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The Book of Judges is a deeply tragic record of Israel’s backsliding into sin after settling in the Promised Land. Each tribe was assigned its portion of the Land. Yet there remained the command to eliminate and drive out the remaining Canaanites. Instead, they slumped more and more into sin so that they were subjugated by those they were to eliminate. But when they cried to the LORD, He saved them by giving the judges who defeated their enemies. Yet after each rescue, they backslided into worse sins until they were no different from those who were judged. It teaches us the contagion of evil and the critical need to avoid and reject it by seeking the LORD.
The Book of Ruth gives a ray of hope in the midst of this darkness. It showed that God’s grace was at work even in such dark times through Ruth and Boaz to give us David and the Messiah to come through as their descendants.