The book of Judges covers the centuries between the conquest under Joshua and the start of the monarchy under king Saul. The theme of the book is derived from the four-fold repetition of the phrase “in those days there was no king in Israel” (Judg 17:6; 18:1; 19:1; 21:25). A king was anticipated as early as the book of Genesis (49:10), rules for how a king was to act were given in the Mosaic law (Deut 17:14-18), and the people seem to have expected a king (1 Sam 2:10). The one effort of the people to choose their own king ended in disaster (Judg 9:16-18), and the book sets the stage for the king whom God would eventually choose (1 Sam 9:15-17; 1 Sam 10:20-24).