The Story Act 3: A Few Good Men... and Women

The Bible says that the nation of Israel followed God faithfully throughout the life of Joshua and the elders who succeeded him. But when that generation of leaders died out, the Israelites spent the next 400 years in a cycle: disobedience, punishment, repentance, and deliverance (Judges 2:10). So the new generation began to worship the pagan gods of their new land, until God finally used those pagan nations to punish them. God would punish them by allowing them to be oppressed by one of the neighboring tribal nations. They would cry out to God in repentance and beg for deliverance. During those times ofpunishment, God would raise up Judges political, military, and spiritual leaders to lead Israel back to Himself. There were several Judges, but a few of them capture the cycle of the entire 400-year period.