Judah Takes the Lead
1:1 After Joshua died, the Israelites asked the Lord, “Who should lead the invasion against the Canaanites and launch the attack?”
Joshua died at 110 years old. Israel no longer had a Moses or a Joshua to lead them. Joshua commanded the twelve tribes to exterminate the remainder of the Canaanites in the land, or Israel would be seduced into idolatry. The people most likely asked this question through the Urim and Thummim at Shiloh. Shiloh was the location of the Tabernacle.
1:2 The Lord said, “The men of Judah should take the lead. Be sure of this! I am handing the land over to them.”
Judah was to exterminate all of the Canaanites in all of Israel.
1:3 The men of Judah said to their relatives, the men of Simeon, “Invade our allotted land with us and help us attack the Canaanites. Then we will go with you into your allotted land.” So the men of Simeon went with them.
Notice that God did not ask Simeon to fight with Judah. This was strictly Judah’s invitation. Judah may have asked Simeon to join them out of the fear of the size of the enemy. Simeon was living among the territory of Judah and Ephraim.
1:4 The men of Judah attacked, and the Lord handed the Canaanites and Perizzites over to them. They killed ten thousand men at Bezek.
The role of Judah was to initiate the attack. The role of God was to deliver victory. The Canaanites and Perizzites were defeated.
1:5 They met Adoni-Bezek at Bezek and fought him. They defeated the Canaanites and Perizzites.
Adoni-Bezek means “the lord of Bezek”. It was most likely the dynastic title of the Canaanite king.
1:6 When Adoni-Bezek ran away, they chased him and captured him. Then they cut off his thumbs and big toes.
Judah was commanded to exterminate the Canaanites, not cut off their fingers and toes. Cutting off the thumbs and toes made the Canaanite king militarily useless; he could not carry a weapon or walk with balance.
1:7 Adoni-Bezek said, “Seventy kings, with thumbs and big toes cut off, used to lick up food scraps under my table. God has repaid me for what I did to them.” They brought him to Jerusalem, where he died.
The Canaanite king had done the same thing to seventy other kings. Notice that Adoni-Bezek died naturally in Jerusalem. This means that Judah did not execute him. Judah violated God’s call to the genocide of all Canaanites who were inside the land of Canaan.
1:8 The men of Judah attacked Jerusalem and captured it. They put the sword to it and set the city on fire.
Joshua had already conquered Jerusalem, yet the Benjamites were not able to keep it. The Jebusites came back in and rebuilt the city, but the men of Judah re-entered the city and conquered it again. However, the Benjamites lost the city again. King Saul, a Benjamite, will not be able to conquer Jerusalem. The Jebusites will finally be conquered by King David, who was from the tribe of Judah. Therefore, the Benjamites grew into a tribe with shallow faith.
1:9 Later the men of Judah went down to attack the Canaanites living in the hill country, the Negev, and the lowlands.
Judah conquered three major regions. The hill-country was in the north of Judah. The Negev was in the south of Judah. The lowlands, also called the Shephelah, were in the west of Judah.
1:10 The men of Judah attacked the Canaanites living in Hebron. (Hebron used to be called Kiriath Arba.) They killed Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai.
Caleb actually took Hebron, but he was considered part of the tribe of Judah.
1:11 From there they attacked the people of Debir. (Debir used to be called Kiriath Sepher.)
Caleb himself did not attack Debir, but he made an offer to the people of Judah.
1:12 Caleb said, “To the man who attacks and captures Kiriath Sepher I will give my daughter Acsah as a wife.”
Caleb wanted to find his lovely daughter a man who had enough faith in God to conquer a city of giants.
1:13 When Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, captured it, Caleb gave him his daughter Acsah as a wife.
Othniel passed the test. He will later become one of the thirteen judges of Israel. These judges would be better known as “saviors of Israel”. They will all save Israel from foreign enemies.
1:14 One time Acsah came and charmed her father so she could ask him for some land. When she got down from her donkey, Caleb said to her, “What would you like?”
Notice that her husband Othniel did not make this request. Caleb was a very well-respected man and may have been hard to approach on this issue.
1:15 She answered, “Please give me a special present. Since you have given me land in the Negev, now give me springs of water.” So Caleb gave her both the upper and lower springs.
The land that Caleb gave to Othniel was actually in the hill country and not in the Negev. However, the land had the qualities of the Negev, meaning that the soil was good but there was no water. Caleb could not turn down the request from his charming daughter.
1:16 Now the descendants of the Kenite, Moses’ father-in-law, went up with the people of Judah from the City of Date Palm Trees to Arad in the desert of Judah, located in the Negev. They went and lived with the people of Judah.
The Kenites were Midianites. They were the descendants of the father-in-law and brother-in-law of Moses. Moses married Zipporah, who was a Midianite. The city of Date Palm Trees refers to Jericho.
There was a curse on anyone who rebuilt Jericho. The Kenites did not rebuild Jericho. They lived in the area, but at different locations. Archaeologists dug up Jericho and found out that after it was burned by Joshua, the city was not lived in again until 500 years later. Those findings all match with the biblical record.
1:17 The men of Judah went with their brothers the men of Simeon and defeated the Canaanites living in Zephath. They wiped out Zephath. So people now call the city Hormah.
Zephath was a city in Simeon’s territory. Therefore, Simeon joined the attack, just as they promised in verse 3. Hormah means “a city destined for destruction.”
1:18 The men of Judah captured Gaza, Ashkelon, Ekron, and the territory surrounding each of these cities.
Judah wiped out the Canaanites living in these cities. Later, the Philistines would move in and capture these cities.
1:19 The Lord was with the men of Judah. They conquered the hill country, but they could not conquer the people living in the coastal plain, because they had chariots with iron-rimmed wheels.
Judah did not have enough faith to begin a fight against an enemy who had superior advantages. If Judah does not begin the fight, then Jehovah cannot give them divine faith. The loss of leadership had begun to negatively effect even the strongest tribe of Israel.
1:20 Caleb received Hebron, just as Moses had promised. He drove out the three Anakites.
Caleb drove the giants out of Hebron.
1:21 The men of Benjamin, however, did not conquer the Jebusites living in Jerusalem. The Jebusites live with the people of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this very day.
Benjamin has grown so weak morally, that they did not have enough faith in God to keep a city that Judah conquered for them. The results of this spiritual weakness will be seen at the end of the Book of Judges.
The day that the author wrote this book, the Jebusites were still living in Jerusalem.
Partial Success
1:22 When the men of Joseph attacked Bethel, the Lord was with them.
Bethel was in Benjamite territory, but on the border of Ephraim. Ephraim did not want Canaanites living on their border, so they attacked them. The house of Joseph would include both Ephraim and Manasseh. When Joseph attacked, God gave them divine aid. Therefore, like Judah, the house of Joseph took what the tribe of Benjamin would not take.
1:23 When the men of Joseph spied out Bethel (it used to be called Luz),
The house of Joseph sent spies to Bethel.
1:24 the spies spotted a man leaving the city. They said to him, “If you show us a secret entrance into the city, we will reward you.”
The Canaanite man had left the city by a secret entrance.
1:25 He showed them a secret entrance into the city, and they put the city to the sword. But they let the man and his extended family leave safely.
This Canaanite man should have been exterminated. However, Israel made a bargain with this man which was similar to that of Rahab. There is no indication that this man ever became a believer. He betrayed his city only to survive, and there is nothing spiritual about that. The difference in the bargain with Rahab is that she became a believer in the God of Israel and an ancestor of the Messiah. Israel was beginning to compromise with God’s order of genocide.
1:26 He moved to Hittite country and built a city. He named it Luz, and it has kept that name to this very day.
The Hittites were called “the Lost Civilization”. They were mentioned over 100 times in the Bible, but archaeologists never found any evidence of their existence. Therefore, skeptics called the Bible a fairytale. Then, archaeologist Hugo Winkler dug up forty Hittite cities and silenced the critics. This argument is not used anymore. This Canaanite man escaped the genocide sword and built a town in Luz.
1:27 The men of Manasseh did not conquer Beth Shan, Taanach, or their surrounding towns. Nor did they conquer the people living in Dor, Ibleam, Megiddo or their surrounding towns. The Canaanites managed to remain in those areas.
Manasseh did not have enough faith to initiate the attack. Therefore, the Canaanites kept control of the fertile lands of the Jezreel Valley.
1:28 Whenever Israel was strong militarily, they forced the Canaanites to do hard labor, but they never totally conquered them.
Israel was commanded to exterminate the Canaanites, not make them slaves. Israel was attempting to make profit from their slavery.
1:29 The men of Ephraim did not conquer the Canaanites living in Gezer. The Canaanites lived among them in Gezer.
Ephraim did not have enough faith to attack Gezer. Since the Canaanites were still living among them in Gezer, this meant that this book must have been written before the time of Solomon.
1:30 The men of Zebulun did not conquer the people living in Kitron and Nahalol. The Canaanites lived among them and were forced to do hard labor.
Instead of exterminating the Canaanites, Zebulon forced them to become slaves for profit. Israel was more interested in making money than she was in following God’s commands.
1:31 The men of Asher did not conquer the people living in Acco or Sidon, nor did they conquer Ahlab, Aczib, Helbah, Aphek, or Rehob.
Asher did not have enough faith to conquer these five Canaanite cities.
1:32 The people of Asher live among the Canaanites residing in the land because they did not conquer them.
Notice that Asher was living among the Canaanites, meaning that Asher was the minority population.
1:33 The men of Naphtali did not conquer the people living in Beth Shemesh or Beth Anath. They live among the Canaanites residing in the land. The Canaanites living in Beth Shemesh and Beth Anath were forced to do hard labor for them.
Naphtali, like Asher, was living in their land as a minority. However, later they gained the upper hand and forced the Canaanites into slavery. Also, like the other tribes, they refused to follow God’s command of genocide.
1:34 The Amorites forced the people of Dan to live in the hill country. They did not allow them to live in the coastal plain.
Dan did not have enough faith to attack the Amorites. Therefore, Dan was forced to live in the hill country. The Amorites lived in the coastal plain and controlled the Mediterranean fishing industries.
1:35 The Amorites managed to remain in Har Heres, Aijalon, and Shaalbim. Whenever the tribe of Joseph was strong militarily, the Amorites were forced to do hard labor.
Since Dan did not have enough faith to attack the Amorites, then the house of Joseph entered into the territory of Dan and attacked the Amorites. Ephraim took over Dan’s territory. Again, the Amorites were not exterminated. They were forced into slavery.
1:36 The border of Amorite territory ran from the Scorpion Ascent to Sela and on up.
SInce Israel did not have enough faith in God to attack the Amorites and exterminate them, the Amorites began to gain more territory. Here are some divine insights from chapter one of Judges:
Israel did not attack the Canaanites, because they did not think that they could defeat them. They were not trusting in God.
Instead of exterminating the Canaanites, many tribes forced them into slavery so that they could make profit from them.
1. The Canaanites began to co-exist with Israel.
2. The Canaanites began to control more land.
3. Israel could not move freely throughout their land.
4. Canaanite idolatry remained intact.
5. Israel began developing relationships with the Canaanites.
6. Israel began to adopt their cultures and religions.
7. Israel fell into idolatry and into syncretism.
8. The Canaanites in the land became more powerful than the Israelties in the land.