Othniel: The Model Judge. The book of Judges begins with chaos, compromise, and collapse. Israel had entered the Promised Land but not yet surrendered to the Promised Lord. The tribes failed to drive out the remaining nations, and the people began to serve the gods of their neighbors. Into that decline, God raised up deliverers—judges—not as monarchs, but as Spirit-empowered leaders who would rescue His people and remind them who their true King was.

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).