1 THE BOOK OF JUDGES A. The Writing of History in the Book of Judges THE FIRST concerns of a historian are with the identification and right evaluation of his sources. However, his decisions on these issues are inevitably going to be influenced both by the particular questions which he consciously brings to his subject, and also by the presuppositions which are part of his unconscious make-up; and to that extent it must be admitted that his results cannot be described as purely objective history.