hirsch alleged a historical nucleus in the narrative, reflecting the struggle of the tribe of Manasseh with hostile Bedouins across the Jordan, along with "reminiscences of tribal jealousies on the part of Ephraim" in the early period of Hebrew settlement, later conflated with the religious context of connecting Yahweh with the shrine at Ophrah. The core (Jahwist) narrative consists of Gideon wishing to avenge the death of his brothers,
The Tribe of Witches and that "[a]ny novice historical linguist" could have told the author that his "tribe of witches" was a "phantom". Furthermore, highlighting that "very few pages are free of basic errors", he describes Yeates' thinking as "muddled" and ultimately considered "The Tribe of Witches" to be a "shallow, muddled and thoroughly underwhelming book" of no use to the scholarly study of either the "Dobunni" or "Hwicce". Other peer-reviewed journals to publish reviews included "Oxoniensia" and "Transactions of the Birmingham & Warwickshire Archaeological Society". In a short review published in "British Archaeology", the magazine of the Council for British Archaeology, the landscape