What is the book of Judges about?
The book of Judges recounts Israel's repeated rise and fall: the people sank into sin and rebellion, cried out for help, and God raised up a judge to deliver them. After a period of spirituality, they fell again, ending with no king and everyone doing what was right in his own eyes.
Les explains that Judges is the account of Israel's rise and fall, rise and fall. Israel would go down to the very depths of sin and rebellion, cry out for help, and then God would raise up a judge to bring them out. They would be rather spiritual for a while, and then suddenly down they would go again. That is the whole account of the book. As the book ends, Judges chapter 21, verse 25 says there was no king in Israel and every man did that which was right in his own eyes. Les says it was almost anarchy and a spiritual famine, and Israel was destitute because there was nothing to guide them. He connects that verse to our own day, saying the circumstances around us fit it.
In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.