Israel had just finished a long and tiring conquest of the land of Canaan. They appear to have silently determined that they were done with war. They had witnessed the barbarism of the authoritarian leaders of Canaan. And now, their own leader, Joshua, was dead. In Joshua's absence, a poisonous potion of fatigue, apathy, and misguided pity for Israel's enemies was brewed. The “postwar sentiment” took root in Israel. It has been said: “Hard times create hard men. Hard men create soft times. Soft times create soft men. And soft men create hard times.” It is on the backdrop of Israel's slavery and subjection to those who hate them that God raises up the Judges. Many of the Judges do not possess the godly character of Moses or Joshua. They are hard men, but many of them also possess hard hearts. We are entering a time where there will soon be a massive crop of young, hard men. These young, hard men will not follow titles, they will only follow courage. But in their zeal, they pose the threat of destroying all the good in the world along with the evil. The key is for the strength of these young, hard men to be harnessed by even harder men who possess softer hearts.