I'm Heather and I'm Susan. Come along with us on a journey through the Book of Judges here on the Bible Book Club.

Welcome to the club.

In chapters 15 and 16, Samson and the Philistines begin a cycle of revenge and retaliation and it goes back and forth and back and forth. But the

Philistines know that Samson has a weakness for women. So when Samson falls in love with

Delilah, they know they've got him. They find out and they bribe Delilah. Delilah, of course,

betrays Samson, which leads to the Philistines gouging his

eyes out, and then Samson in his final act, when he finally turns to the Lord, he bravely kills

3,000 Philistines in the temple and dies along with them. In this episode, we begin the dark days of Israel. And you have to know that

the book of judges has this subtle message running throughout, that there must be more. This isn't

the way it should be. There must be more. Our discussion of the 12 judges is complete, but the conquest of the land and the rescue of the people is very incomplete.

While each judge provided periods of peace, Israel's spiritual decline progressed.

To put a point on just how bad Israel's decline it become, the final five chapters zoom in on

the people themselves. No judge is mentioned. The people's behavior is so depraved, it is difficult

to comprehend. This period is often called the darkest days of Israel because it was so dark. The author of

judges set these last chapters apart with a subtle change of the key phrase. In the previous

chapters in judges, the phrase, the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord, was the key phrase that

introduced each of the six major judges. We read it an extra time in the introduction to make it

seven times total, God's number of perfection. But in these final five chapters, the author

shifts the perspective, hinting at the solution to Israelite's problem, that there must be more.

The new key phrase is, in those days, Israel had no king.

Everyone did as they saw fit. This phrase will bookend these final five chapters.

It will appear in the beginning and it will appear at the end of judges. Fortunately for us,

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