The book of Judges ends with what many consider to be the most horrific story in the Old Testament. Having lost their religious bearings, the nation of Israel soon plummets into dark immorality. With no righteous king to lead them, Israel is left to determine morality on their own.

The book of Judges draws to a close by examining what the religious and moral climate of Israel was like "on the ground." Religiously, Israel looks more like the pagan nations around them than they do the chosen people of God. They have lost their faith in a personal God and have ended up with a dead religiosity devoid of any real meaning. With every man doing what is right in his own eyes, religion is just another way Israel expressed the hopelessness of the strong dominating the weak.

Samson was a man of extraordinary strength, due to God's selection of him as Israel's twelfth deliverer in the book of Judges. But Samson had one fatal flaw—his pre-occupation with himself and his own sensual passions. Although God used this man to achieve his purposes, Samson's ultimate disregard for his sacred calling left him defeated before his enemies. The life of Samson is an urgent plea for God's people to employ their God-given gifts for God's glory rather than their own.

The fifth "primary" judge is a man named Jephthah, whose story is one of the most tragic in all the Bible. In response to the people's surface confession, God leaves them to their own devices in securing their deliverance from the oppression of the Ammonites. Jephthah's initial success is ensured by God, but the apparent deliverance is actually a judgment. Jephthah's horrific vow and subsequent vengeful slaughter of the Ephraimites is an example of the way the false gods we often hope will rescue us soon become greater oppressors from which we suffer.

Through the life and legacy of Gideon, we see how God uses average people to accomplish His purposes. God called and used Gideon to put on display His unparalleled power and in doing so revealed an essential quality of His character. God is Just. Everyone who comes to Him shall be purified and protected while those who oppose Him shall be exposed and excluded.

The Israelites were overpowered by Midian and asked God for deliverance. God called Gideon to be the person to deliver Israel from the hand of Midian. However, Gideon was a very flawed hero and a man that struggled to have faith and truly believe in the calling and the plan that God set out for him. Even through his faith doubts, God still accomplished his plan of delivering the Israelites from the hand of the Midianites in an incredible and powerful way that only God could do.