W. Robert Godfrey

And then even more intriguingly, after the death of Samson at the end of chapter 16 of Judges, there are four more chapters about the history of Israel when there are no judges.

And so we have to recognize that while the book of Judges is 75% about judges, the judges are only part of the story.

And that story is important, as we'll see, in that before the judges, there was great strength in Israel and then gradual spiritual weakening in Israel.

And that's when God instituted the office of the judges to help the people in their spiritually declining and compromised state.

And then, when things have declined even further through the judges, so that by the end Samson is no better than the people, even though he's a judge, then we really see the mess that Israel is in after Samson dies.

The stories in the last chapter of Judges may be the most disturbing in the whole Bible.

It is the kind of Bible text you're not sure you want to read to your grandchildren after dinner.

It's horrifying and hideous what happens.

And the text itself makes very clear the big point it's making.

And the big point is this, everyone did what was right in their own eyes because there was no king in Israel.

And that's a real key to the whole meaning of the book of Judges.

The whole meaning of the book of Judges, if we want to summarize it very briefly, is the people of God need a faithful leader.

And the judges failed in that leadership.

The judges could not provide the leadership the people needed.

The people didn't need just regional judges.

The people needed a king.

And of course, if we were to extend this study into 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, what we discover is the kings didn't always do such a hot job either.

And so again, when we get into the life of the kings, the people needed a king, a judge wasn't enough, then they get a king, and what do they discover with a king?

Well, the kings aren't enough either.

And why is that?