One Accord

Judges 19-21

Joe, Eric, Greg, and Micah close out the book of Judges by working through chapters 19–21 — the Levite and his concubine, the atrocity at Gibeah, the near-extermination of Benjamin, and the bizarre "wife catching" plan to preserve a tribe. These three chapters are widely considered some of the darkest in the Old Testament, and the team wrestles honestly with what the text is actually emphasizing, who is morally culpable, and what God is teaching His people (and us) through this period of national apostasy.

Judges 17-18

We are back together for a verse-by-verse walk through Judges 17 and 18; two of the most disturbing and revealing chapters in the entire book. With no judge named and no foreign oppressor in sight, the narrative pulls back to show us the moral and religious condition of Israel itself. A wandering Levite, a homemade shrine, a stolen blessing, and an entire tribe carving out an inheritance God never gave them, all stitched together by the haunting refrain: "In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes."

Judges 13-16

In this episode, we tackle one of the most famous — and most misunderstood — figures in the Old Testament: Samson. Across four chapters of Judges, we meet a Nazarite who breaks his vow, a deliverer who looks more like a wrecking ball than a savior, and a man who somehow ends up listed among the heroes of faith in Hebrews 11. Was Samson a champion of God or a cautionary tale? The Bible's answer is more complicated than the Sunday school version.

Judges 11-12

In Episode 128 of The One Accord Podcast, Joe, Greg, and Eric dig into one of the most disturbing and debated passages in the book of Judges — the story of Jephthah, the valiant warrior born of a harlot who was rejected, rediscovered, and raised up to deliver Israel from Ammon. But his victory is shadowed by a vow so rash it has troubled readers for millennia. Did Jephthah actually sacrifice his own daughter as a burnt offering? Or did he dedicate her to lifelong service to the Lord? The guys wrestle through the Hebrew text, the translational flexibility of a single conjunction, and the theological implications of either reading. The conversation then moves into Judges 12, where Israel's first recorded civil war erupts — Ephraimites vs. Gileadites, the infamous "Shibboleth" test, and the brutal slaughter of 42,000 Israelites by fellow Israelites. The episode closes with an unexpectedly sharp observation: the book of Judges is quietly setting the stage for Israel's demand for a king.

Judges 9-10

Judges 9-10 reveals one of the darkest chapters in Israel's history. Abimelech murders 70 of his own brothers to seize power, and the people of Shechem cheer him on. But when God sends an evil spirit to tear the alliance apart, it raises one of Scripture's most uncomfortable questions: Does a good God use evil means to accomplish righteous ends? Join Joe, Eric, and Greg as they unpack Jotham's prophetic parable of the trees, wrestle with whether Abimelech was actually a judge, and explore how Israel's repentance in chapter 10 appeared to change God's heart — or did it?