God remained true to His covenant. When the people erred in their ways, He allowed them to be overcome and subjugated by the remaining Canaanite tribes. When the people repented and cried out to God, He raised up champions—judges—to rescue and restore them back to Him. It's a vicious cycle from sin to salvation, repeated seven times over a period of 350 years, as the people vacillated between obedience and apostasy.
The character and morality of a people are usually a reflection of their leaders, and this is clearly seen in the depreciating quality of the judges as the book progresses. The first three—Othniel, Ehud and Deborah—are at best good and somewhat admirable, but from this point on it's all the way downhill. Gideon started out well from cowardice to courage, only to exact revenge on those who did not offer help after his victory and created an idol that later ensnared the people. Jephthah fought well but fumbled badly and ended up sacrificing his own daughter over a reckless vow. Samson misused his God-given strength for his own selfish purpose and ultimately paid the price with his sight and in the end, his life.
Judges morbidly describes the darkest period in the history of God's chosen people, when they forgot and forsook His ways over their own selfish and self-serving ways. Consequently, it was every man for himself as the book concluded with this indicting statement:
21:25 In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
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