Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hands of these raiders. Yet they would not listen to the judges….. Judges 2 v 16-23 (NIV) (David Winfield)

 The book of Judges is hard to read. God’s people obeyed Him until Joshua died. They were supposed to drive out the Canaanites from the land, not to assimilate with them or with their gods or lifestyle, but rather to be a holy witness to the world about God. They failed and failed: time and time again God rebuked them, judged them, then rescued them when they cried out to Him. It wasn’t so much that they forgot about God – there was a sanctuary at Shiloh with the Ark, and a priest; but rather that they ignored Him, copying the people around them. Judges spans around 400 years: there were many generations of this cycle of falling away and God rescuing them.