Judges 1:1-36

Judges 1:1 to Judges 2:5. The Conquests and Settlements of the Israelites in Western Palestine. From this introduction, which is one of the most valuable parts of early Hebrew history, we learn that the various tribes invaded the land either singly or in small groups; that they had failures as well as successes; that in many instances they did not destroy the older population, but settled peacefully among them; and that, in particular, the larger cities of Canaan, as well as the fertile valleys and the Maritime Plain, remained in the possession of the Canaanites. The conquests of Judah were separated from those of Joseph by a belt of walled cities with Jerusalem in its centre. Another line of strongholds, extending from Bethshan near the Jordan to Dor on the sea coast, shut up Ephraim and Manasseh in the central highlands, and separated them from the tribes of Asher, Zebulun, and Naphtali, which settled in Galilee. The fortunes of Israel in the time of the Judges were largely determined by these facts.