The amount needs to be compared with that of the other judge cycles. The background data regarding oppression covers two verses for Othniel (Judges 3:7–8; eight years of oppression), three verses for Ehud (Judges 3:12–14; eighteen years of oppression), three verses for Barak (Judges 4:1–3; twenty years of oppression), three verses for Jephthah (Judges 10:6–8; eighteen years of oppression), and one verse for Samson (Judges 13:3; forty years of oppression). Here in the Gideon narrative, however, it takes six verses (Judges 6:1–6), and describes a period of oppression hat is the shortest: seven years (Judges 6:1). This points up the distinctly negative characterization of Israel, even more so than what has been previously portrayed.¹