Judges

Historical context:
Starts with death of Joshua.
Irealites caught in reacurring pattern of disloyalty to God, followed by opression.
Isreal repents and God gives Judges.
Judges= National Military leaders.
In end, Idolatry, bloodshed and Civil war.
Throughout, harmony of Isreal is threatened by other tribal groups, and attempts for Kingship.

The book of Judges is a cyclical moral story. God tests the Israelites and every time they prosper, they forget god. To remind them of his power, God continually rewards them with success and then tortures them for forgetting him. The stories are so similar and repetitive that they become a little humorous, until the end. It is interesting how in the beginning of Judges, women are often the avengers, the ones who are able and willing to do the dirty work. But by the end of Judges, women are raped and cut up into little pieces. The pattern of the mythical creation stories seems to repeat itself within the book.