S5: Day 70: Judges 1–3

Summary

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Podcast Summary: A Year in the Bible with Daily Grace

Episode: S5: Day 70: Judges 1–3
Date: March 11, 2026
Hosts: Shelby and CJ

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Episode Overview

Today's episode marks the beginning of the Book of Judges in the year-long journey through the Bible. Hosts Shelby and CJ introduce Judges 1–3, discuss its context in Israel's history, establish key patterns that repeat throughout the book, and reflect on the ongoing themes of human failure and God's faithfulness. They also consider how the narrative foreshadows the Gospel.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Context and Transition (00:18–01:28)

• Judges follows the Book of Joshua, where Israel entered and began conquering the Promised Land under Joshua’s leadership.

• "Joshua left off as the conquest had been going really well... And then Judges starts, and Judges is sort of the foil to Joshua. If Israel was doing well in Joshua, they start to not do so well in the Book of Judges."
  — CJ (00:41)

• While Joshua’s leadership was marked by relative faithfulness, Judges begins a period of decline and disobedience.

2. Patterns of Faithfulness and Rebellion (01:28–01:45)

• Throughout Scripture, Israel alternates between loyalty to God and rebellion.
• “We've highlighted so many times the faithfulness of God as God's people waver between being faithful and being rebellious and disobedient.”
  — Shelby (01:28)

3. Summary of Judges 1–3 (01:45–03:27)

• Judges 1: Setting the tone, the tribes attempt to complete the conquest. Judah is largely successful, but other tribes—like the Danites—fail or are even pushed out of their territory.

• Judges 2: The “angel of the Lord” rebukes Israel for disobedience and warns that remaining Canaanites will become a “thorn” and a test for Israel.

• Judges 3: Introduction of a recurring cycle, summarized as the “four S’s”: Sin, Suffering, Supplication, Salvation.

  “I call it the four S's. So Israel's going to suffer or they're going to sin... they're going to make supplication... then there's going to be salvation where God's going to send some sort of judge...”
  — CJ (02:58)

4. The ‘Four S’s’ Cycle Explained (02:58–03:42)

• Sin: Israel rebels and turns to idolatry.

• Suffering: Neighboring nations oppress them.

• Supplication: Israel cries out to God for help.

• Salvation: God raises up a judge to deliver them.

  “If you're just hearing those four S's for the first time, like write them down somewhere, make note of that because we're going to talk about that a lot as we go throughout the Book of Judges.”
  — Shelby (03:27)

5. First Major Judge: Ehud vs. Eglon (03:42–04:50)

• Minor judges receive little narrative attention, then Ehud emerges as the first “major” judge.

• Israel suffers under Eglon, King of Moab, after falling into idolatry.

• God raises Ehud (possibly left-handed or with a physical difference), who kills Eglon and leads Israel to freedom.

  “But regardless, this guy named Ehud, he's raised up by God and he sneaks in with a gift or a tribute to the King of Moab, and he stabs him on the way out. And through blood and guts and war and all those things, he ends up saving Israel.”
  — CJ (04:36)

• Notably, Judges often have surprising or unexpected backgrounds.

6. Gospel Connections within Judges (04:50–05:41)

• Shelby asks if there’s a Gospel message in a book filled with “blood and guts.”

• CJ argues that even in the chaos, we see a repeating pattern that mirrors the Gospel: sin leads to suffering, people cry out, and salvation arrives—culminating in Christ.

  “Despite our sin, Christ came down and saved us from our sin because, well, God wants to save his people. So we see that in little form, in little repeated form in the Book of Judges.”
  — CJ (05:23)

7. Overarching Takeaways and Themes (05:41–06:19)

• Shelby previews a recurring phrase: “the people did what was right in their own eyes.”

• Judges portrays the consequences of abandoning God’s ways; chaos and calamity are not God’s desire, but the natural outcome of human rebellion.

  “When I see chaos and calamity in the Book of Judges, I am not viewing that as something that God desires. This is actually what happens when people don't live according to his ways.”
  — Shelby (05:56)

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Notable Quotes and Memorable Moments

• “Judges is a fun book. It's also... there's a little bit of blood and guts in the Book of Judges, a lot of war, a lot of things like that. But, yeah, I think it'll be a good time.”
  — CJ (00:24)

• “So Israel's going to suffer or they're going to sin, they're going to commit idolatry... then they're going to make supplication... then there's going to be salvation.”
  — CJ (02:58)

• “We see sin, we see our suffering, we see ourselves crying out to God and then we see salvation, which is obviously the gospel. And despite our sin, Christ came down and saved us from our sin...”
  — CJ (05:23)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• 00:18 — Introduction to Judges & Context in Redemptive History
• 01:45 — Summary of Judges 1–3
• 02:58 — Explanation of the "Four S’s" Cycle
• 03:42 — Introduction of Ehud and the First Example of the Pattern
• 04:50 — Discussion: The Gospel in Judges
• 05:41 — Takeaways: Themes of Chaos, Disobedience, and God's Desire

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Final Thoughts

Shelby and CJ set the stage for the rest of Judges, emphasizing the cyclical pattern of rebellion and rescue that defines the book. They encourage listeners to look for deeper gospel connections amid the chaos. The episode is insightful for readers new to Judges, equipping them to interpret the often-challenging events within God’s larger story of redemption.

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Transcript

[Cj]

Foreign.

[Shelby]

Hey, this is Shelby and cj. We are taking you through the Bible in a year. And today we begin the Book of Judges. Cj, I'm so excited that you're co hosting for the Book of Judges.

[Cj]

Likewise.

[Shelby]

Should I be excited to read the Book of Judges, though? This can be a little bit of an intimidating book.

[Cj]

Yeah, Judges is a fun book. It's also. There's a little bit of blood and guts in the Book of Judges, a lot of war, a lot of things like that. But, yeah, I think it'll be a good time.

[Shelby]

Yeah, I think so, too. We're going to learn a lot, that's for sure. What are some things we can keep in mind as we read the Book of Judges?

[Cj]

Yeah, so it probably will help to think about where we are in Scripture. Israel has left Egypt. They've been wandering in the wilderness for a while. Moses has given them some. Given them some laws in the wilderness. And then we had Joshua, who helped them enter into the promised land and begin the conquest. And then we have Judges. And where Joshua left off is the conquest has been going really well. And Israel's been doing everything they need to do to get into the land. And towards the end of the Book of Joshua, he divvies out the rest of the land and essentially he encourages Israel to finish the job. And then Judges starts, and Judges is sort of the foil to Joshua. If Israel was doing well in Joshua, they start to not do so well in the Book of Judges.

[Shelby]

And we've kind of seen that pattern throughout Scripture. Right. We've highlighted so many times the faithfulness of God as God's people waver between being faithful and being rebellious and disobedient. So today's chapters were judges 1 through 3. Can you begin to take us through these chapters?

[Cj]

Yeah. So Judges one through three set the tone for the rest of the book. And again, we pick up where Joshua left off. So he's died, he being Joshua. The tribes are now trying to take the rest of the land. Judah is successful and drives out a lot of the people in their territory or the remaining peoples in their territory. But the other Israelite tribes fail. And Judges 1 says this explicitly. Things are so bad, in fact, for the Danites that, that the Danites themselves are actually removed from the territory that they should have been in. And that's going to be a key. A key plot point that we're going to see at the end of the book. So hold tight for that. And then as we get to Judges two and three, in Judges two, the angel of the Lord comes and rebukes the people. And the angel of the Lord says, essentially you were supposed to drive out these people just like Joshua told you to do. But because you didn't listen to my voice, now I'm not going to drive them out for you. And they're actually going to sort of be a thorn in your side and they're going to be there to test you and essentially cause you to stumble. And we see this pattern in the Book of Judges as we continue and in Judges three. It shows us the basic pattern that we can expect as we move through the Book of Judges. And I call it the four S's. So Israel's going to suffer or they're going to sin, they're going to commit idolatry, they're going to essentially rebel against God. And then they're going to suffer at the hands of the Canaanites and then they're going to make supplication, which is just a fancy word to say. They're going to call out to God and pray to God for deliverance. And then there's going to be salvation where God's going to send some sort of judge or military commander or leader to save them from their oppression. So again, sin, suffering, supplication and salvation.

[Shelby]

Okay, And I'm just. If you're just hearing those four S's for the first time, like write them down somewhere, make note of that because we're going to talk about that a lot as we go throughout the Book of Judges. We kind of see that pattern even play out at the end of chapter three. Right, this 4s pattern.

[Cj]

Yeah. So we see a few minor judges and they're called minor judges because they're just not given much space in scripture. But then we see our first major judge and his name is Ehud. And Israel sins by worshiping false gods. And then they suffer under a guy named Eglon, who's the king of Moab. He's just a Canaanite guy, you can think of him that way. And then Israel supplicates God for help, or they cry out to God for help. And then God raises up this guy named Ehud and he's a Benjaminite. And commentators, they disagree about what, what exactly is wrong with him or what exactly his unique feature is. He's either has some sort of deformity in his hand or he's just left handed in general. But this sort of ambiguous quality of his is going to be important moving forward because we're going to see that each of the Judges are sort of unexpected figures. So keep that in mind also as we move forward. But regardless, this guy named Ehud, he's raised up by God and he sneaks in with a gift or a tribute to the King of Moab, and he stabs him on the way out. And through blood and guts and war and all those things, he ends up saving Israel.

[Shelby]

Yeah, so that was a great example of kind of what we're going to see throughout this. Let me ask this question. Do we see the Gospel? Do we see Jesus in Judges? You've talked about blood and guts. I'm thinking we do because one of the four S's is salvation. But can you just maybe spell that out for us a bit?

[Cj]

Yeah. I think even though Judges is a little jarring at times because of the blood and guts and all the war and the things that hopefully we're not as familiar with, I think we still see ourselves in this book. We see sin, we see our suffering, we see ourselves crying out to God and then we see salvation, which is obviously the gospel. And despite our sin, Christ came down and saved us from our sin because, well, God wants to save his people. So we see that in little form, in little repeated form in the Book of Judges. But that really speaks to God's ultimate plan of salvation for his people.

[Shelby]

Yeah, yeah. We'll be on the lookout for that as we go. Throughout the book. As we start Judges, I think my big takeaway, we're going to see a phrase all throughout and that people did what was right in their own eyes and we're going to see things descend, like, further and further into chaos throughout the book. And so a takeaway for me is that when I see chaos and calamity in the Book of Judges, I am not viewing that as something that God desires. This is actually what happens when people don't live according to his ways. And so I'm going to keep that in mind as we read. Thanks for giving us a great intro to the Book of Judges. We're going to talk through the next few chapters tomorrow.

[Cj]

Awesome.

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