1And it will be after the death of Joshua, and the sons of Israel will ask of Jehovah, saying, Who will go up for us against the Canaanites in the beginning to war against them? 2And Jehovah will say, Judah shall go up: behold, I gave the land into his hand. 3And Judah will say to Simeon his brother, Go up with me into my lot, and we will fight against the Canaanite; and I also went up with thee into thy lot, and Simeon will go with him. 4And Judah will go up, and Jehovah will give the Canaanite and the Perizzite into their hand; and they will smite them in Bezek, ten thousand men, 5And they will find lord Bezek in Bezek: and they will war against him, and will smite the Canaanite and the Perizzite. 6And lord Bezek will flee, and they will pursue after him and take him; and they will cut off the thumbs of his hands and of his feet 7And lord Bezek will say, Seventy kings with the thumbs of their hands and their feet being cut off, were gathering under my table; as I did so God requited me. And they will bring him to Jerusalem, and he will die there. 8And the sons of Judah will war against Jerusalem and will take it, and will smite it with the mouth of the sword, and they cast the city into fire. 9And afterward the sons of Judah went down to war against the Canaanite dwelling in the mountain, and in the south, and in the plain. 10And Judah will go against the Canaanite dwelling in Hebron: (and the name of Hebron before, the city of Arba:) and they will smite Sheshai and Ahiman and Talmai. 11And he will go from thence to the inhabitants of Debir: and the name of Debir before, the city of the Book. 12And Caleb will say, Whoever shall smite the city of the Book and take it, and I will give to him Achsah my daughter for a wife. 13And Othniel, son of Kenaz, Caleb's brother, the small, will take it from him, and he will give to him Achsah his daughter for a wife. 14And it will be in her coming she will stimulate him to ask from her father a field: and she will descend from off the ass; and Caleb will say to her, What to thee? 15And she will say to him, Give to me a blessing: for thou gavest to me a south land, and give to me fountains of water. And Caleb will give to her the fountains above and the fountains below. 16And the sons of the Kenite, father-in-law of Moses, went up from the city of palm-trees with the sons of Judah to the desert of Judah, which is in the south of Arad; and he went up and dwelt with the people: 17And Judah will go up with Simeon his brother, and they will smite the Canaanite dwelling in Zephath, and they will exterminate it, and he will call the name of the city, Hormah. 18And Judah will take Gaza and, its bounds, and Askelon and her bounds, and Ekron and her bounds. 19And Jehovah will be with Judah; and be will inherit the mountain because there was no driving out the inhabitants of the valley, for to them the chariot of iron. 20And they will give to Caleb, Hebron, as Moses space: and he will drive out from thence the three sons of Anak. 21And the Jebusite dwelling in Jerusalem, the sons of Benjamin did not drive out; and the Jebusite dwelt with the sons of Benjamin in Jerusalem even to this day. 22And the house of Joseph they also will go up to the house of God and Jehovah with them. 23And the house of Joseph will examine in the house of God. And the name of the city before, was Almond tree. 24And they watching will see a man coming out of the city, and they will say to him, Show to us the entrance of the city, and we will do mercy with thee. 25And he will show them the entrance of the city, and they will smite the city with the mouth of the sword: and that man and all his family they sent away. 26And the man will go up to the land of the Hittites, and he will build a city and call its name Luz; this its name till this day. 27And Manasseh did not drive out the House of Rest and her daughters, and Tanach and her daughters, and the inhabitants of Dor and her daughters, and the inhabitants of Ibleam and her daughters, and the inhabitants of Megiddo and her daughters; and the Canaanite wills to dwell in that land. 28And it will be when Israel was strong, and he will put the Canaanite to tribute; and driving out, they did not drive out 29And Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanite dwelling in Gezer; and the Canaanite dwelt in his midst in Gezer. 30Zebulon did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, and the inhabitants of Nahalol; and the Canaanite will dwell in his midst, and they will be for tribute. 31Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Accho, and the inhabitants of Zidon and Ahlab and Achzib and Helbah, and Aphik, and Rehob: 32And the Asherite dwelt in the midst of the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; for they drove not out 33Naphtali drove not out the inhabitants of the House of the Sun, and the inhabitants of the House of Affliction; and he dwelt in the midst of the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; and the inhabitants of the House of the Sun, and of the House of Response, they were to them for tribute. 34And the Amorites will press the sons of Dan to the mountain: for they gave not to come down to the valley: 35And the Amorite willed to dwell in mount Heres and in Ajalon, and in Shaalbim: and the hand of the house of Joseph will be heavy, and they will be for tribute 36And the bound of the Amorite from the ascent of Akrabbim from the rock, and above.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 THE ACTS OF JUDAH AND SIMEON. (
Judg 1:1-
Judg 1:3)
Now after the death of Joshua--probably not a long period, for the Canaanites seem to have taken advantage of that event to attempt recovering their lost position, and the Israelites were obliged to renew the war.
the children of Israel asked the Lord--The divine counsel on this, as on other occasions, was sought by Urim and Thummim, by applying to the high priest, who, according to JOSEPHUS, was Phinehas.
saying, Who shall go up for us against the Canaanites first--The elders, who exercised the government in their respective tribes, judged rightly, that in entering upon an important expedition, they should have a leader nominated by divine appointment; and in consulting the oracle, they adopted a prudent course, whether the object of their inquiry related to the choice of an individual commander, or to the honor of precedency among the tribes.
2 the Lord said, Judah shall go up--The predicted pre-eminence (
Gen 49:8) was thus conferred upon Judah by divine direction, and its appointment to take the lead in the ensuing hostilities was of great importance, as the measure of success by which its arms were crowned, would animate the other tribes to make similar attempts against the Canaanites within their respective territories.
I have delivered the land into his hand--not the whole country, but the district assigned for his inheritance.
3 Judah said unto Simeon his brother, Come up with me . . ., that we may fight against the Canaanites--Being conterminous tribes (
Josh 19:1-
Josh 19:2), they had a common interest, and were naturally associated in this enterprise.
5 ADONI-BEZEK JUSTLY REQUITED. (Jdg. 1:4-21)
Bezek--This place lay within the domain of Judah, about twelve miles south of Jerusalem.
found Adoni-bezek--that is, "lord of Bezek"--he was "found," that is, surprised and routed in a pitched battle, whence he fled; but being taken prisoner, he was treated with a severity unusual among the Israelites, for they "cut off his thumbs and great toes." Barbarities of various kinds were commonly practised on prisoners of war in ancient times, and the object of this particular mutilation of the hands and feet was to disable them for military service ever after. The infliction of such a horrid cruelty on this Canaanite chief would have been a foul stain on the character of the Israelites if there were not reason for believing it was done by them as an act of retributive justice, and as such it was regarded by Adoni-bezek himself, whose conscience read his atrocious crimes in their punishment.
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.
8 Now the children of Judah had fought against Jerusalem, and had taken it--The capture of this important city, which ranks among the early incidents in the war of invasion (
Josh 15:63), is here noticed to account for its being in the possession of the Judahites; and they brought Adoni-bezek thither [
Judg 1:7], in order, probably, that his fate being rendered so public, might inspire terror far and wide. Similar inroads were made into the other unconquered parts of Judah's inheritance [
Judg 1:9-
Judg 1:11]. The story of Caleb's acquisition of Hebron is here repeated (
Josh 15:16-
Josh 15:19). [See on
Josh 15:16.]
16 the children of the Kenite, Moses' father-in-law, went up out of the city of palm trees with the children of Judah--called "the Kenite," as probably descended from the people of that name (
Num 24:21-
Num 24:22). If he might not himself, his posterity did accept the invitation of Moses (
Num 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 (
Gen 14:7), from the palm-grove which sheltered it. Thence they removed for some unknown cause, and associating themselves with Judah, joined in an expedition against Arad, in the southern part of Canaan (
Num 21:1). On the conquest of that district, some of this pastoral people pitched their tents there, while others migrated to the north (
Judg 4:17).
17 And Judah went with Simeon his brother--The course of the narrative is here resumed from
Judg 1:9, and an account given of Judah returning the services of Simeon (
Judg 1:3), by aiding in the prosecution of the war within the neighboring tribes.
slew the Canaanites that inhabited Zephath--or Zephathah (
2Chr 14:10), a valley lying in the southern portion of Canaan.
Hormah--destroyed in fulfilment of an early vow of the Israelites (see on
Num 21:2). The confederate tribes, pursuing their incursions in that quarter, came successively to Gaza, Askelon, and Ekron, which they took. But the Philistines seem soon to have regained possession of these cities.
19 the Lord was with Judah; . . . but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley--The war was of the Lord, whose omnipotent aid would have ensured their success in every encounter, whether on the mountains or the plains, with foot soldiers or cavalry. It was distrust, the want of a simple and firm reliance on the promise of God, that made them afraid of the iron chariots (see on
Josh 11:4-
Josh 11:9).
21 the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem--Judah had expelled the people from their part of Jerusalem (
Judg 1:8). The border of the two tribes ran through the city--Israelites and natives must have been closely intermingled.
22 SOME CANAANITES LEFT. (
Judg 1:22-
Judg 1:26)
the house of Joseph--the tribe of Ephraim, as distinguished from Manasseh (
Judg 1:27).
24 the spies . . . said, . . . Show us, . . . the entrance into the city--that is, the avenues to the city, and the weakest part of the walls.
we will show thee mercy--The Israelites might employ these means of getting possession of a place which was divinely appropriated to them: they might promise life and rewards to this man, though he and all the Canaanites were doomed to destruction (
Josh 2:12-
Josh 2:14); but we may assume the promise was suspended on his embracing the true religion, or quitting the country, as he did. If they had seen him to be firmly opposed to either of these alternatives, they would not have constrained him by promises any more than by threats to betray his countrymen. But if they found him disposed to be serviceable, and to aid the invaders in executing the will of God, they might promise to spare him.
26 Luz--(See on
Gen 12:7;
Gen 28:18).
27 The same course of subjugation was carried on in the other tribes to a partial extent, and with varying success. Many of the natives, no doubt, during the progress of this exterminating war, saved themselves by flight and became, it is thought, the first colonists in Greece, Italy, and other countries. But a large portion made a stout resistance and retained possession of their old abodes in Canaan. In other cases, when the natives were vanquished, avarice led the Israelites to spare the idolaters, contrary to the express command of God; and their disobedience to His orders in this matter involved them in many troubles which this book describes.