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Judges 1 - Concise Bible - Commentary

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Judges 1

Tribal Conquests

1 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?

2 And the LORD said, Judah shall go up: behold, I have delivered the land into his hand.

3 And Judah said unto Simeon his brother, Come up with me into my lot, that we may fight against the Canaanites; and I likewise will go with thee into thy lot. So Simeon went with him.

4 And Judah went up; and the LORD delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand: and they slew of them in Bezek ten thousand men.

5 And they found Adoni-bezek in Bezek: and they fought against him, and they slew the Canaanites and the Perizzites.

6 But Adoni-bezek fled; and they pursued after him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his great toes.

7 And Adoni-bezek said, Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table: as I have done, so God hath requited me. And they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died.

8 Now the children of Judah had fought against Jerusalem, and had taken it, and smitten it with the edge of the sword, and set the city on fire.

9 And afterward the children of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites, that dwelt in the mountain, and in the south, and in the valley.

10 And Judah went against the Canaanites that dwelt in Hebron: (now the name of Hebron before was Kirjath-arba:) and they slew Sheshai, and Ahiman, and Talmai.

11 And from thence he went against the inhabitants of Debir: and the name of Debir before was Kirjath-sepher:

12 and Caleb said, He that smiteth Kirjath-sepher, and taketh it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter to wife.

13 And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, took it: and he gave him Achsah his daughter to wife.

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?

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.

16 And the children of the Kenite, Moses' father in law, went up out of the city of palm trees with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which lieth in the south of Arad; and they went and dwelt among the people.

17 And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they slew the Canaanites that inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. And the name of the city was called Hormah.

18 Also Judah took Gaza with the coast thereof, and Askelon with the coast thereof, and Ekron with the coast thereof.

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.

20 And they gave Hebron unto Caleb, as Moses said: and he expelled thence the three sons of Anak.

21 And the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem; but the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem unto this day.

22 And the house of Joseph, they also went up against Beth-el: and the LORD was with them.

23 And the house of Joseph sent to descry Beth-el. (Now the name of the city before was Luz.)

24 And the spies saw a man come forth out of the city, and they said unto him, Shew us, we pray thee, the entrance into the city, and we will shew thee mercy.

25 And when he shewed them the entrance into the city, they smote the city with the edge of the sword; but they let go the man and all his family.

26 And the man went into the land of the Hittites, and built a city, and called the name thereof Luz: which is the name thereof unto this day.

27 Neither did Manasseh drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean and her towns, nor Taanach and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Dor and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Ibleam and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Megiddo and her towns: but the Canaanites would dwell in that land.

28 And it came to pass, when Israel was strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute, and did not utterly drive them out.

29 Neither did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer; but the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them.

30 Neither did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol; but the Canaanites dwelt among them, and became tributaries.

31 Neither did Asher drive out the inhabitants of Accho, nor the inhabitants of Zidon, nor of Ahlab, nor of Achzib, nor of Helbah, nor of Aphik, nor of Rehob:

32 but the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: for they did not drive them out.

33 Neither did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh, nor the inhabitants of Beth-anath; but he dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: nevertheless the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and of Beth-anath became tributaries unto them.

34 And the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountain: for they would not suffer them to come down to the valley:

35 but the Amorites would dwell in mount Heres in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim: yet the hand of the house of Joseph prevailed, so that they became tributaries.

36 And the coast of the Amorites was from the going up to Akrabbim, from the rock, and upward.

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Judges 1

JOSHUA TO SHAMGAR

JUDAH’S INCOMPLETE VICTORY (Jdg 1:1-20)

After the death of Joshua the question of which tribe should lead in the subsequent campaign was answered by the Lord in the choice of Judah (Jdg 1:1-2) which was in accordance with the divine prophecy through Jacob (Gen 49:8). Doubtless the inquiry was made by Urim and Thummim on the breastplate of the high priest, to which reference was made in Exodus.

Judah invites the cooperation of Simeon because the territory of the latter was contiguous and intermixed with Judah (Jdg 1:3).

These tribes are guilty of barbarity in the case of Adonibezek (Jdg 1:5-7), but it is not to be supposed that God commended this action. It was, however, in accordance with the warfare in that day, and even the heathen king admitted the justification of the act in his case.

The defeat in verse 19 is explained not by the lack of power in the case of Judah, but by unbelief.

SIMILAR EXPERIENCES OF THE OTHER TRIBES (Jdg 1:21-36)

Judah’s example of unbelief is followed by all the tribes named in the conclusion of this chapter, Benjamin, Ephraim (the house of Joseph), Manasseh, Zebulun, Asher and Naphtali. Note particularly verse 21 in comparison with verse 8. The border of the two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, seems to have run through Jerusalem, and while the first named expelled the heathen from their part of the city, the latter were unable to do so and, this city did not fully come into possession of Israel until David’s time.

DIVINE WARNING (Jdg 2:1-5)

The Revised Version indicates by the definite article before “angel,” in Jdg 2:1, that He who came from Gilgal to Bochim to warn Israel was the Angel of the Covenant, who appeared in human form as the Captain of the Lord’s host to Joshua. In other words, the Second Person of the Trinity. It was a serious indictment He laid against them and an awful penalty He announced (Jdg 2:1-3). No wonder the people wept, but would to God their sorrow had been to better purpose. The result shows how temporary it was and how little confidence may be put in tears for sin, which do not mean amendment of life.

THE SUMMARY OF THE BOOK (Jdg 2:6-23)

We called attention to these verses in the preceding lesson as giving an outline of the whole story of Judges. Jdg 2:6-10 are copied from Joshua 24, and inserted here to explain the warning preceding. The following verses should be read with care, because they give the key, not only to Judges, but to 1 Samuel and the whole of this period of Israel until the monarchy.

In explanation of Jdg 2:16 the Bible Commentary speaks of the judges as God’s viceregents in the government of Israel, He Himself being the supreme ruler. There was no regular unbroken succession of judges, but individuals prompted by the Spirit of God were from time to time aroused and empowered to achieve deliverance. They were without pomp or emolument, and had no power to make laws. In a special sense, however, they were executors of the law and avengers of crimes, especially that of idolatry.

OTHNIEL, THE FIRST JUDGE (Jdg 3:1-11)

After enumerating the nations left in the land unconquered, and the reason for permitting them to remain, the story takes up the first general apostasy of Israel and the rule of the first judge. Notice in Jdg 3:1-4 the interacting of divine sovereignty and human responsibility. We have seen the reason why these nations were not exterminated from the human point of view to

be a lack of faith, but from the divine point of view there was another reason. God permits these nations to remain, as a school for Israel in the art of war (Jdg 3:2), and, as an instrument for their discipline in divine things (Jdg 3:4).

From intermarrying with these nations the Israelites soon came to serve their gods (Jdg 3:6-7). When therefore they turned their back upon Jehovah, He, in a sense, turned His back upon them, so that they were compelled to serve the Mesopotamians eight years (Jdg 3:8). Distress followed sin and repentance resulted from distress. Whereupon God raised up a deliverer in Othniel, whose history has been spoken of before (Jdg 3:9-10). No details are given of this war, though it must have been a serious struggle. Othniel is victorious and rules Israel in peace for forty years (Jdg 3:11).

EHUD, THE SECOND JUDGE (Jdg 3:12-30)

When Israel again fell into sin, God’s scourge against them was the Moabites, who joined their earlier enemies, the Amorites and Amalekites, in a successful conquest for eighteen years (Jdg 3:14), when distress and repentance are again followed by deliverance.

It makes the blood run cold to read what Ehud did, but we must remember that he was not a murderer but a warrior, and the world has always made a distinction between these two. His act was not one of personal revenge, but patriotic and religious fervor. Moreover, while he was doing God’s service in the general sense of that term, his deed is nowhere approved in Scripture. This last remark suggests an important qualification, to which attention has been called before, and which should be applied in instances of a similar character in the Bible record. Further, a shadow seems to hang over the official career of this man, for his name is not praised in Israel, neither is it said anywhere that the Spirit of the Lord was upon him, nor that he judged Israel. These omissions may be without significance, but are they not noticeable?

SHAMGAR, THE THIRD JUDGE (Jdg 3:31)

The notice of this judgeship is brief and limited to a conflict with the Philistines. The ox goad with which he slew six hundred men is as an implement eight feet long and about six inches in circumference. At one end it has a sharp prong for driving cattle, and at another a small iron paddle for removing the clay which encumbers the plow in working. Such an instrument wielded by a strong man would do great execution.

QUESTION

1. What tribe takes the lead after Joshua’s death?

2. What heathen people inhabited Jerusalem?

3. Name a theophany in this lesson.

4. What illustration of divine sovereignty and human responsibility does it contain?

5. Do you know the location of Mesopotamia?

6. Is God necessarily responsible for the atrocities named in this lesson?

7. What can you say about the story of Shamgar?




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Rights in the Authorized (King James) Version in the United Kingdom are vested in the Crown. Published by permission of the Crown’s patentee, Cambridge University Press.
Cambridge Univ. Press & BFBS
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