The children of Ammon passed over the Jordan to fight also against Judah, and against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim; so that Israel was sore distressed.
The Ammonite oppression lasted 18 years (Judges 10:8; evidently about 1123-1105 B.C.). Finally the Israelites confessed their sin of apostasy and cried out to God for deliverance (Judges 10:10; cf. Judges 3:9; cf. Judges 3:15; Judges 4:3; Judges 6:6). They had waited only seven years before appealing for His help against the Midianites (Judges 6:6). This may indicate that their hearts had become even harder toward Yahweh. Judges 6:1-6 gives the most detailed description of Israel’s oppression and of Israel’s response to their oppression. For the first time in the book, the Israelites confessed that they had sinned, but it seems that their change of heart had come too late.