On the one hand, Israel, God’s chosen people, repeatedly fall into sin and wander away from the Lord. On the other hand, God is ready to help them out when they are in trouble.
There is a repetitive pattern that is described in general in Judges 2:1–23:
The Israelites serve idols and abandon the Lord.
This kindles the anger of the Lord.
The Lord gives them over into the hand of their surrounding enemies.
The Lord is moved to pity and raises a judge who saves them.
After the death of the judge, the Israelites go after false gods again; they are even more corrupt than their fathers.
6 The people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and served the Baals and the Ashtaroth, the gods of Syria, the gods of Sidon, the gods of Moab, the gods of the Ammonites, and the gods of the Philistines. And they forsook the LORD and did not serve him.