In this episode, the spirit of the Lord comes upon Jephthah and he promises to sacrifice to God as a burnt offering whatever comes out to greet him when he returns from slaughtering the Ammonites. God delivered the Ammonites into his hand, and he smote twenty of their cities in a very great slaughter.

When he returned home after the slaughter, his daughter came out to greet him. And he did to her what he promised God he would do. (He sacrificed her as a burnt offering.)

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In this episode, Gideon's son, Abimelech, kills seventy of this brothers on a single stone. But his youngest brother, Jotham, got away and makes a speech about talking trees. Then Abimelech burns 1000 people to death (Because of God's evil spirit), and is killed by a woman who drops a millstone in his head.

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In this episode, Gideon tortures 77 men thorns and briars, destroys a tower, kills all the men in a city, orders his son to kill two kings, and then makes a 20 kg gold ephod (from the earrings of dead Midianites) that everyone in Israel went whoring after. Then he dies, leaving 70 sons to fight about who will replace him as judge of Israel. No wonder the Gideon's named their Bible after him.

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This episode tells the story that inspired the Gideon's to create their famous Bible.

It's my favorite Bible story - and I don't want to spoil it for you here. So you'll just have to listen to the podcast!

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This episode introduces Gideon, you know - the guy the Bible is named after.

It begins, as all stories do in the Book of Judges: The Israelites do evil in the sight of the Lord, the Lord sells them to their enemies, the Israelites cry out to God, and God sends a deliverer - in this case Gideon.

But Gideon wasn't sure he could trust God, so he had a few tests for him.

And God passed them all, no sweat.

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The main characters in this episode are both women.

Deborah is a prophetess, judge, and military leader - whose captain (Barak) refuses to go to war without her.

And Jael shelters the enemy's captain (Sisera) - and then drives a tent stake through his head.

For this act she is blessed among women.

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This episode features a left-handed judge named Ehud who delivers a message from God by embedding an 18-inch sword into a fat king's belly.

And another judge, Shamgar, who kills 600 Philistines with an ox goad.

Where else but the Bible will you find stories like that?

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Judges is a violent book even by biblical standards. It begins by cutting off the thumbs and big toes of a captured king - and just gets worse from there.

Here is the cycle that is repeated throughout the book:

This episode tells the story of the first judge of Israel: Othniel.

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This episode covers the last 14 chapters of the book of Joshua. Here a some of the highlights:

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In this episode, God stops the sun from moving so that Joshua could get his killing done in the daylight. This is the passage that got Galileo in so much trouble with the Catholic Church. So it is of central importance in the history of science and religion.

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