Judges

After Joshua's death, Judah leads the conquest of remaining Canaanite territories with mixed success. Several tribes fail to fully drive out the inhabitants, setting the stage for future compromise and idolatry.

The angel of the Lord rebukes Israel for making treaties with Canaanites. After Joshua's generation dies, a new generation abandons God. The cyclical pattern of Judges is introduced: sin, oppression, crying out, and deliverance.

The first judges arise: Othniel defeats the Mesopotamians, Ehud assassinates the Moabite king Eglon with a hidden sword, and Shamgar strikes down 600 Philistines with an oxgoad.

Deborah the prophetess judges Israel and commissions Barak to fight Sisera's army. Barak insists Deborah accompany him. After Israel's victory, Jael kills Sisera by driving a tent peg through his temple.

Deborah and Barak sing a victory song celebrating God's deliverance. The song recounts the battle, praises the faithful tribes, rebukes those who stayed behind, and celebrates Jael's bravery.

Israel is oppressed by Midian for seven years. The angel of the Lord appears to Gideon, calling him a mighty warrior while he threshes wheat in hiding. Gideon tears down his father's Baal altar and asks God for signs with a fleece.

God reduces Gideon's army from 32,000 to 300 men so Israel cannot boast in its own strength. Using trumpets, torches, and jars, the 300 rout the vast Midianite camp in a divinely orchestrated night attack.

Gideon pursues and captures the Midianite kings Zebah and Zalmunna. He refuses the people's offer to make him king but creates a golden ephod that becomes an idol. Israel has peace for 40 years until Gideon's death.

Abimelech, Gideon's son by a concubine, murders his 70 brothers and makes himself king at Shechem. Only Jotham escapes and pronounces a prophetic parable. Abimelech's violent reign ends when a woman drops a millstone on his head.

Tola and Jair serve as minor judges for a combined 45 years. Israel again turns to foreign gods, and God allows the Ammonites and Philistines to oppress them. When Israel cries out and puts away their idols, God is moved by their misery.

Jephthah, a rejected outcast, is called to lead Gilead against the Ammonites. He attempts diplomacy first, then defeats Ammon. Tragically, he makes a rash vow that costs him his only daughter.

The Ephraimites quarrel with Jephthah for not calling them to battle. Civil war erupts, and 42,000 Ephraimites are identified and killed by their pronunciation of Shibboleth. Three minor judges follow: Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon.

The angel of the Lord appears to a barren woman from the tribe of Dan, announcing she will bear a son set apart as a Nazirite from birth. Samson is born, and the Spirit of the Lord begins to stir him.

Samson demands a Philistine wife from Timnah against his parents' wishes. On the way he kills a lion with his bare hands, and later finds honey in its carcass, inspiring a riddle. When his riddle is solved through his wife's betrayal, Samson kills 30 Philistines.

Samson takes revenge on the Philistines by tying torches to foxes and burning their fields. Captured and bound by his own people, the Spirit of the Lord empowers him to break free and kill 1,000 Philistines with a donkey's jawbone.

Samson falls in love with Delilah, who is bribed by the Philistines to discover the source of his strength. After repeated attempts, he reveals his Nazirite hair secret. His hair is cut, his strength leaves, and the Philistines capture and blind him. At a temple celebration, his strength returns and he collapses the building, killing more Philistines in death than in life.

A man named Micah sets up a private shrine with an idol and hires a wandering Levite as his personal priest. This episode illustrates the spiritual chaos when there was no king in Israel and everyone did what was right in their own eyes.

The tribe of Dan, seeking territory, steals Micah's idol and priest. They conquer the peaceful city of Laish, rename it Dan, and set up the stolen idol as their tribal worship center, establishing idolatry that persists for generations.

A Levite's concubine is brutally assaulted and killed by men of Gibeah in Benjamin. The Levite dismembers her body and sends the pieces throughout Israel to provoke outrage. This horrific event reveals the moral collapse of the nation.

All Israel assembles and demands justice from Benjamin for the atrocity at Gibeah. When Benjamin refuses, civil war erupts. After two devastating defeats, Israel finally prevails on the third day, nearly wiping out the tribe of Benjamin.

Israel grieves that Benjamin is nearly extinct but has sworn not to give them wives. They find solutions through the destruction of Jabesh-gilead and by allowing Benjamin to take wives from a festival at Shiloh. The book ends noting that in those days there was no king in Israel.