When God sent prophets to Israel, the people and religious leaders persecuted and killed them. God then gave them the Law of Moses. When they made it to their Promised Land, but when it became bothersome to them, they did whatever they wanted to, including worshiping false gods by burning, as a sacrifice, their own firstborn to these 'gods'.
2 Kings 23:10--"And he made unfit for worship To′pheth, which is in the valley of the sons of Hin′nom, that no one might make his son or his daughter pass through the fire to Mo′lech".
Their behavior got so bad and they constantly got involved in wars, they turned to God for protection. The judges were mighty men, like Samson, who constantly fought the Philistines, to protect Israel. (Read Judges, Chapters 2 and 3)
Reading the 'Old Testament", or for that matter any part of The Bible is difficult if you don't have a modern-day English translation. Since we no longer speak in Archaic English, the "thee's and thou's" are difficult for us today. Anyone of Jehovah's Witnesses you meet can bring you copy of a modern-day language translation of the Bible, Free of charge, no obligation. Or go to the website: www.watchtower.org.
Jesus said at Matthew 5:3--"Happy are those conscious of their spiritual need, since the kingdom of the heavens belongs to them".
*****addition/rebuttal*****
Actually, Matthew 5:3 says differently in a non-watchtower bible. "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." You can see the difference in what is actually being said between the two versions. Jesus was talking about humility and asking the Lord for help.
The Judges (in the Book of Judges) served as Torah-teachers, judges, and (when needed) as military leaders. These Judges served for about 365 years (1244 to 879 BCE, according to traditional chronology), from the death of Joshua until the time of King Saul. Othniel In addition to the above, there have been regular judges, from the time of Moses (Exodus ch.18) down to this day. These are Torah-scholars whose function is to adjudicate disputes according to Torah-procedure. See also:
Ehud
Shamgar
Deborah
Gideon
Abimelech
Tola
Yair
Jepthah
Ibzan
Elon
Abdon
Samson
Eli
Samuel
In Judges, God sends an oppressor that reminds the Hebrew people that they need him. He would then send a judge who would call the people out on what they were doing wrong and how they can gain God's favor back. When Abraham made the covenant with God, God told him that they would be his treasure if they obeyed his laws. The judge would save the people then die.
The judges were sent, by God, to deliver Israel from their oppressors. The book of Judges is a repeating cycle of Israel turning away from God, then God allowing other nations to oppress Israel, then the people crying out to God for help, and God sending a judge to deliver them.
There is an afterlife. or God judges a person after his or her death. or There is only one God.
God
Judges may have said, "and may God have mercy on your soul", because the state was not going to have mercy on the perpetrators body.
God judges everyone
God promised to send the Messiah to repair the gap between God and mankind.
Judges.
C'mosh (Judges 10:6).
Unfortunately, it does not appear that any of the judges on Face Off have a fan mail address.
If God Will Send His Angels was created on 1997-12-08.
Not sure if this is what you're are referring to, but there is a cycle of three things that repeat in Judges. Israel falls away from God, fall into sin. God sends judgment, Israel calls to God for saving. God sends salvation in the form of a judge, Israel returns. The key phrase in Judges is "Every man did what was right in his own eyes."