Judges 1:7

Threescore and ten kings Seventyis 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 acknowledgment of the irony of fate, and of the divine justice of the lex talionis.

gatheredtheir meat] used to pick up scraps, like dogs (St Matthew 15:27; Odyss.xvii. 309), while the master sat on the ground, or, as in Saul's time, on a seat by the wall, 1 Samuel 20:25. The captives were not, of course, actually under the table, which was a low stand supporting a round wooden or metal tray for the food.

And they brought him to Jerusalem The subject is naturally the same as in Judges 1:6, i.e. the men of Judah, implying that Jerusalem was already in their hands; but Judges 1:21 (see Joshua 15:63) expressly states that this was not the case. Though the context does not favour such a construction, the subject may be taken as indefinite, -men brought him," -he was brought," i.e. by his servants. According to Joshua 10 Adoni-zedek was king of Jerusalem; his title may have been omitted in Judges 1:5, as noted above.

In the original narrative Judges 1:7 was probably followed by Judges 1:19; Judges 1:21(corrected), which continue the history of Judah, and therefore should precede the accounts of the subordinate clans (Judges 1:10; Judges 1:20). After Jerusalem (Judges 1:21), the next important place to be attacked would be Hebron (Judges 1:10).