Over the past weeks we read from the Pentateuch, then the Book of Joshua and today we start the Book of Judges. These books are all part of the same story arc (as they say in Hollywood) and, as often is the case, the “sequels” get less and less engaging. Joshua ends with the people joining together in saying “As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Judges tells how God dealt with the people of Israel when did not honor that pledge. Because they had thus abandoned God and served Baal and the Ashtaroth, the anger of the LORD flared up against Israel, They turned to the nature gods of the land, neglecting the LORD who led them to the land.
