Hey Bible Readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble and I'm your host for the Bible Recap.

You may have already entered to win our free trip to Israel, but we've added some exciting

new prizes to the contest, so stick around for the end of the episode to find out how

you could win. Today we wrap up the episode to find out how you could win. Today we wrap up the introduction to the

book of judges and God tells us that he has left a handful of Canaanite leaders in the

land as a test for the Israelites. Today we also get to meet the first four judges, all of whom are pretty good by comparison to the others we'll read about.

Early on we find out that Israel has forgotten God and are worshiping Ba'al and the Austeroth, and God takes credit for selling them into slavery,

just like he warned them he would do when this happened.

After eight years, they finally cry out to God and he raises up the first judge to save them.

And remember that the judges we're talking about here are more like military commanders and

civil leaders than someone who sits in a courtroom with a gavel.

The first judge is Othneel, whom you may remember as

Caleb's nephew slash son-in-law. The text says God's spirit was upon him and he gave

him victory. Then they had peace for 40 years. But then the Israelites decide they prefer

sin over peace and they rebel again. So God strengthens their enemy against them,

King Eglon of Moab, he gathers some allies and they attack Israel and take back Jericho,

which was Israel's first conquest in the promised land. They also take the Israelites as servants

for 18 years, until they cry out to God for rescue. Then God appoints Ehood the second judge to rescue them.

If you're left-handed you probably loved this story even though it was gross because left-handed people often get a

bad rap in ancient text but here one of your people is the hero. One interesting

thing about this is that E. Hood was from the tribe of Benjamin which means

son of the right hand. I bet Ehood was probably

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