Jotham’s Parable: The Trees Choose a King. When Abimelech slaughtered his seventy brothers to seize power, only one voice rose from the blood-soaked silence—Jotham’s. Standing atop Mount Gerizim, he didn’t rally soldiers; he preached a story.

Abimelech: The King God Never Chose. Abimelech’s story is one of ambition without calling, leadership without character, and power without purpose. It’s the first attempt at monarchy in Israel—and it ends in total collapse.

Gideon: From Fear to Faith to Folly. Gideon’s story begins in fear and ends in folly—a warning that spiritual victory requires as much humility after success as it does faith before it. His rise and fall mirror Israel’s own: trembling in weakness, triumphing by God’s Spirit, and then falling into idolatry.

Every Man Did What Was Right in His Own Eyes: The Rise and Fall of the Judges. The book of Judges is one of the darkest chapters in Israel’s story. It begins with conquest and ends with chaos. God’s chosen people, once united under Joshua, descend into moral and spiritual decay. The refrain that defines the era is chillingly modern: “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” (Judges 21:25, NASB).

Book of Judges Summary: The Cycle of Collapse and the Mercy of God. Judges is not a kids’ storybook—no matter how many Sunday school flannelgraphs made it look safe. It’s violent. It’s messy. It’s tragic. And it shows what happens when everyone does what is right in their own eyes. Spoiler alert: things fall apart.