Before Israel had any Kings, the tribes were governed by these “judges”…

First section:

⁃ Lots of Caananites were still present in the promised land that Israel failed to drive out

⁃ Eventually Israel starts to adopt all the cultural and religious practices of the Caananites

⁃ God allows Israel to oppressed by the Caananites

⁃ Eventually the Israelites would see the error of their ways and repent

⁃ God puts forth a judge to bring peace

⁃ Israel would only sin again

Second section:

⁃ The first three judges are Othniel, Ehud and Deborah who did a great job at “judging”

⁃ The forth judge is Gideon who started ok and defeats a huge army of Midianites with only three hundred men

⁃ Gideon had a nasty temper and murders a bunch of fellow Israels for not helping him

⁃ Gideon makes an idol from the gold he won in his battles

⁃ After Gideon dies, all of Israel worship the idol

⁃ The fifth judge is Jephthah

⁃ When things get really bad in Israel, the elders come to Jephthah begging for help

⁃ Jephthah won lots of battles against Ammonites

⁃ Jephthah vowed to sacrifice his daughter if he wins the battle

⁃ The last judge is Samson

⁃ Samson was promiscuous, violent and arrogant

⁃ Samson is strategically victorious over the Philistines but only at the expense of his own integrity

⁃ Samson’s life ends in a violent rush of mass murder

Third section:

⁃ An Israelite named Micah is introduced

⁃ Micah builds a private temple to an idol

⁃ The temple gets plundered by a private army sent by the Tribe of Dan

⁃ The Tribe of Dan steal everything and burn down the peaceful city of Laish and murder everyone

⁃ The book finishes off with Israel’s disturbing tale of sexual abuse and violence which leads Israel to its first civil war