ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Biblical judges

Okay kiddo, so a long time ago, back when the world was very different and people didn't have fancy technology like we do now, there were a group of people called the Israelites. They believed in a God and had some special rules they had to follow to make him happy.

But sometimes the people would forget to follow the rules and do things they weren't supposed to do. So God would get upset and allow other groups of people to come and take over Israel. This made the Israelites very sad and scared, so they would cry out to God for help.

God would then choose special people to help the Israelites fight back and get their land back. These special people were called judges. They weren't like the judges we have in courtrooms today, more like leaders or warriors.

There were lots of judges throughout history, like Deborah, Gideon, and Samson. They each had their own stories about how they helped the Israelites and defeated their enemies.

The judges weren't perfect, they made mistakes too, but God still used them to help his people in times of need.

So that's a simple explanation of Biblical judges, they were special people chosen by God to help the Israelites when they were in trouble.
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