Judgeschapter 1
36 verses · Samuel, by tradition · 11th century BC · History
Now after the death of Joshua it came to pass, that the children of Israel asked the Lord, saying, Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first, to fight against them?
Introduction
Samuel, by tradition, History, Judges Overview.
Samuel, by tradition · Narrative with a tribal list · Judges, the Former Prophets · [The book of Judges](/book/judges) The book never names its writer, and this chapter opens the story of Israel in the land after its great commander is gone. It was written for a people who lived among the towns it lists and knew who still held them. The chapter reads like a field report, and its plain tone is part of its message. Listen for the change in the verbs as the report moves from one tribe to the next. Watch which tribe is sent first and remember it, because the book returns to that choice at its close. Read it as the reason for much of what goes wrong afterward.
Context
- Who
- Israelites living among Canaanite neighbours their fathers had been told to drive out
- What
- A report of the tribes' campaigns after Joshua's death that turns into a list of the towns each tribe failed to take.
- Where
- Canaan from Bezek, Jerusalem and Hebron in the south to the coast of Asher and the towns of Naphtali in the north.
- When
- Soon after the death of Joshua, in the 14th century BC on the traditional reckoning, a time the text fixes by that death alone.
- Why
- To show Israel why Canaanites and their gods were still living among them.
Historical context
The chapter belongs to the tribes rather than to one leader, with Judah sent first and Simeon going up with it because Joshua 19:1 and 19:9 had placed Simeon's inheritance inside Judah's own portion. The time is the gap between Joshua's death and the first oppression, and the text fixes it by that death alone. The place is the whole land walked in a fixed order, south from Bezek to Jerusalem, Hebron and Debir, then north through Manasseh, Ephraim, Zebulun, Asher and Naphtali, and last Dan pressed back into the hills by the Amorites.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
The occasion is the question of who goes up first now that the commander is dead, and the answer runs into a ledger of what each tribe left untaken. A first hearer knew that Canaan was a patchwork of small walled city-states, each with its own king, its own few hundred acres of farmland and its own gods. The Amarna letters, clay tablets sent to Egypt's court about a century before these events, show those kings writing to Pharaoh for troops and accusing one another of treachery.
He knew what cutting off a captive king's thumbs and big toes did, since a man without thumbs cannot hold a sword or draw a bow and a man without big toes cannot balance or run, and Adoni-bezek says plainly that he had done it to seventy others. He knew that a chariot of iron was a light two-horse war cart with iron fittings on the wheels, axles and rails, fast and decisive on flat ground and of little use on terraced hillsides.
That is why the tribes held the ridges while the Canaanites kept the valleys and the coast road. And he knew that conscripted labour gangs were ordinary in the region, a stronger power taxing a weaker one in workdays, so the tribes that pressed the Canaanites into service at verses 28, 30, 33 and 35 took the profitable arrangement in place of the commanded one.
Significance
Israelites hearing this read knew every place name on the list and knew who still lived there. The chapter is an honest ledger of what their grandfathers left undone, and it explains why there was a Canaanite shrine on the next hill.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
It also sets the trap the rest of the book springs. The peoples left in the land are the neighbours whose gods will be worshipped, whose daughters will be married and whose customs will be copied.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
How it is read
The corpus carries Rashi on this chapter in seventeen places, in the Metsudah Tanach translation published at Lakewood, New Jersey, under a CC-BY licence. He opens the book on the tribe of Judah. The question of the first verse he reads against the allotments already cast under Joshua, so the war is over land assigned and still unconquered (Rashi on Judges 1:1:1). At the second verse he takes the answer as an order of precedence rather than a single command. Judah goes up first, and Rashi lists the other places where that tribe went first. They entered the water first at the splitting of the sea, their banner moved first in the wilderness, and they go up first here (Rashi on Judges 1:2:1). He closes the list at the coming redemption, where David of that tribe reigns first.
The capture of Adoni-bezek Rashi reads as a lesson in Canaanite wealth. The seventy kings at his table show "the eminence and affluence of the Canaanite potentates" (Rashi on Judges 1:7:1). His reason is that the man was left out of the thirty-one kings Joshua listed and is still called a king here. At the exchange between Othniel and Achsah he softens the verb the older versions read as enticement. She "advised him, as in he took counsel", because one counsels a person and directs his thinking to an alternative (Rashi on Judges 1:14:1). Rashi marks that reading as his own opinion. The dry land she then asks for he turns into a figure for a man, "barren of anything gainful, as he contains nothing but Torah" (Rashi on Judges 1:15:1).
The longest note in the chapter follows the Kenites up from the city of palms. Rashi names the place as Jericho and reports that its fertile tract was given to the descendants of Jethro for four hundred and forty years (Rashi on Judges 1:16:1). The land was then to pass to the tribe in whose portion the house of God would stand, so that all Israel would share in it. He adds that the scholars among the Kenites left for the wilderness of Judah to study Torah with Othniel son of Kenaz.
Two notes explain a failure by a cause outside the battle. At the nineteenth verse Rashi gives the reading of Targum Jonathan, that Judah could not drive out the valley dwellers afterward because they had sinned (Rashi on Judges 1:19:1). At the twenty-first he holds that the Jebusites of Jerusalem were descendants of Abimelech (Rashi on Judges 1:21:1). Israel was bound by the oath Abraham swore to that king and to his son and grandson. The oath held until David. At the twenty-second verse he records that Micah's idol already stood in Ephraim during the conquest (Rashi on Judges 1:22:1). Scripture still says that God was with the house of Joseph. Rashi answers the difficulty with a line from Daniel that gives mercy to God and shame to Israel.
Caleb's brother is read as a brother by the mother, because Othniel is called the Kenizite rather than the son of Kenaz (Rashi on Judges 1:13:1). Several of the other kept notes are short glosses of place and word. Bezek is a place name on the authority of a Talmudic discussion (Rashi on Judges 1:4:1). The spies of Bethel were sent through others rather than in person (Rashi on Judges 1:23:1). The way into the city ran through a hollow hazelnut tree at the mouth of a cave (Rashi on Judges 1:24:1). The man who pointed the entrance out with his finger draws an argument from the lighter case to the heavier, that one who escorts others in person deserves more (Rashi on Judges 1:25:1). Luz is named for the small nuts that grow on the tree (Rashi on Judges 1:26:1). Two more are briefer still, identifying the tribe of Simeon at the third verse and the firing of the city at the eighth (Rashi on Judges 1:3:1 and 1:8:1).
Seven further notes stand on this chapter with no English text in the corpus, so they are cited here and left unquoted. They are Radak on Judges 1:5:1, 1:6:1, 1:10:1 and 1:11:1, and Malbim on Judges 1:9:1, 1:17:1 and 1:20:1.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries forty rabbinic locators on this chapter, thirty-two of them Midrash and eight Talmud, and the text of none, so each is cited and linked here rather than quoted. The opening question and the sending of Judah are taken up at Aggadat Bereshit 64:2 and Avodah Zarah 25a:15, and at Ein Yaakov, Avodah Zarah 2:4 and Esther Rabbah 4:4. The pact with Simeon draws Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Vayechi 15 and Midrash Aggadah, Genesis 49:7:2, and the battle at Bezek draws Sifrei Devarim 353:13. Adoni-bezek is taken up at Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Yoma 2:1 and Ein Yaakov, Yoma 2:1, and his seventy kings at Midrash Lekach Tov, Deuteronomy 15:6:1 and Midrash Tannaim on Deuteronomy 33:17:6.
The Hebron and Debir campaign carries Yalkut Shimoni on Nach 37:5 at the tenth verse, and Avodah Zarah 24b:19 with Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Sotah 1:34 at the eleventh. Caleb's offer of his daughter draws Bereshit Rabbah 60:3 and Midrash Aggadah, Genesis 24:15:1, and Othniel draws Bereshit Rabbah 58:2 and Midrash Shmuel 8:9. The request of Achsah is taken up at Ein Yaakov, Temurah 2:5 and Yalkut Shimoni on Nach 27:1. The Kenites draw Avot DeRabbi Natan 35:4 and Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Sanhedrin 11:83, and Gaza and its neighbours draw Jerusalem Talmud Sheviit 6:1:12.
The chariots of iron are taken up at Aggadat Bereshit 51:1. Hebron given to Caleb draws Bava Batra 122b:2 and Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Bava Batra 8:16. The Jebusites left in Jerusalem draw Ein Yaakov, Yoma 5:13 and Otzar Midrashim, Baraita of Rabbi Pinchas Ben Yair 1:37. The house of Joseph at Bethel draws Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Re'eh 14:1 and Midrash Tanchuma, Re'eh 16:1. The man who showed the way into the city and the founding of the other Luz carry five locators. They are Bereshit Rabbah 69:8, Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Sotah 9:5, Otzar Midrashim, Pirkei Rabbeinu HaKadosh 1:122, Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 120:5 and Sotah 46b:11.
The roll of the tribes that failed to drive out the Canaanites closes the count. Manasseh is taken up at Chullin 7a:4, Zebulun at Ein Yaakov, Megillah 1:7, and Asher at Bereshit Rabbah 98:11. Dan pressed back into the hills draws Midrash Sekhel Tov, Shemot 12:23:4, and the house of Joseph's forced labour draws Bava Batra 122b:1. What each of them teaches is a saying of the rabbis, and is reported as theirs wherever this site quotes one. The quotations wait on a fetch that carries the text.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on Judges 1:1:1 to 1:26:1, seventeen notes, the Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J, CC-BY; Radak, Radak on Judges 1:5:1, 1:6:1, 1:10:1 and 1:11:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; Malbim, Malbim on Judges 1:9:1, 1:17:1 and 1:20:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/judges/1.json, the 40 rabbinic locators of this chapter, 32 Midrash and 8 Talmud.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Judah goes up first; Adoni-bezek's thumbs and toes
Judges 1:1-4
The book opens with a question put to God, and Albert Barnes notes that the phrase "inquired of the LORD" occurs only in Judges and the books of Samuel. The answer names Judah, whose "hand shall be on the necks of your enemies" at Genesis 49:8, and the same question at 20:18 again brings Judah up first. Simeon comes along because Joshua 19:9 places Simeon's inheritance "within Judah’s portion".
Judges 1:1
And in the Book of Joshua, son of Nave, when the land of promise was divided by lot among the other tribes, the tribe of Judah took its own portion of the land without casting lots, and first of all. And, moreover, "After the death of Joshua the children of Israel inquired of the Lord, saying, Who shall go up for us against the Canaanite, leading our fighting against him? And the Lord said, Judah shall go up. Behold, I have given the land into his hands."
Eusebius of Caesarea · written before 339 · THE PROOF OF THE GOSPEL 8.1patristic
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Judges 1:1
“After the death of Joshua - But from Jdg 1:1 to Jdg 2:9 is a consecutive narrative, ending with the death of Joshua. Hence, the events in this chapter and in Jdg 2:1-6 are to be taken as belonging to the lifetime of Joshua. See Jdg 2:11 note. Asked the Lord - The phrase is only found in Judges and Samuel. It was the privilege of the civil ruler, to apply to the high priest to consult for him the Urim and Thummim (marginal reference). (Compare Jos 14:1; Jos 18:1, Jos 18:10; Jos 19:51).”
Judah shall go up: Adam Clarke holds that Israel asked through Phinehas the high priest, who passed on the divine answer. Matthew Henry notes that Judah received its lot first and so fights first. He sees Christ, the Lion of Judah, going before them.
Judges 1:2
“The Lord said, Judah shall go up - They had inquired of the Lord by Phinehas the high priest; and he had communicated to them the Divine counsel.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Judges 1:2
“Judah was first served; the lot came up for Judah first, and therefore Judah must first fight. Judah was the tribe out of which our Lord was to spring: so that in Judah, Christ, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, went before them. Christ engaged the powers of darkness first, and foiled them, which animates us for our conflicts; and it is in him that we are more than conquerors.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
John Wesley gives two reasons for calling Simeon. Simeon was Judah's full brother by both parents, and the two tribes lived next to each other. The offer runs both ways, since Judah promises to fight in Simeon's territory in turn.
Judges 1:3
“To Simeon - As nearest to him both by relation, being his brother by both parents, and by habitation. The Canaanites - Specially so called, because they are distinguished from the Perizzites, ver. 4.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
The verse credits the LORD with the victory before it gives the count. Albert Barnes suggests Bezek may be the name of a district, and he says it has yet to be identified. Its king, Adoni-bezek, carries the place in his name.
Judges 1:4
“The Canaanites and the Perizzites - See Gen 12:6, note; Gen 13:7, note. Bezek may be the name of a district. It has not yet been identified.”
Judges 1:5-8
The captured king sentences himself, "As I have done to them, so God has repaid me", the one Canaanite in the book given a line of theology. Scripture names thumbs and big toes together elsewhere only where blood is put on them, at Exodus 29:20 and Leviticus 14:14. Jerusalem burns at verse 8, yet verse 21 finds the Jebusites still there, so the city was struck and not held.
Judges 1:5
“And they found Adoni-bezek - The word מצא matsa, “he found,” is used to express a hostile encounter between two parties; to attack, surprise, etc. This is probably its meaning here. Adoni-bezek is literally the lord of Bezek. It is very probable that the different Canaanitish tribes were governed by a sort of chieftains, similar to those among the clans of the ancient Scottish Highlanders. Bezek is said by some to have been in the tribe of Judah. Eusebius and St. Jerome mention two villages of this name, not in the tribe of Judah, but about seventeen miles from Shechem.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Matthew Henry calls this treatment of a captive barbarous, except that Adoni-bezek was a Canaanite devoted to destruction who had done the same to others. Henry also records that Josephus says they cut off his hands and feet. The king himself names the reason in verse 7.
Judges 1:6
“Cut off his thumbs - That he might never be able to draw his bow or handle his sword, and great toes, that he might never be able to pursue or escape from an adversary.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Judges 1:6
“It had been barbarous thus to triumph over a man in misery, and that lay at their mercy, but that he was a devoted Canaanite, and one that had in like manner abused others, which probably they had heard of. Josephus says, "They cut off his hands and his feet," probably supposing those more likely to be mortal wounds than only the cutting off of his thumbs and his great toes.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown explain the number by noting that every ruler of a city was then called a king. Albert Barnes infers that wars among the Canaanites themselves had weakened them before Israel arrived. Seventy captive kings show how divided the land was.
Judges 1:7
“Threescore and ten kings - We may infer from this number of conquered kings, that the intestine wars of the Canaanites were among the causes which, under God’s Providence, weakened their resistance to the Israelites. Adoni-Bezek’s cruelty to the subject kings was the cause of his receiving (compare the marginal references) this chastisement. The loss of the thumb would make a man unfit to handle a sword or a bow; the loss of his big toe would impede his speed.”
1 more voice on this verse
Judges 1:7
“Threescore and ten kings--So great a number will not appear strange, when it is considered that anciently every ruler of a city or large town was called a king. It is not improbable that in that southern region of Canaan, there might, in earlier times, have been even more till a turbulent chief like Adoni-bezek devoured them in his insatiable ambition.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Adam Clarke reads this verse as a look back to Joshua's day, since Joshua had killed the city's king at Joshua 10:26. He explains the Jebusites of verse 21 by the fortress on Mount Zion, which they held until David took it. The city burned; the stronghold stood.
Judges 1:8
“Had fought against Jerusalem - We read this verse in a parenthesis, because we suppose that it refers to the taking of this city by Joshua; for as he had conquered its armies and slew its king, Jos 10:26, it is probable that he took the city: yet we find that the Jebusites still dwelt in it, Jos 15:63; and that the men of Judah could not drive them out, which probably refers to the strong hold or fortress on Mount Zion, which the Jebusites held till the days of David, who took it, and totally destroyed the Jebusites.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Judges 1:9-15
Verses 10 to 15 repeat Joshua 15:14 to 19 almost word for word, once as Judah's inheritance and once as the start of Judah's war. Othniel, who takes Debir, becomes the first judge at 3:9, so the first deliverer is introduced winning a wife. Acsah alone in the chapter asks for anything, and she asks for "springs of water", since a Negev field without springs cannot be worked.
Judges 1:9
“The Canaanites, that dwelt to the mountain - The territories of the tribe of Judah lay in the most southern part of the promised land, which was very mountainous, though towards the west it had many fine plains. In some of these the Canaanites had dwelt; and the expedition marked here was for the purpose of finally expelling them. But probably this is a recapitulation of what is related Jos 10:36; Jos 11:21; Jos 15:13.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
John Wesley holds that Judah marched here under Caleb. He takes this account and the one in verses 12 to 15 as a single expedition, told here ahead of its place. Verse 20 names Caleb as the one who drove out the three sons of Anak.
Judges 1:10
“Judah went - Under the conduct of Caleb, as is recorded, ver. 14, &c., for that relation, and this, are doubtless one and the same expedition, and it is mentioned there by anticipation.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Othniel wins Achsah, and Achsah asks for water
From there ties this attack to the taking of Hebron in verse 10, so both towns fall in one campaign. John Gill reads the verse with Joshua 15:15, which tells the same attack. Caleb uses the old name when he sets the prize.
Judges 1:11
“And from thence he went against the inhabitants of Debir: and the name of Debir before was Kirjathsepher. See Gill on Jos 15:15.”
Caleb sets the prize before the battle, and the prize is his own daughter. John Gill reads the offer beside Joshua 15:16, where Caleb makes it in nearly the same words. Verse 13 shows the winner comes from inside Caleb's own family.
Judges 1:12
“And Caleb said, He that smiteth Kirjathsepher, and taketh it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter to wife. See Gill on Jos 15:16.”
1 more voice on this verse
Judges 1:12
“IN domestic life we often meet with pictures of life in the House of God. I am sure that we are allowed to find them there, for our Savior said, "If you, then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?" God is a Father and He likens Himself to us as fathers.”
Charles Spurgeon · written before 1892 · The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2312: “Achsah's Asking—a Pattern of Prayer” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition)Particular Baptist
John Gill reads the verse with Joshua 15:17, which records the same capture. In the Berean wording Kenaz is Caleb's younger brother, which makes Othniel the nephew of Caleb. Acsah marries her cousin.
Judges 1:13
“And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, took it: and he gave him Achsah his daughter to wife. See Gill on Jos 15:17.”
Acsah urges Othniel to ask for a field, and in the next verse she makes the request herself. Her getting off the donkey draws Caleb's question before she speaks. John Gill reads the scene with Joshua 15:18, where the same exchange is told.
Judges 1:14
“And it came to pass, when she came to him, that she moved him to ask of her father a field: and she lighted from off her ass; and Caleb said unto her, What wilt thou? See Gill on Jos 15:18.”
Give me a blessing: Acsah names her request a blessing, and Caleb gives both the upper and lower springs. Gregory the Dialogist draws on the verse to teach two kinds of compunction, meaning sorrow of heart for sin. The soul grieves first from fear, then from love.
Judges 1:15
“And she said unto him, Give me a blessing: for thou hast given me a south land; give me also springs of water. And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the nether springs. See Gill on Jos 15:19.”
1 more voice on this verse
Judges 1:15
“Compunction is divided into many kinds: to wit, when every sin is of penitent men in particular bewailed: whereof the prophet Jeremy, in the person of penitent sinners, speaketh thus: Mine eye hath brought forth divisions of waters. But speaking more properly, there be especially two kinds of compunction: for the soul that thirsteth after God is first sorrowful in heart for fear, and afterward upon love.”
Gregory the Dialogist · written before 604 · Dialogues, Book 3, Chapter 34patristic
Judges 1:16-18
The Kenites are the family of Moses' father-in-law, invited into Israel's portion at Numbers 10:29 to 32, and they settle in the south, which makes Heber's tent at 4:11 possible. Jericho is "the City of Palms", as at Deuteronomy 34:3. Gaza, Ashkelon and Ekron are three of the five Philistine capitals and stay Philistine through Judges and Samuel, so what verse 18 records as taken did not stay taken.
Judges 1:16
“The children of the Kenite, Moses’ father-in-law - For an account of Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, see Exodus 18:1-27 (note); Num 10:29 (note), etc. The city of palm trees - This seems to have been some place near Jericho, which city is expressly called the city of palm trees, Deu 34:3; and though destroyed by Joshua, it might have some suburbs remaining where these harmless people had taken up their residence.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Judges 1:16
“If he might not himself, his posterity did accept the invitation of Moses (Nu 10:32) to accompany the Israelites to Canaan. Their first encampment was in the "city of palm trees"--not Jericho, of course, which was utterly destroyed, but the surrounding district, perhaps En-gedi, in early times called Hazezon-tamar (Ge 14:7), from the palm-grove which sheltered it.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Judah keeps its promise of verse 3 to the Simeonites. Albert Barnes reads the name Hormah as the vow of Numbers 21 carried out, a destruction promised in the wilderness and done here. He takes it as a sign these events fell in Joshua's lifetime, about six years after the vow.
Judges 1:17
“Hormah - See Num 21:1 note. The destruction then vowed was now accomplished. This is another decisive indication that the events here related belong to Joshua’s lifetime. This would be about six years after the vow.”
Adam Clarke reports that the Septuagint reads the opposite, saying Judah did not possess Gaza, Ashkelon, or Ekron. John Wesley notes that the verse says the cities were taken and says nothing of their people being killed. He holds that the spared people regained their strength.
Judges 1:18
“Judah took Gaza - and Askelon - and Ekron - There is a most remarkable variation here in the Septuagint; I shall set down the verse: Και ουκ εκληρονομησεν Ιουδας την Γαζαν, ουδε τα ὁρια αυτης· ουδε την Ασκαλωνα, ουδε τα ὁρια αυτης· και την Ακκαρων, ουδε τα ὁρια αυτης· την Αζωτον, ουδε τα περισπορια αυτης· και ην Κυριος μετα Ιουδα. “But Judah Did Not possess Gaza, Nor the coast thereof; neither Askelon, nor the coasts thereof, neither Ekron, nor the coasts thereof; neither Azotus, nor its adjacent places: and the Lord was with Judah.””
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Judges 1:18
“Judah took - It is only said, they took the cities, and probably contented themselves with making them tributary; but it is not said that they slew the people, as they ought to have done; and as it is said of the other cities here. And the people being thus spared, did by God's just judgment recover their strength, and expel the Jews out of their cities.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Judges 1:19-21
the Lord was with Judah: The book turns on this verse, which sets "The LORD was with Judah" against "could not drive out the inhabitants of the plains". The reason is "chariots of iron", the obstacle Joseph raised at Joshua 17:16, and nine hundred of them stand behind Sisera at 4:3. At verse 21 could not becomes failed to, and the tribe is Benjamin, where Joshua 15:63 tells the same failure of Judah.
Judges 1:19
“And the Lord was with Judah, and he drave out the inhabitants of the mountain; but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron - Strange! were the iron chariots too strong for Omnipotence? The whole of this verse is improperly rendered.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Judges 1:19
“Could not drive - Because of their unbelief, whereby they distrusted God's power to destroy those who had chariots of iron, and so gave way to their own fear and sloth, whereby God was provoked to withdraw his helping hand.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Judges 1:19
“The Chaldee reads it here, as in many other places, The Word of the Lord was their helper, namely, Christ himself, the captain of the Lord's host, now that they acted separately, as well as when they were all in one body.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
John Gill holds that Caleb received the fields and villages around Hebron, since the city itself went to the Levites. He dates the gift to Joshua's time, carried out as Moses had ordered. Verse 10 already named the three: Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai.
Judges 1:20
“And they gave Hebron unto Caleb, as Moses said,.... Which was done in the times of Joshua, both by him and all the people, according to the order of Moses. This is to be understood not of the city which was given to the Levites, but of the fields and parts adjacent, Jos 14:13, and he expelled thence the three sons of Anak: whose names are given Jdg 1:10; this shows that this refers to the same expedition as in Jos 15:14; and is expressed in the same manner.”
John Gill places Jerusalem on the border between Judah and Benjamin, with a share belonging to each. Albert Barnes suggests that the verse once read Judah, as Joshua 15:63 does, and was later changed to Benjamin because Jebus lay inside Benjamin's border. Neither tribe, Gill says, could drive them out.
Judges 1:21
“And the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem,.... That is, that part of it which belonged to them, for it lay between Judah and Benjamin; and neither of them separately, nor both conjunctly, could drive out the Jebusites from it, particularly the strong hold on the top of Mount Sion, which they held to the times of David.”
1 more voice on this verse
Judges 1:21
“This verse is nearly identical with Jos 15:63, except in the substitution of Benjamin for Judah. Probably the original reading Judah was altered in later times to Benjamin, because Jebus was within the border of Benjamin, and neither had the Benjamites expelled the Jebusites.”
The long roll of Canaanites not driven out
Judges 1:22-26
The city is Luz, which Jacob named Bethel at Genesis 28:19, and the scene follows Joshua 2, with spies, a man who shows the way in and a household spared. It parts from Rahab at the end, since she lives among Israel at Joshua 6:25 and stands in Christ's line at Matthew 1:5. This man goes "to the land of the Hittites", where he builds a second Luz.
Judges 1:22
“The house of Joseph, they also went up against Bethel - That is, the tribe of Ephraim and the half tribe of Manasseh, who dwelt beyond Jordan. Beth-el was not taken by Joshua, though he took Ai, which was nigh to it. Instead of בית יוסף beith Yoseph, “the house of Joseph,” ten of Dr. Kennicott’s MSS. and six of De Rossi’s have בני יוסף beney Yoseph, “the children of Joseph;” and this is the reading of both the Septuagint and Arabic, as well as of two copies in the Hexapla of Origen.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
John Gill says the name Luz means a nut, and he suggests nut trees grew near it. He records a Jewish tradition that the city was like a nut, with its only way in through a cave or a passage underground. That would explain why the spies asked for the entrance.
Judges 1:23
“And the house of Joseph sent to descry Bethel,.... To reconnoitre the place, to observe its passes and avenues, which were most accessible, and to examine the walls of it, where they were weakest and least defended: now the name of the city before was Luz; which signifies a "nut"; perhaps it was so called from large numbers of nut trees which grew near it; the Jews suggest as if it was like a nut, no entrance into it but through a cave or some subterraneous passage, see Gen 28:19.”
Adam Clarke calls the man a traitor who bought his own life with the lives of his neighbours. Matthew Henry excuses him if he acted from conviction that the Lord was with Israel, as Rahab did. Clarke allows that the laws of war let Israel use him.
Judges 1:24
“Show us - the entrance into the city - Taken in whatever light we choose, the conduct of this man was execrable. He was a traitor to his country, and he was accessary to the destruction of the lives and property of his fellow citizens, which he most sinfully betrayed, in order to save his own. According to the rules and laws of war, the children of Judah might avail themselves of such men and their information; but this does not lessen, on the side of this traitor, the turpitude of the action.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Judges 1:24
“And here, [1.] He is not to be blamed for giving them this intelligence if he did it from a conviction that the Lord was with them, and that by his donation the land was theirs of right, any more than Rahab was for entertaining those whom she knew to be enemies of her country, but friends of God.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
The spies promised kindness to the man alone, and the release extends to all his family. Everyone else in the city falls to the sword. Verse 22 credits the capture to the LORD being with them, and this verse credits the way in to one informant.
Adam Clarke suggests the land of the Hittites lay beyond Canaan in Arabia, where that people had gone when Joshua expelled them. He takes the man for a Hittite himself. Naming the new city Luz kept the old name of Bethel alive.
Judges 1:26
“The land of the Hittites - Probably some place beyond the land of Canaan, in Arabia, whither this people emigrated when expelled by Joshua. The man himself appears to have been a Hittite, and to perpetuate the name of his city he called the new one which he now founded Luz, this being the ancient name of Beth-el.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Judges 1:27-33
Five tribes fail in the same form, and the wording weakens as the list runs. Manasseh's towns are the fortress chain across the Jezreel valley, and Israel "pressed the Canaanites into forced labor", which Solomon still used at 1 Kings 9:21. At verse 32 "the Asherites lived among the Canaanite inhabitants", so the tribe has become the one living in somebody else's country.
Judges 1:27
“Beth-shean - Called by the Septuagint Σκυθωνπολις, Scythopolis, or the city of the Scythians. On these towns see the notes, Jos 17:12-13 (note).”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Forced labor begins only when Israel became stronger. Israel had strength enough to press the Canaanites into service, and it used that strength to keep them in the land as workers. Verse 30 records the same pattern for Zebulun, and verse 35 for the house of Joseph and the Amorites.
John Gill notes that Ephraim's Canaanites at Gezer are left out of the forced labor named for other tribes. He suspects Ephraim made a covenant with them. Joshua 16:10 does put them under tribute, which Gill places at a later time.
Judges 1:29
“Neither did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer,.... Not so much as made them tributaries, but made a covenant with them, it is probable, contrary to the express will of God: but the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them; the Ephraimites agreeing to it, and here they dwelt to the times of Solomon; See Gill on Jos 16:10; where indeed they are said to be under tribute; but that seems to respect some later time, and not when they were first admitted to dwell among them, since no mention is made of it here.”
Kitron and Nahalol stay Canaanite, yet the Canaanites there live among Zebulun and work as forced laborers. Zebulun keeps the upper hand, as Israel did in verse 28. Adam Clarke reads the verse alongside Joshua 19:10 to 15.
Judges 1:30
“Neither did Zebulun drive out - See on Jos 19:10-15 (note).”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Albert Barnes notes that Acco is named here for the first time. The town was later called Ptolemais and in his day Akka, known as Acre. The list runs to seven towns, and none was taken.
Judges 1:31
“Compare the marginal reference. Accho, afterward called Ptolemais, now Akka or St. Jean d’Acre, is named here for the first time.”
Albert Barnes adds that Asher's Canaanites are never said to have been put to forced labor, as Zebulun's were in verse 30. He reads this as a sign of Canaanite strength in that region. Naphtali at least drew labor from two towns in verse 33.
Judges 1:32
“It is an evidence of the power of the Canaanite in this portion of the land that it is not said (compare Jdg 1:30) that the Canaanites dwelt among the Asherites, but that the Asherites (and Jdg 1:33, Naphtali) “dwelt among the Canaanites;” nor are the Canaanites in Accho, Zidon, and the other Asherite cities, said to have become tributaries.”
Naphtali stands between the two patterns of the chapter. The tribe lives among the Canaanites, as Asher does in verse 32, yet it draws forced labor from Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath, as Zebulun does in verse 30. Adam Clarke reads the verse with Joshua 19:32 to 39.
Judges 1:33
“Neither did Naphtali - See the notes on Jos 19:32-39 (note).”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Judges 1:34-36
Dan fails the other way: the Amorites "did not allow them to come down into the plain", so an Israelite tribe is the one driven out. That pressure lies behind chapters 17 and 18, where Dan takes Laish in the far north. Shaalbim, written into Dan's inheritance at Joshua 19:42 as Shaalabbin, is held by the house of Joseph, and the chapter closes on "the border of the Amorites".
Judges 1:34
“The Amorites forced the children of Dan, etc. - Just as the ancient Britons were driven into the mountains of Wales by the Romans; and the native Indians driven back into the woods by the British settlers in America.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Matthew Henry sets Dan beside Judah through Jacob's blessing, where Judah is a lion and Dan a serpent. Judah's courage prevailed, and Dan's cunning gained no ground. Adam Clarke suggests the Amorites kept to the hills because they could not hold the plain, yet remained too strong for Dan to expel.
Judges 1:35
“The Amorites would dwell in Mount Heres - They perhaps agreed to dwell in the mountainous country, being unable to maintain themselves on the plain, and yet were so powerful that the Danites could not totally expel them; they were, however, laid under tribute, and thus the house of Joseph had the sovereignty.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Judges 1:35
“In Jacob's blessing Judah is compared to a lion, Dan to a serpent; now observe how Judah with his lion-like courage prospered and prevailed, but Dan with all his serpenting subtlety could get no ground; craft and artful management do not always effect the wonders they pretend to.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Adam Clarke gives Akrabbim the meaning scorpions, probably from the number of them found there. He notes that the Vulgate takes Sela, meaning rock, as the city of Petra. Clarke calls it the capital of Arabia Petraea.
Judges 1:36
“Akrabbim - Of scorpions; probably so called from the number of those animals in that place. From the rock, and upward - The Vulgate understands by סלע sela, a rock, the city Petra, which was the capital of Arabia Petraea. The whole of this chapter appears to be designed as a sort of supplement to those places in the book of Joshua which are referred to in the notes and in the margin; nor is there any thing in it worthy of especial remark.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
How this psalm is built
The form: A campaign narrative that turns into a tribe by tribe record of what was left untaken, as Barnes classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| The question the book opens and closes its warfare with | Israel asks who shall go up first against the Canaanites at verse 1 and the answer is Judah. The same question is put again at 20:18, when the enemy is Israel's own tribe of Benjamin, and the answer is Judah again. The site's published exposition of this chapter marks the pair, so the book opens and closes its warfare with the same tribe sent first.The site's published exposition note on Judges 1:1 to 4, The store's `verse_notes` for Judges 1, catchword "after the death of Joshua", citing Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament, and Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1863. | Judges 1:1, Judges 1:2 |
| The sentence repeated down the list of tribes | From verse 21 to verse 33 the same clause returns for Benjamin, Manasseh, Ephraim, Zebulun, Asher and Naphtali: they did not drive out the inhabitants. John Wesley marks the weakening at verse 18, where Judah is said to have taken the cities while nothing is said of clearing them as the command required.John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament, 1765, on Judges 1:18. | Judges 1:21, Judges 1:27, Judges 1:29, Judges 1:30, Judges 1:31, Judges 1:33 |
| The towns named in order, each with its tribe | Verses 27 to 36 are built as a list rather than as a story. Manasseh's towns are Beth-shean, Taanach, Dor, Ibleam and Megiddo, the chain of strongholds across the valley of Jezreel, and Asher's are seven towns along the northern coast. Taanach and Megiddo are where Deborah's song later puts the battle at 5:19.The site's published exposition note on Judges 1:27 to 33, The store's `verse_notes` for Judges 1, catchword "Neither did Manasseh drive out", citing Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1863, and John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament, 1748 to 1763. | Judges 1:27, Judges 1:31, Judges 1:35 |
| The name that states the sentence | Adoni-bezek means the lord of Bezek, as Adam Clarke reads the name, so the man is called by the town he ruled. He is maimed in the way he had maimed seventy kings and says that God has repaid him, and he is the one Canaanite in the book given a line of theology of his own.Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, 1810 to 1826, on Judges 1:5. | Judges 1:5, Judges 1:7 |
| The two words for one failure | Verse 19 says Judah could not drive out the inhabitants of the plains, and verse 21 says Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites. The verb changes from inability to omission at the seam of the list, and every tribe after verse 21 takes the second verb.The site's published exposition note on Judges 1:19 to 21, The store's `verse_notes` for Judges 1, catchword "the Lord was with Judah", citing Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1863, and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1708 to 1710. | Judges 1:19, Judges 1:21 |
The structure of the chapter in the book's argument
12 more paragraphs on the patterns
The chapter answers the question the book opens with and leaves a second question standing. Judah goes up under orders and wins, and the tribes named after verse 21 do not. Matthew Henry reads the order of the lot as the reason Judah was first served, and adds that Judah was the tribe the Lord was to spring from, so that in Judah the Lion of the tribe of Judah went before them. Albert Barnes reads the same priority as a plain indication of divine direction, given through the Urim and Thummim.
What the chapter hands to chapter 2 is the list itself. The angel at Bochim charges Israel at 2:2 with making a covenant with the people of the land rather than tearing down their altars, and the charge reads against the towns named here. The reason for the failure is given twice more in the chapters that follow, at 2:22 as a test and at 3:1 to 2 as a way of teaching war to a generation that had never fought.
The historical value
The world of the chapter is documented outside the Bible. The site's published dossier for Judges carries the Amarna Letters of about 1360 to 1330 BC, an Egyptian archive of letters from Canaanite city-kings describing a land of small rival cities, weak central control, shifting alliances and roving groups called the habiru. The dossier states the limit of the parallel as well: the old identification of the habiru with the Hebrews is a social term rather than an ethnic one and does not hold as a direct equation, so the letters give a setting and not an identification.
The dossier also carries the Merneptah Stele of about 1208 BC, discovered by Flinders Petrie in 1896, which lists Israel among the peoples of Canaan and writes the name with the determinative for a people rather than for a settled city-state. Israel is in the land and worth naming before the twelfth century, which is the setting this chapter assumes.
The chariots of iron at verse 19 belong to the same period. The site's published historical layer for this chapter reads them as light two-horse war carts with iron fittings on the wheels, axles and rails, expensive and fast on flat ground and of little use on terraced hillsides, which is why the tribes held the ridges while the Canaanites kept the valleys and the coast road. The same obstacle is raised by the house of Joseph at Joshua 17:16 and answered at 17:18, and nine hundred of them stand behind Sisera at Judges 4:3.
The debated reading at verse 19
The sentence holds two clauses that press against each other: the LORD was with Judah, and Judah could not drive out the inhabitants of the plains. Adam Clarke puts the difficulty as a question, whether the iron chariots were too strong for Omnipotence, and looks for the answer elsewhere than in the chariots.
John Wesley answers from Israel's side, that the failure was unbelief, since they distrusted God's power against chariots and gave way to fear and sloth. Matthew Henry records the Chaldee paraphrase of the verse, that the Word of the LORD was their helper. The Berean text carries the plain clause and the readings above are the ways the commentators have held it.
Where the chapter reaches
Othniel is introduced here winning a wife and returns at 3:9 as the first deliverer, with the Spirit of the LORD coming upon him at 3:10. The Kenites who settle in the south at verse 16 are the family Heber belongs to at 4:11, which is why Jael has a tent in the north when Sisera runs to it. Dan, forced into the hill country at verse 34, is the tribe that sends five men north to look for land at 18:2. Bethel, taken at verse 22, is the town Jacob named at Genesis 28:19.
Matthew Henry reads the man who showed the way into Bethel beside Rahab at Joshua 2. The site's published exposition marks where the two part, since Rahab is brought inside Israel at Joshua 6:25 and stands in the line of Christ at Matthew 1:5, while this man leaves for the land of the Hittites and builds a second Luz. The text records what he did and gives no judgment on him.
Keep studying
Studies2
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The form and classifications
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, 1810 to 1826, on Judges 1:1; Albert Barnes and John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament, 1765, on Judges 1:10.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes; Gregory the Dialogist, Dialogues, Book 3, Chapter 34; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Joshua, Judges, Ruth and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.