the last half of Judges and first part of Samuel do seem kinda whackadoodle. 

50 thousand 3 score and 10 men getting "smoted" for touching the Ark irreverently when it was being toted back from the Philistines.

it's like God just saw Israel as cattle. i do understand there are lessons (the strong men-->good times-->weak men -->bad times) cycle over and over.  there's just a couple of times when it's kinda outrageous.