17 - Judges

"Speak, you that ride on white donkeys, you that sit in judgment and walk along the road.
Instead of the shouting of archers among the wells, there they laud the righteous acts of Jehova. The righteous acts of His rule over Israel.
Awake, awake, Deborah! Awake, awake, sing a song!
Arise, Barak, and lead your captives away!"
The Song of Deborah, Judges 5:10-12

What do you mean that's not the right Samson? Do YOU want to tell him that?
source: The Venture Bros.

L'Shana Tovah! That's Happy New Year in Hebrew! Which applies for the upcoming holiday. Of course, the real Jewish New Year is Rosh Hashanah and I'm pretty sure the saying applies there too...or you can just say Happy Rosh Hashanah...ok we're moving on.

The events of this episode revolve around the Books of Joshua and Judges, where the Israelites are getting comfortable in their new land and forcing out the previous inhabitants. Lotta fighting in this one too! If you're in the mood for a little storytime than this will be a good'un for you.

See you next year!

MP3 Download

Music Credit
Michael Levy - Firn Di Mekhutonim Aheym

Resources
Tribal Allotments of Israel. Good map!
Kingdoms around Israel. The map shows a divided Israelite nation, which won't happen until post-Solomon.
Ehud about to strike down Eglon
Deborah woodcut by Gustave Dore...but where's the palm tree?
Samson and Delilah by Guercino (note that she is depicted holding the scissors, when it's the soldiers who do the cutting!)
Medieval woodcut of Samson and Delilah (note again she's holding the scissors - but look at the anachronism! Samson looks like a weenie!)
The Blinding of Samson by Rembrandt

16 - Moses

"For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgement: I, Jehova. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever."
Exodus 12:12-14

Hi, I'm Troy McClure! You might remember me from such movies as David vs. Super Goliath, and
Suddenly Last Supper!

I gotta tell ya, even though this episode is my longest one since Gilgamesh, I left out a LOT of stuff from the different books of Moses' life. That's how crazy his story is. You owe it to yourself to read more about one of history's most fascinating characters. Seriously.

Of course nobody knows if all this is true or not but just like last episode, it's pretty much irrelevant. It's still an amazing story and I hope you enjoy my take on it!

Update 12/22/2012: I'm testing out the SoundCloud widget on the blog! This is a far better way to listen to and share my content with everyone. Plus it just looks soooo much snazzier!

MP3 Direct Link


Music Credits
Michael Levy - V'Shamru (And They Shall Keep The Sabbath)

www.freesfx.co.uk

Resources
Book of Exodus - where much of today's episode comes from
Ten minutes is awfully long for a trailer...but I love that this clip still exists and in such great condition!
Michelangelo's Moses - Note the stubby horns!
Great map of the Exodus route, very detailed (use the top one)

15 - The Ancient Hebrews

"On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites"
Genesis - 15:18-15:21

Family fun time circa 2000 BC

New episode! Huzzah! Are you ready to learn the history of the Ancient Israelites? Although this episode should really be filed more under sorta-history...but I'll explain all that in the show!

Also of course, a big thank you goes out to Michael Levy for allowing his music to be featured! You can find a link to his website, www.ancientlyre.com, on the upper left-hand corner of the page, and the link to today's song below!


MP3 Direct Link


Music Credits
Michael Levy - Noch Havdallah

Resources:

To be added soon!

*I'm aware that I make frequent references to the male characters giving birth to their sons in this episode. Physical limitations aside, I don't think it distracts too much from the story, but it irked me enough to write a sort of apology here for my poor word choice, revealing what I'm going to call my testostebias. Obviously Isaac didn't give birth to Jacob, his wife did...but, you know what I mean. I pledge that in all future episodes I will make sure to keep my biological functions gender correct.