PART I Ch. Judges 1:1 to Judges 2:5. The settlement of the Israelite tribes in Canaan Apparently the narrative intends us to think of Gilgal, on the plains of Jericho, W. of the Jordan, as the place which the Hebrew tribes had reached in the course of their immigration; it was a sanctuary marked b... [ Continue Reading ]
_And it came to pass after the death of Joshua_ The events which follow belong, however, to the life-time of Joshua and to the period covered by Joshua 9-12; moreover, the death of Joshua is recorded in chap. Judges 2:6-10, in due sequel to Joshua 24:28. As referring to what immediately follows the... [ Continue Reading ]
_The conquests of Judah_ 2 _.the land_ Not the whole land, but the part which had fallen to Judah's lot.... [ Continue Reading ]
_And Judah said unto Simeon his brother_ The personification of a tribe or nation is common in O.T. idiom, e.g. Judges 11:17; Numbers 20:14; Joshua 17:14 etc.; hence the tribal traditions often take the form of narratives about individuals. Judah and Simeon were both Leah-tribes, Genesis 29:33 ff. O... [ Continue Reading ]
This verse is made up of general phrases borrowed from Judges 1:5, with the addition of the 10,000 a common round number, Judges 3:29; Judges 4:6; Judges 7:3. The story of Adoni-bezek which follows has evidently been abridged; the editor has substituted a verse of his own for the omitted clauses. No... [ Continue Reading ]
_And they found_ The plural verb is the natural continuation of Judges 1:3. _Adoni-bezek in Bezek_ The chieftain's name was no doubt taken to mean -lord of Bezek," as though he were called after his capital; but Judges 1:7 at least suggests that Jerusalem was his capital, not Bezek. No proper names... [ Continue Reading ]
_and cut off_ A barbarity frequently practised in ancient warfare to mark the humiliation of the captives and prevent them from further mischief. Thus the Athenians are said to have decreed that the right thumb of every Aeginetan taken prisoner should be cut off -that they may be incapable of carryi... [ Continue Reading ]
_Threescore and ten kings Seventy_is a round number; the sheikhs of the Canaanite towns were numerous, and they were continually fighting. Adoni-zedek was evidently a powerful and important chief among them, as is also implied by Joshua 10:1 ff. His words are not so much a savage boast as an acknowl... [ Continue Reading ]
_fought against Jerusalem, and took it_ Jerusalem was not taken till the time of David; this verse contradicts Judges 1:21 and the known course of history; see Judges 19:11 f.; 2 Samuel 5:6-9. We have here a late insertion, founded on a misunderstanding of Judges 1:7 b, and designed to explain how t... [ Continue Reading ]
The conquest of Hebron (contrast Joshua 10:36-37 D) is here ascribed to Judah as part of the general operations against the Canaanites (Judges 1:9); later on, the Judahites, having taken the city, made it over to Caleb (Judges 1:20). In Joshua 15:14 J, however, Hebron is captured by Caleb; it was a... [ Continue Reading ]
_he went_ Originally, perhaps, _he went up_as in Joshua 15:15; LXX here _they went up_. The subject is _Caleb_in Judges 1:20 restored to its proper place. Joshua 15:15-19 describes the capture of Debir in almost identical words. _Debir … Kiriath-sepher_ Probably eḍ-Ḍâharîyeh, 4 or 5 hours S.W. of He... [ Continue Reading ]
_to him will I give Achsah_ Cf. 1 Samuel 17:25. The victor was to gain the hand of Achsah: the city too (it appears) became his.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother_ The language leaves it uncertain whether Othniel was the nephew (LXX. cod. B) or the brother (LXX. cod. A, Vulgate) of Caleb; but tradition favours the latter alternative. Elsewhere, though in later documents, Caleb is styled -the son of Jephunneh,... [ Continue Reading ]
_when she came_ into her husband's house (Ruth 4:11), or from the place where she had been kept in safety during the campaign (Moore). _she moved him to ask_ Joshua 15:18; but since Achsah herself asks the favour Judges 1:15, it is more natural to read _he moved_, INSTIGATED, _her to ask_. The LXX... [ Continue Reading ]
_a blessing_ i.e. _a present_as implying good-will, cf. Genesis 33:11; 1 Samuel 25:27 etc. _thou hast set me in the land of the South the Negeb_(Judges 1:9 note), where the waterless district of Debir was situated. _springs of water_ GULLATH- or GOLATH-MAIM, so LXX. cod. A Joshua 15:19, an ancient... [ Continue Reading ]
The text of this verse has been badly preserved, and some details of the restoration must remain doubtful. _the children of the Kenite, Moses" brother in law_ Marg. FATHER IN LAW, as O.T. usage requires. A proper name and the article (inserted by RV.) have fallen out before _Kenite_; LXX. cod. B res... [ Continue Reading ]
_Zephath_ Only here; the site is unknown. So far as situation goes, es-Sebaita, 25 m. N.N.E. of -Ain el-Ḳadîs (Kadesh), would be suitable; but it has no philological connexion with Zephath (Ṣephath). The Canaanite name of the city which was known to the Hebrews as Hormah is not likely to have surviv... [ Continue Reading ]
The statement that Judah captured three out of the five chief cities of the Philistines cannot be reconciled with any ancient tradition; it contradicts the next verse and Judges 3:3; Joshua 13:2 f.; it represents the unhistorical theory of the conquest which is found in Judges 1:4; Judges 1:8-9, and... [ Continue Reading ]
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," -conqu... [ Continue Reading ]
See the note on Judges 1:10. _as Moses had spoken_ Numbers 14:24 JE; cf. Deuteronomy 1:36; Joshua 14:6-15 D. _the three sons of Anak_ lit. _of the Anak_; the article shews that the noun is to be taken as a collective, i.e. as the name, not of an individual but of a tribe of people: similarly in Jos... [ Continue Reading ]
The sequel of Judges 1:19, which again should come after Judges 1:7. Originally, therefore, this verse closed the history of Judah; that of Caleb followed. Instead of _Benjamin … Benjamin_Joshua 15:63 has _Judah … Judah_, and for _did not drive out_it gives _were not able to drive out_(see Judges 1... [ Continue Reading ]
_the house of Joseph_ i.e. the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh (Joshua 17:17); from 2 Samuel 19:16; 2 Samuel 19:20 it appears that the tribe of Benjamin was included. _they also_ Just as Judah went up, Judges 1:4. _Beth-el_ The modern Bçtîn, about four hours N. of Jerusalem, 2880 ft. above the sea,... [ Continue Reading ]
_The fortunes of the house of Joseph_ The account of the capture of Beth-el (Judges 1:22) has all the marks of antiquity, like the early fragments preserved in Judges 1:1. After the invasion of the South comes the invasion of Central Palestine, and, as this ancient version of the history shews, the... [ Continue Reading ]
_sent to spy out Beth-el_ lit. _made a reconnaissance at B_. Perhaps we should read -encamped against B.," as LXX and Vulgate imply. _Now the name … Luz_ A gloss, as in Genesis 28:19; cf. _ib._Genesis 35:6; Genesis 48:3; Joshua 18:13 P. In Joshua 16:2 JE the two places are distinguished, -from Beth-... [ Continue Reading ]
_watchers_ i.e. the Israelite outposts. The word favours an emendation such as -encamped" in Judges 1:23; cf. 2 Samuel 11:16. _the entrance into the city_ i.e. not the gate, but the point where the city could be most easily entered by an attacking party. For the stipulation cf. Joshua 2:12 f.... [ Continue Reading ]
_but they let … go_ As Rahab and her kindred were spared, Joshua 6:25.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the land of the Hittites_ Cappadocia seems to have been the original home of the powerful, non-Semitic race of the Hittites, known to the Egyptians as _Ḫeta_. They are first mentioned in the inscriptions of Thothmes III (1500 b.c.), in whose time their empire extended southwards to the district of... [ Continue Reading ]
The parallel text, Joshua 17:11-12, which has been adapted here and there to fit its present context, suggests that we should read _was not able to drive out_for -did not drive out" (see on Judges 1:19), and that Taanach and Ibleam should change places. The verse describes the limits of Manasseh's e... [ Continue Reading ]
_The ill-success of the different tribes: they settle among the older population_ From this point the form of the narrative changes. Hitherto successes as well as failures have been recorded, with ancient traditions of particular episodes; now follows a bare list of Canaanite strongholds which the... [ Continue Reading ]
By the time of Solomon these cities had become Israelite possessions, 1 Kings 4:11 f.; it was probably David who subdued them, after they had been weakened by the Philistines. The latter were masters of Beth-shean in Saul's time, 1 Samuel 31:10 ff. _taskwork_ or _forced labour_. The word _mas_proper... [ Continue Reading ]
Cf. Joshua 16:10. _Gezer_ An ancient Canaanite city mentioned in the list of Thothmes III, in the -Israel Inscription" of Merenptah (see _Ency. Bibl._1242), and as _Gazri_in the Amarna tablets (163 etc.), situated on the S.W. border of Ephraim (Joshua 16:3), near the Philistine territory (2 Samuel 5... [ Continue Reading ]
_Zebulun_ settled N.W. of the Great Plain, in Lower Galilee, between Asher and Issachar; see Judges 5:14; Genesis 49:13. _Kitron … Nahalol_ In Joshua 19:15 Kattath … Nahalal; _ib._Joshua 21:34 f. Kartah … Nahalal; the sites are unknown.... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Northern tribes settle among the Canaanites_ We may conclude from this narrative that the northern tribes entered the country after Judah and Ephraim (so Joshua 18:2-10 JE), and independently of them. Zebulun, Asher, Naphtali, were not strong enough to make any conquests; they could only settl... [ Continue Reading ]
_Asher_ dwelt in a productive strip of country (Genesis 49:20), extending northwards from Carmel along the sea-coast (Judges 5:17) to Phoenicia; P indicates the boundaries in Joshua 19:24-31, but not many of the places can be identified. Occupying an indefinite territory between the Phoenicians and... [ Continue Reading ]
_did not drive them out_ Originally no doubt the text ran -was not able to drive them out" (LXX); see Judges 1:19 note.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Naphtali_ inhabited the eastern part of Upper Galilee; Judges 1:18. On the S. the territory was bounded by Zebulun and Issachar, on the W. by Asher. It is curious that only two cities are named as having stood out against Naphtali; perhaps the list is not complete, cf. Judges 4:2 ff. (Hazor). Beth-... [ Continue Reading ]
_The fortunes of Dan_ 34 _._Dan, we may infer, attempted to settle in the N.W. corner of Judah, on the rich land (-the valley") between the hills and the coast. But the native population forced them back into the hills; in chs. 13, 16, 18 we find Danite settlements at Zorah and Eshtaol in the Valle... [ Continue Reading ]
_would dwell_ See Judges 1:27 note. _mount Heres_ i.e. -mount of the sun," probably the same as Ir-shemesh, i.e. -city of the sun" Joshua 19:41, and Beth-shemesh, i.e. -temple of the sun" 1 Kings 4:9, both names occurring along with Ayyalon and Shaalbim in these passages. The site may be identified... [ Continue Reading ]
_the border of the Amorites_ The text describes a boundary line; but there was no boundary between the Israelites and the Amorites, i.e. the old Canaanite population, for they occupied the same territory. Some recensions of LXX (cod. A, Lucian), Ethiop., Syro-Hex., read -the border of the Amorite wa... [ Continue Reading ]