Bible Commentaries
Judges 1

Verses 1-5

THE INVASION OF CANAAN AND THE SETTLEMENT

Judges 1:1 to Judges 2:5

This opening section of the Book of Judges provides a summary of the period of the conquest of Canaan. The divine oracle was consulted to discover the order in which the tribes should take the land. The indication, presumably by the method of sacred lot, was that Judah and Simeon should start the campaign.

The whole chapter reads like a parallel to the account in Joshua. If the latter represents more the point of view of the northern tribes, this chapter gives us an account of the Conquest from the standpoint of the southern, especially that of the tribe of Judah. It would appear that the account covers the period of conquest that begins in the Joshua record in Joshua 10. The Israelites, encamped at Gilgal, are there described as moving out in several tribal movements to possess the land. In the Judges account, which we are now considering, Joshua is not mentioned, and the editor, to provide some connection with the preceding Book of Joshua, provides the opening formula which stipulates that all this happens after Joshua’s death. If Joshua were the hero of the northern tribes, we can understand the reticence about him in a tradition emanating from the south.

Judah and Simeon proceeded southwestward and engaged Adoni-bezek. The road of invasion led to Jerusalem, and we are told that on the way they captured Adoni-bezek and treated him as he had once treated seventy captive kings. They apparently left him mutilated, and his followers brought him to Jerusalem where he died. There follows an account of the siege and sack of Jerusalem by the Judahites. This would seem to be in conflict with the repeated statements elsewhere that the Jebusites held that city in the midst of Israel until David’s time (Joshua 15:63; 2 Samuel 5:6-10). Adoni-bezek is probably to be identified with Adoni-zedek, the king of Jerusalem, whom Joshua fought according to the tradition preserved in Joshua 10:1-5. The Joshua account mentions the sack of other cities but not that of Jerusalem, thereby conforming to the references just given. There is, however, nothing to militate against a capture of Jerusalem which was earlier than David’s campaign and only temporary, from which the Jebusites recovered, managing to retain their independence.

Having subdued Jerusalem, the Judahites fought the Canaanites in the hill country south of Jerusalem, in the lowland or Shephelah to the west and southwest, and in the Negeb, the southern area bordering on the desert. They secured Hebron. This city was inhabited by the Anakites, as its former name, Kiriath-arba, indicates, since Arba was the father of Anak (Joshua 15:13). The military leaders who were defeated, Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai, are described in Joshua 15:14 as descendants of Anak (compare Numbers 13:30-33, which describes them as giants). Joshua 15:13-19 provides an interesting parallel to the verses now under consideration. It attributes the defeat of these heroes and the capture of the city to Caleb, whose Kenizzite tribe was a constituent element of Judah (see Numbers 32:12; Numbers 34:19). Caleb is mentioned in the Judges account in connection with Debir. Having captured Hebron, the victorious Judahites advanced on Debir, which was captured by the brother or nephew of Caleb, Othniel, who by his prowess thus secured the hand of Achsah, Caleb’s daughter, who had been promised by her father to whoever conquered the city. Caleb also gave a source of water supply at the request of Achsah. The account here does not give sufficient details for identification of the site. Debir was to the southwest of Hebron, on the edge of the Negeb, and water supply was a problem on the fringe of the desert belt.

In verses 16-21 our attention is directed to a Kenite group, bound up with Moses by his marriage (see Exodus 2:21) and another constituent element of the tribe of Judah. They went from Jericho, the city of palms (cf. Judges 3:13; Deuteronomy 34:3), and settled near Arad, south of Hebron. Hormah was also secured. The hill country was possessed, but the Canaanites retained the fertile valleys, aided by their military strength and chariots of iron. The Israelites are thus seen as moving down from the hills into the valleys and slowly infiltrating the land, the very picture given by archaeology. We are reminded in verse 21 that Jerusalem remained in the hands of the Jebusites.

The interest now turns from the Judahites to the Josephite tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. We are told that the house of Joseph went up from Gilgal (implied) to secure the important center of Bethel. They secured the city by a strategy, subverting one of the inhabitants. The account shows that pockets of Canaanites remained in this area, sometimes in fortified cities. The cities mentioned indicate that the Israelites were confined here to the central hill country, being cut off from the fertile Plain of Esdraelon to the north by the Canaanites of Megiddo, Taanach, Ibleam, and Beth-shean, and from the area occupied by the Judahites by the Canaanites in Gezer. Once more we have the picture of infiltration from the hill country to the valleys and a slow taking over of the land.

The tribes of the north were in similar strait; Zebulun, Naphtali, and Asher dwelt in the midst of the Canaanites, slowly subduing them. The tribe of Dan never established its position and the Book of Judges later records its migration (Judges 17-18). Aijalon was in the hill country northwest of Jerusalem. Thus Dan was originally in the center of Palestine, even though its final settlement was in the north. The section that refers to Dan (vss. 34-36) is the only one in this chapter that has the term "Amorites" instead of the usual "Canaanites."

In Judges 2:1-5 we are told of the transfer of the religious center from Gilgal to Bochim, once the invasion was to some degree accomplished. We shall have occasion later to discuss the angel of the Lord. It suffices here to note that the phrase indicates the divine presence in a form perceptible to the senses. The word "angel" means "messenger." We have here a "theophany," a divine appearance in visible form. However the oracle came, the Covenant faithfulness of the Lord to Israel was reaffirmed. The Deuteronomic writers made much of the Covenant theme and also stressed God’s promise of the land. Israel’s disobedience in making a covenant with the Canaanites was now to be matched by the persistence of the Canaanites in their midst. Assimilation, not annihilation or armed expulsion, would now be the order of the day. The Canaanites would be adversaries whose very religion would be a perpetual temptation to the Israelites. In this way the Deuteronomic editors introduced their interpretation of the period of the judges. The place Bochim has not been identified. It may have been so called from the statement in Judges 2:4 that the people wept on hearing God’s message.