Rest will not always be extended to them. “The first five judges, all of whom…were deliverer-figures, represent a time when the land periodically enjoyed rest from conflict…. (See Judges 3:11, Judges 3:30; Judges 5:31; Judges 8:28.) In contrast, the latter period is characterized by minor judges…together with the rather unorthodox deliverers Jephthah and Samson. The land is never said to have rest
and the picture is one of increasing moral, political and military decline leading to the shameful climax of events in the Epilogue (Judges 17:1 – 21:25). The lesson is clear: a people which fails to give wholehearted obedience to the Lord can only sink lower and lower."1
11 So the land had rest forty years. Then Othniel the son of Kenaz died.