THE BOOK OF JOSHUA is an account of the Hebrews entering the land promised to Abraham, and the campaigns to capture the land, and include a distribution of the allotments to the tribes of Israel as described by God. Numbers 26:53.
THE BOOK OF JUDGES: records the failure of the Nation to serve the LORD after the passing of Joshua. Six times they fall victim to the nations around them and their subsequent deliverance by a ‘judge’ provided by God. These six cycles of behavior cover a time of near two hundred years that can be summarized as: ‘sinning, suffering, seeking, and salvation’, or sin, suffer, seek, save. When they cried to the LORD for His help, a succession of faithful men and women were chosen to help them. However, when the judge died, they would return to their denial of God. The cycle continued when they would start by sinning again. This period is best describe in Judges 21:25 “every man did that which was right in his own eyes.” Some notable judges were Samson, Gideon and Deborah. However, the last judge was Samuel.
THE PEOPLE DESIRE A KING: -despite Samuel being the spiritual leader for the nation of Israel, the people approached him to ask for a ‘king’ in order that they could be like the ‘other nations’. Even though this had been predicted by Moses: Deuteronomy 17:14, their request meant they were rejecting the LORD as their King: 1 Samuel 8:5,7. We may remember that the Nation had been selected to be ‘separate’ from the other nations! Their desire to be like the other nations brought about a new era in the history of the nation: The kingdom period.