Judges

"In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit."  

This is a reoccurring phrase in the book of Judges that summarizes the atmosphere of the book quite well.  The book takes place after the death of Joshua, but before Israel had a king of their own.  Its a time of much fighting and warfare, and a fair amount of chaos in general.  Its also a book containing many of the more famous Sunday School stories, such as Samson, Deborah and Gideon.  The stories take place over a period of about 300 years.

The book is a series of stories of "judges", people who weren't necessarily official rulers per se, but were none-the-less used by God to lead people during this in-between time.  The people described are quite interesting, because many of them seem flawed or are unusual choices for various reasons.  There are 12 in total, six who are considered "minor" judges, and six who are considered "major" judges.  

The stories in Judges follow a similar pattern to other parts of the Old Testament:  
#1. The people of Israel disobey God.
#2. They end up in trouble due to their apostasy.
#3. God divinely appoints a judge to save them from their predicament.

This basic pattern of sin, consequences and divine mercy seems to be one that you see over and over again in both old and new testaments.  One of the central themes of Judaism and Christianity.