I'm Heather and I'm Susan. Come along with us on a journey through the book of judges here on the Bible Book Club. Welcome to the club.

Well, in chapters 8 through 10, Abimelik's assent, the son who killed to be king, Gideon's son Abimelik cut a deal to be king with the people of Shechem.

His first task was to assassinate his own 70 brothers minus one on a stone.

The one who escapes Jotham appeared at Mount Gersim and told a fable about Abimlic, the thornbush.

God avenges the death of Gideon's sons by stirring up dissension between Abimelik and the people. Abimelik, the thornbush. God avenges the death of Gideon's sons by stirring up dissension

between Abimulik and the people. Abimelik kills the people of Shechem and then is killed himself

by a stone. Then we read two short descriptions of minor judges, Tola and Jadr. If you are getting

lost in the judges, just like I sometimes tend to, and you want some clarity, or you want to just see the order, who they defeated, who they were, more about them.

We have a chart of the 12 judges all on the show notes.

Go check it out because it really helps bring this all into focus.

So we've discussed four of the six major judges, starting with Othniel.

Remember him, the Gold Star Standard Judge?

He's the one that did everything really well.

Ehud, the left-handed or handicapped judge.

Deborah, the only female judge.

Then there was a turn.

So the first three were pretty good.

The Israeli situation after that turn became noticeably darker and

idolatrous. And each judge's leadership is noticeably flawed and often fatal. The days of Joshua

and Othniel are over. Starting with the fourth judge, Gideon, the weak judge, and including the next two judges,

Jephtha and Samson, the sin and the stakes for Israel grow in tandem.

Scene one, God addresses Israel directly.

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