Judges 1:19

The natural place for this verse is after Judges 1:7, i. e. after the account of Judah's first success in the Southern Highlands. He conquered the hill country, but the inhabitants of the plain were too strong for him. There is no one word for the Hebr. verb meaning -drive out," -dispossess," -conquer."

for he could not drive out lit. -for (he was) not for driving out," a most unusual construction; correct he was not able to drive out, so two Hebr. MSS. and the Versions. The text of Judges 1:21; Judges 1:27; Judges 1:32is to be corrected in the same way. Comparing Judges 1:21 with Joshua 15:63; Judges 1:27 with ib.Judges 17:12; 2 Chronicles 8:8 with 1 Kings 9:21, we note a tendency to obliterate the impotence of Israel. In this chap. the editor's theory (Judges 2:1 a) has influenced the alteration: the cause of the tribes" failure was not their inability to match the Canaanites, but their unfaithfulness (so Targum here).

the inhabitants of the valley i.e. of the Philistine plain, between the hills and the sea; see Judges 1:18 note.

chariots of iron Cf. Judges 4:3; Judges 4:13; Joshua 17:16; Joshua 17:18; i.e. plated or studded with iron, like the Hittite chariots figured on Egyptian monuments: the currus falcati, i. e. scythed chariots, as Vulgate renders, were not yet invented. The horses and chariots of the Canaanites were probably adopted from the Egyptians; but ultimately, like those of the Egyptians, from the Hittites or N. Syrians. Recent excavations confirm what we learn from the O.T. Thus at Taanach iron implements have been found in large quantities; at Megiddo they occur plentifully first at the period which is dated in the middle of the Israelite monarchy, also much earlier but in smaller quantities. In Egypt iron was in common use at the time of the Exodus, and considerably earlier; it came chiefly from the mines in the Sinaitic Peninsula.