A Brief Overview Of The Judges

Before he died, Joshua urged Israel to keep trusting God and obeying His commands, but they didn`t. After Joshua died, "every man did what was right in his own eyes". They would forget God, the enemy would severely oppress them, they would cry out to God for help, and God would raise up a deliverer (Judge) to free them of their misery. This was the sad pattern for the Israelites for almost 400 years. The main deliverer-judges were: Othniel, Deborah, Gideon, Jephthah, Samson, Eli, and Samuel. (Ruth also lived during this period). Probably the most important person in this era was Samuel.