20:27. All this points to a time of local administration of justice, not total anarchy. Individual households and village assemblies administered justice or reached consensus on issues facing the community. It was their choice to heed or to ignore the rallying calls of the judges. Israelite social organization from the time of the exodus through the settlement period was based on the extended family. A man determined his lineage first by his father, then by his clan, his tribe,
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