The period of the Judges was an era of divine intervention so direct that storms fought battles and fires executed corrupt leaders. According to the Chronicles of Jerahmeel, a 12th-century Hebrew chronicle translated by Moses Gaster in 1899, the cycle of sin and salvation repeated itself in increasingly dramatic fashion.
Ehud followed Othniel as judge, and during his time the ancient world was being reshaped. Cities were built across the Mediterranean, ships were launched for the wheat trade, and Troy rose in Dardania. Then came Shamgar, followed by Deborah and Barak, who faced Sisera and his massive chariot army. God did not leave the fighting to Israel alone. He sent a fierce tempest that overwhelmed Sisera's forces with hail, blinding rain, lightning, and thunder. The charioteers could not stand. They fell by the sword in confusion.
Sisera fled on foot and took refuge in the tent of Jael, wife of Heber the Kenite. When he fell asleep, Jael drove a tent peg through his temple. Gideon came next, defeating the Midianites with his famous 300 men. But after Gideon's death, his son Abimelech murdered seventy of his own brothers on a single stone to seize power. Only Jotham, the youngest, escaped.
The most shocking episode belonged to Yair, who judged Israel for twenty-two years. Yair built a sanctuary to Baal and commanded all Israel to worship it. Seven righteous men refused, invoking Moses' warning against idolatry. Yair ordered them burned alive. But the fire swerved away from the seven men and instead consumed Yair's own servants. The seven walked out unharmed, while everyone around them was struck blind. Then the flames reached Yair's own house, and God's voice declared: "I promoted you to judge Israel, but you corrupted the people and burned those who remained faithful to Me. They shall live, and you shall die." The fire consumed Yair, his household, Baal, and 10,000 of Baal's followers.