Most small children who go to church and Bible class regularly can sing the song, which teaches them who the judges were during book of Judges. Bible class teachers may use the tune to “Ten Little Indians” or the tune from an old song called “Reuben and Rachel”.
Sheet music for the song “Reuben and Rachel” may be found here. I have spelled out each judge’s name like it is to be sung, therefore some will appear to be misspelled. Anywhere there is a hyphen, each syllable should be said almost as a separate word. Samuel’s name is the only one that is hard to fit in because it sounds like 3 separate words.
Judges Song
God sent judges over Israel
One brave woman fourteen men
They helped Israel fight their battles
Led them back to God from sin
Othneil, E-hood, Shamgar, Deborah
Gideon, A-bem-a-lech, Tola, Jair
Jepthah, Ibzan, Elon, Abdon,
Samson, Eli, Sam-U-el
Children should also be taught that there were other judges, not considered to be part of this era. Moses was the first, and he judged the people from morning to evening every day from the time of the Exodus through the wandering in the wilderness (Exodus 18:13-27). Kings and other rulers also served as judges (2 Samuel 8:15; 2 Samuel 15:2; 1 Kings 3:16-28; 1 Kings 3:10; 1 Kings 3:9; 2 Kings 8:1-6; Psalms 72:1-4; Matthew 27:11-26; Acts 23:34-35; Acts 24; Acts 25:11-12).The Levites and priests were given this duty in their cities after Canaan was conquered (Deuteronomy 17:9; 2 Chronicles 19:8; Ezekiel 44:23-24; Matthew 26:57-62). From the beginning, it had been the Heavenly Father’s plan for his people to have judges and not kings (1 Samuel 8:4-8).
–Beth Johnson