“Then the Lord raised up judges to rescue the Israelites from their attackers. Yet Israel did not listen to the judges but prostituted themselves by worshiping other gods. How quickly they turned away from the path of their ancestors, who had walked in obedience to the Lord’s commands. Whenever the Lord raised up a judge over Israel, he was with that judge and rescued the people from their enemies throughout the judge’s lifetime. For the Lord took pity on his people, who were burdened by oppression and suffering. But when the judge died, the people returned to their corrupt ways, behaving worse than those who had lived before them. They went after other gods, serving and worshiping them. And they refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways. So the Lord burned with anger against Israel. He said, “Because these people have violated my covenant, which I made with their ancestors, and have ignored my commands, I will no longer drive out the nations that Joshua left unconquered when he died. I did this to test Israel—to see whether or not they would follow the ways of the Lord as their ancestors did.” That is why the Lord left those nations in place. He did not quickly drive them out or allow Joshua to conquer them all.”
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Judges‬ ‭2‬:‭16‬-‭23‬ ‭NLT

The book of judges contains some interesting juxtaposition for us to consider. On the one hand, we know that Israel is in need of constant salvation because their hearts are wicked. The passage is clear that they continue to turn away from God and will only stay loyal if they have a Moses-esque leader to personally combat their evil for them. Given the story of Moses, we can be assured that this wasn’t a glamorous role at all. On the other hand, the scripture is clear that God allowed there to be temptations in the land in order to test the people’s faithfulness to him. This might lead one to believe that God was entrapping the people into their idolatry. This would assume a few things first. It would forget that people’s default position is that of idolaters and that they were not neutral to begin with. It also would forget that people conquered the land by faith in God. God fought for them when they believed. It is clear that the test of idolatry is a test that could be passed with faith. It was a test toward failure, but rather a test out of the failure that people were already situated in. Therefore, allowing temptation gave people a way to prove their faith and escape their sin. Sending judges was opportunity to take these tests and pass into righteousness with God. Unfortunately, we also see that very few of mankind are capable to succeed without this type of direct intervention. They either need a priest, a prophet or a king. Praise God for Jesus who fulfills all three for us ignoble creatures.

Israel’s Need for Salvation: Israel’s hearts are wicked and they constantly need salvation, relying on leaders like Moses to combat their evil.

God’s Test of Faith: God allowed temptations in the land to test Israel’s faithfulness, providing an opportunity for them to prove their faith and escape their sin.

Human Inability to Succeed: Few people can succeed without direct intervention, needing priests, prophets, or kings, a need fulfilled by Jesus.