THE LION OF NEGEBThe Story of Othniel, The First JudgeThe giants are in the grave, and the fire of the Exodus has faded to embers.

For eight years, the tribes of Israel have withered under the "Double Wickedness" of Cushan-Rishathaim. The Promised Land has become a labor camp of limestone and salt, and the sons of the conquerors have become the property of an empire.

Othniel ben Kenaz is a man of the shadows. A former warrior reduced to a quarry slave, he has spent nearly a decade hauling the very stones used to build his enemy’s monuments. He is a man of broken stone and silent prayers—until the day the Mesopotamian yoke is forced upon his legendary uncle, Caleb.

From the claustrophobic sewers of Debir to the jagged, sun-scorched ravines of the Wilderness of Zin, Othniel must ignite a revolution with nothing but the tools of the field. Turning threshing flails into weapons and pruning hooks into blades, he leads a ragged resistance of shepherds and slaves against the most advanced war machine of the Bronze Age.

But as the "Spirit" descends, Othniel realizes the true battle is not fought with bronze, but with Divine Clarity. He must decide if he can bear the weight of a mantle that demands he be both a killer of kings and a restorer of the Law.

One man will rise from the dust. One nation will remember its Covenant. The era of the Judges begins in blood and stone.