Key word: Failure
There is not a sadder book in all the Bible than Judges. After the great successes under Joshua, we find the next generation not only giving back all Israel had gained, but deteriorating to a new depth of depravity (2:10-11). One tragic account after another is compiled, although there were glimmers of victory and hope. As a matter of fact, there is a reoccurring cycle found throughout the book and its 350 years of history: the people rebelled, God judges their sin, they cry out for mercy, the Lord sends judges or leaders to deliver them, they repent, God restores and they sin and the cycle starts all over again.
While some of the most memorable stories in Scripture are found in Judges, such as Gideon and Samson, who gets Chapters 13-16 devoted to his life, most of the stories, even these two, are stories of failure for one simple reason: instead of meditation on the word of God and following it (Joshua 1:8), everyone did what was right in their own eyes (21:25, 17:6).
Key verse: Judges 21:25b – “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”
