Judges 1:27-34

Partial Successes. Several of the tribes failed to win the prizes they coveted. Much of the allotted territory remained in the hands of the Canaanites.

Judges 1:27. Beth-shan is now Beisâ n. Situated in a fertile part of the Jordan Valley, 3 m. W. of the river, it commanded the Vale of Jezreel (Wady Jâ lû d), which led up to the plain of Esdraelon. Its daughters are its daughter towns, or dependencies. Taanach and Megiddo (p. 30), towns 5 m. apart, were on the south side of the Great Plain; the one is now Ta-' annek, the other probably Tell el-Mutesellim, the ancient name being lost. Both have been recently explored, and have yielded a wealth of pre-Israelite and Israelite remains (Driver, Schweich Lectures, 1909, pp. 80- 86), Ibleam may be Khirbet Bal-' ame, 8 m. SE. of Taanach. The Canaanites would dwell in that territory, i.e. they emphatically and resolutely maintained themselves in it.

Judges 1:28. It was not till the days of David that the Israelites waxed strong and captured those cities, after which Solomon put the Canaanites to task work (1 Kings 9:15).

Judges 1:29. Gezer (Joshua 10:33 *, 1 Kings 9:16 *), now Tell-Jezer, was in the SW. of Ephraim, at the edge of the Shephelah. It has been lately explored by Professor Macalister (Driver, Schweich Lectures, pp. 46- 59).

Judges 1:30. The sites of Kitron and Nahalol are unknown. The tribe of Zebulun, whose allotment was in S. Galilee, was more successful than that of Asher (pp. 248f.), which settled in the Hinterland of Phoenicia, or that of Naphtali, which penetrated the eastern half of Upper Galilee. While the Canaanites dwelt among the first of these Galilean tribes, and were put to task work, the other two dwelt among the Canaanites, i.e. they achieved at first no real conquest, but settled as best they could. Acco (p. 28), Zidon, and Achzib are now Akka, Saida, and ez-Zib. The sites of the other towns are unknown.

Judges 1:34 f. The Danites took possession of a fertile valley in the SW. of Ephraim, and tried to get a footing in the rich land towards the coast, but were driven back into the district about Zorah and Eshtaol (see Judges 13-16). Cramped in this territory, the main body of the tribe migrated to the source of the Jordan (Judges 18). Mount Heres, Aijalon, and Shaalbim. along with Jerusalem and other towns, formed a belt of Canaanite strongholds separating Judah from Ephraim. Har-heres (mount of the sun) is named only here. It is probably the same as Beth-shemesh (temple of the sun), the modern Ain-shems. Aijalon is now Yâ lô, 14 m. W. of Jerusalem. Shaalbim has not been identified.

Judges 1:36. The text is uncertain, and there was no proper border between the Israelites and the Amorites. Some recensions of the LXX read the Edomites, which is accepted by most scholars. The ascent of Akrabbim (the scorpions) is perhaps Na kb es-Safâ, on the way from Hebron to Petra. The position of Sela is not known (2 Kings 14:7 *); it is natural to think of Petra, but that is too far south.