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,
Book of Judges The book concludes with two appendices (), stories which do not feature a specific judge: Despite their appearance at the end of the book, certain characters (like Jonathan, the grandson of Moses) and idioms present in the epilogue show that the events therein "must have taken place ... early in the period of the judges." Judges contains a chronology of its events. It is overtly schematic and, according to biblical scholar Jeremy Hughes, shows signs of having been introduced at a later period. It is unclear if any of the people named as judges existed. The basic source for Judges