8:1 his sons judges. Since Samuel was a judge in Israel as long as he lived (I Samuel 7:15), here is a specific case when there were contemporaneous judges in Israel; Samuel had a circuit, but his main “court” was in Ramah (I Samuel 7:17). His two sons served as judges in Beersheba, about fifty miles south of Ramah. This fact gives a clue as to why the chronology of the Judges period is so difficult to work out (over seventy-five different chronologies have been published). It is possible that at least some of the periods of rest and oppression listed in the book refer to simultaneous periods in different regions.

8:2 judges in Beer-sheba. Samuel was a “circuit-riding” judge, with his main “court” at Ramah, and the load apparently became so heavy that he assigned his sons to do his job at Beer-sheba, which was at the southern extremity of Israel. This proved a mistake; he should have waited for God to raise up any judge that was needed.