moserstore.com
Man
Nephilim
Jacob
Moses
Laws
Levites
Ten
Shepherd
Enemies
Harlot
Strong Tower
Preacher
Damascus
Greatness
Seek
Rebellious
Gog
The End
Restoration
Lord
Warning
Future
Repents
Acknowledges
Overthrow
Answers
Judgments
Builders
Battle
Admonition
Unpardonable
Signs
Return
Resurrection
Lost
Prodigal
Rich Man
Body
Ascension
Impartiality
Reliance
Unrighteous
First Fruits
Eternal
Heart
Perversion
Unity
Thanksgiving
Incomparable
Built Up
Died In Christ
The Day
Lawlessness
Apostasy
Ears Tickled
Elders
Salutation
Faith
Exhortation
Living Hope
Godly Living
False Prophets
Light
Walk
Truth
God
Laodicea
White Horse
Sea
Earth
Doom
Coming
Jerusalem
New American Standard Bible
Judges 1:1
Now it came about after the death of Joshua that the sons of Israel inquired of the LORD, saying, “Who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites, to fight against them?”
Judges 1:2
The LORD said, “Judah shall go up; behold, I have given the land into his hand.”
Judges 1:3
Then Judah said to Simeon his brother, “Come up with me into the territory allotted me, that we may fight against the Canaanites; and I in turn will go with you into the territory allotted you.” So Simeon went with him.
Judges 1:4
Judah went up, and the LORD gave the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hands, and they defeated ten thousand men at Bezek.
Judges 1:5
They found Adoni-bezek in Bezek and fought against him, and they defeated the Canaanites and the Perizzites.
Judges 1:6
But Adoni-bezek fled; and they pursued him and caught him and cut off his thumbs and big toes.
Judges 1:7
Adoni-bezek said, “Seventy kings with their thumbs and their big toes cut off used to gather up scraps under my table; as I have done, so God has repaid me.” So they brought him to Jerusalem and he died there.
Judges 1:8
Then the sons of Judah fought against Jerusalem and captured it and struck it with the edge of the sword and set the city on fire.
Judges 1:9
Afterward the sons of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites living in the hill country and in the Negev and in the lowland.
Judges 1:10
So Judah went against the Canaanites who lived in Hebron (now the name of Hebron formerly was Kiriath-arba); and they struck Sheshai and Ahiman and Talmai.
Judges 1:11
Then from there he went against the inhabitants of Debir (now the name of Debir formerly was Kiriath-sepher).
Judges 1:12
And Caleb said, “The one who attacks Kiriath-sepher and captures it, I will even give him my daughter Achsah for a wife.”
Judges 1:13
Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, captured it; so he gave him his daughter Achsah for a wife.
Judges 1:14
Then it came about when she came to him, that she persuaded him to ask her father for a field. Then she alighted from her donkey, and Caleb said to her, “What do you want?”
Judges 1:15
She said to him, “Give me a blessing, since you have given me the land of the Negev, give me also springs of water.” So Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.
Judges 1:16
The descendants of the Kenite, Moses’ father-in-law, went up from the city of palms with the sons of Judah, to the wilderness of Judah which is in the south of Arad; and they went and lived with the people.
Judges 1:17
Then Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they struck the Canaanites living in Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. So the name of the city was called Hormah.
Judges 1:18
And Judah took Gaza with its territory and Ashkelon with its territory and Ekron with its territory.
Judges 1:19
Now the LORD was with Judah, and they took possession of the hill country; but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley because they had iron chariots.
Judges 1:20
Then they gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses had promised; and he drove out from there the three sons of Anak.
Judges 1:21
But the sons of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem; so the Jebusites have lived with the sons of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.
Judges 1:22
Likewise the house of Joseph went up against Bethel, and the LORD was with them.
Judges 1:23
The house of Joseph spied out Bethel (now the name of the city was formerly Luz).
Judges 1:24
The spies saw a man coming out of the city and they said to him, “Please show us the entrance to the
city and we will treat you kindly.”
Judges 1:25
So he showed them the entrance to the city, and they struck the city with the edge of the sword, but they let the man and all his family go free.
Judges 1:26
The man went into the land of the Hittites and built a city and named it Luz which is its name to this day.
Judges 1:27
But Manasseh did not take possession of Beth-shean and its villages, or Taanach and its villages, or the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, or the inhabitants of Ibleam and its villages, or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages; so the Canaanites persisted in living in that land.
Judges 1:28
It came about when Israel became strong, that they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but they did not drive them out completely.
Judges 1:29
Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites who were living in Gezer; so the Canaanites lived in Gezer among them.
Judges 1:30
Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, or the inhabitants of Nahalol; so the Canaanites lived among them and became subject to forced labor.
Judges 1:31
Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Acco, or the inhabitants of Sidon, or of Ahlab, or of Achzib, or of Helbah, or of Aphik, or of Rehob.
Judges 1:32
So the Asherites lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; for they did not drive them out.
Judges 1:33
Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh, or the inhabitants of Beth-anath, but lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; and the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath became forced labor for them.
Judges 1:34
Then the Amorites forced the sons of Dan into the hill country, for they did not allow them to come down to the valley;
Judges 1:35
yet the Amorites persisted in living in Mount Heres, in Aijalon and in Shaalbim; but when the power of the house of Joseph grew strong, they became forced labor.
Judges 1:36
The border of the Amorites ran from the ascent of Akrabbim, from Sela and upward.
Cross References
Judges 1:1: Numbers 27:21; Judges 1:27; 2:21-23; 3:1-6; Judges 1:2: Genesis 49:8; Judges 1:4: Psalm 44:2; 78:55; Judges 1:7: Leviticus 24:19; Judges 1:8: Joshua 15:63; Judges 1:21; Judges 1:10: Joshua 15:13-19; Judges 1:11: Joshua 15:15; Judges 1:13: Judges 3:9; Judges 1:14: Joshua 15:18; Judges 1:16: Numbers 10:29-32; Judges 4:11; Judges 1:16: Deuteronomy 34:3; Judges 3:13; Judges 1:16: Numbers 21:1; Judges 1:17: Numbers 21:3; Judges 1:18: Joshua 11:22; Judges 1:19: Joshua 17:16; Judges 4:3, 13; Judges 1:20: Josh 14:9; Judges 1:20: Joshua 15:14; Judges 1:10; Judges 1:21: Joshua 15:63; Judges 1:8; Judges 1:21: 1 Chronicles 11:4; Judges 1:23: Genesis 28:19; Judges 1:24: Joshua 2:12; Judges 1:25: Joshua 6:25; Judges 1:27: Joshua 17:12; Judges 1:27: Judges 1:1; Judges 1:29: Joshua 16:10; Judges 1:36: Joshua 15:3
Easton's Bible Dictionary
Asher
Happy, Jacob's eight son; his mother was Zilpah, Leah's handmaid. Of the tribe founded by him nothing is recorded beyond its holding a place in the list of the tribes. It increased in numbers 29 percent, during the 38 years of wanderings. The place of this tribe during the march through the desert was between Dan and Naphtali. The boundaries of the inheritance given to it, which contained some of the richest soil in Palestine, and the names of its towns. Asher and Simeon were the only tribes west of the Jordan which furnished no hero or judge for the nation. Anna the prophetess was of this tribe.
Bezek
Lightning. The residence of Adoni-bezek, in the lot of Judah. It was in the mountains, not far from Jerusalem. Probably the modern Bezkah, six miles southeast of Lydda. The place where Saul numbered the forces of Israel and Judah; somewhere in the centre of the country, near the Jordan valley. Probably the modern Ibzik, 13 miles northeast of Shechem.
Captive
One taken in war. Captives were often treated with great cruelty and indignity. When a city was taken by assault, all the men were slain, and the women and children carried away captive and sold as slaves, and exposed to the most cruel treatment. Captives were sometimes carried away into foreign countries, as was the case with the Jews.
Dor
Dwelling, the Dora of the Romans, an ancient royal city of the Canaanites. It was the most southern settlement of the Phoenicians on the coast of Syria. The original inhabitants seem never to have been expelled, although they were made tributary by David. It was one of Solomon's commissariat districts. It has been identified with Tantura so named from the supposed resemblance of its tower, a horn. This tower fell in 1895, and nothing remains but debris and foundation walls, the remains of an old Crusading fortress. It is about eight miles north of Caesarea, a sad and sickly hamlet of wretched huts on a naked sea beach.
Fenced Cities
There were in Palestine cities, unwalled villages, and villages with castles or towers. Cities, so called, had walls, and were thus fenced. The fortifications consisted of one or two walls, on which were towers or parapets at regular intervals. Around ancient Jerusalem were three walls, on one of which were 90 towers, on the second 14, and on the third 60. The tower of Hananeel, near the northeast corner of the city wall, is frequently referred to. The gateways of such cities were also fortified.
The Hebrews found many fenced cities when they entered the Promised Land, and we may estimate the strength of some of these cities from the fact that they were long held in possession by the Canaanites. The Jebusites were enabled to hold possession of Jerusalem till the time of David. Several of the kings of Israel and Judah distinguished themselves as fortifiers or builders of cities.
Gaza
Called also Azzah, strong, a city on the Mediterranean shore, remarkable for its early importance as the chief centre of a great commercial traffic with Egypt. It is one of the oldest cities of the world. Its earliest inhabitants were the Avims, who were conquered and displaced by the Caphtorims, a Philistine tribe. In the division of the land it fell to the lot of Judah. It was the southernmost of the five great Philistine cities which gave as a trespass offering unto the Lord.
Hobab
Beloved, the Kenite, has been usually identified with Jethro, the word rendered father-in-law means properly any male relative by marriage, son-in-law, and should be rendered brother-in-law. His descendants followed Israel to Canaan, and at first pitched their tents near Jericho, but afterwards settled in the south in the borders of Arad.
Jerusalem
Called also Salem, Ariel, Jebus, the city of God, the holy city; by the modern Arabs el-Khuds, meaning the holy; once the city of Judah. This name is in the original in the dual form, and means possession of peace, or foundation of peace. The dual form probably refers to the two mountains on which it was built, Zion and Moriah; or, as some suppose, to the two parts of the city, the upper and the lower city. Jerusalem is a mountain city enthroned on a mountain fastness.
It stands on the edge of one of the highest table lands in Palestine, and is surrounded on the south-eastern, the southern, and the western sides by deep and precipitous ravines. It is first mentioned in Scripture under the name Salem.
When first mentioned under the name Jerusalem, Adonizedek was its king. It is afterwards named among the cities of Benjamin; but in the time of David it was divided between Benjamin and Judah. After the death of Joshua the city was taken and set on fire by the men of Judah; but the Jebusites were not wholly driven out of it.
The city is not again mentioned till we are told that David brought the head of Goliath thither. David afterwards led his forces against the Jebusites still residing within its walls, and drove them out, fixing his own dwelling on Zion, which he called the city of David. Here he built an altar to the Lord on the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite, and thither he brought up the ark of the covenant and placed it in the new tabernacle which he had prepared for it.
Jerusalem now became the capital of the kingdom. After the death of David, Solomon built the temple, a house for the name of the Lord, on Mount Moriah. He also greatly strengthened and adorned the city, and it became the great centre of all the civil and religious affairs of the nation. After the disruption of the kingdom on the accession to the throne of Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, Jerusalem became the capital of the kingdom of the two tribes.
It was subsequently often taken and retaken by the Egyptians, the Assyrians, and by the kings of Israel, for the abounding iniquities of the nation, after a siege of three years, it was taken and utterly destroyed, its walls razed to the ground, and its temple and palaces consumed by fire, by Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, 588 BC.
The desolation of the city and the land was completed by the retreat of the principal Jews into Egypt, and by the final carrying captive into Babylon of all that still remained in the land, so that it was left without an inhabitant. Compare the predictions. But the streets and walls of Jerusalem were again to be built, in troublous times, after a captivity of 70 years. This restoration was begun 536 BC, in the first year of Cyrus.
The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah contain the history of the re-building of the city and temple, and the restoration of the kingdom of the Jews, consisting of a portion of all the tribes. The kingdom thus constituted was for two centuries under the dominion of Persia; and thereafter, for about a century and a half, under the rulers of the Greek empire in Asia. For a century the Jews maintained their independence under native rulers, the Asmonean princes. At the close of this period they fell under the rule of Herod and of members of his family, but practically under Rome, till the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, 70 AD.
The city was then laid in ruins. The modern Jerusalem began to be built over the immense beds of rubbish resulting from the overthrow of the ancient city; and whilst it occupies certainly the same site, there are no evidences that even the lines of its streets are now what they were in the ancient city. Jews who still lingered about Jerusalem quietly submitted to the Roman sway. But in that year the emperor, in order to hold them in subjection, rebuilt and fortified the city.
The Jews, however, took possession of it, having risen under the leadership of one Bar-Chohaba in revolt against the Romans. Some four years afterward, however, they were driven out of it with great slaughter, and the city was again destroyed; and over its ruins was built a Roman city called Aelia Capitolina, a name which it retained till it fell under the dominion of the Mohammedans, when it was called el-Khuds, the holy.
In 326 AD Helena, mother of the emperor Constantine, made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem with the view of discovering the places mentioned in the life of our Lord. She caused a church to be built on what was then supposed to be the place of the nativity at Bethlehem. Constantine, animated by her example, searched for the holy sepulchre, and built over the supposed site a magnificent church, which was completed and dedicated 335 AD.
He relaxed the laws against the Jews till this time in force, and permitted them once a year to visit the city and wail over the desolation of the holy and beautiful house. In 614 AD the Persians, after defeating the Roman forces of the emperor Heraclius, took Jerusalem by storm, and retained it until 637 AD, when it was taken by the Arabians under the Khalif Omar.
It remained in their possession till it passed, in 960 AD under the dominion of the Fatimite khalifs of Egypt, and in 1073 AD under the Turcomans. In 1099 AD the crusader Godfrey of Bouillon took the city from the Moslems with great slaughter, and was elected king of Jerusalem. He converted the Mosque of Omar into a Christian cathedral.
During the 88 years which followed, many churches and convents were erected in the holy city. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was rebuilt during this period, and it alone remains to this day. In 1187 AD the sultan Saladin wrested the city from the Christians. From that time to the present day, with few intervals, Jerusalem has remained in the hands of the Moslems.
It has, however, during that period been again and again taken and retaken, demolished in great part and rebuilt, no city in the world having passed through so many vicissitudes. In the year 1850 the Greek and Latin monks residing in Jerusalem had a fierce dispute about the guardianship of what are called the holy places. In this dispute the emperor Nicholas of Russia sided with the Greeks, and Louis Napoleon, the emperor of the French, with the Latins.
This led the Turkish authorities to settle the question in a way unsatisfactory to Russia. Out of this there sprang the Crimean War, which was protracted and sanguinary, but which had important consequences in the way of breaking down the barriers of Turkish exclusiveness.
Modern Jerusalem lies near the summit of a broad mountain ridge, which extends without interruption from the plain of Esdraelon to a line drawn between the southern end of the Dead Sea and the southeastern corner of the Mediterranean. This high, uneven table land is everywhere from 20 to 25 geographical miles in breadth. It was anciently known as the mountains of Ephraim and Judah.
Jerusalem is a city of contrasts, and differs widely from Damascus, not merely because it is a stone town in mountains, whilst the latter is a mud city in a plain, but because while in Damascus Moslem religion and Oriental custom are unmixed with any foreign element, in Jerusalem every form of religion, every nationality of East and West, is represented at one time.
Jerusalem is first mentioned under that name in the Book of Joshua, and the Tell-el-Amarna collection of tablets includes six letters from its Amorite king to Egypt, recording the attack of the Abiri about 1480 BC. The name is there spelt Uru-Salim city of peace. Another monumental record in which the Holy City is named is that of Sennacherib's attack in 702 BC. The camp of the Assyrians was still shown about 70 AD, on the flat ground to the northwest, included in the new quarter of the city.
The city of David included both the upper city and Millo, and was surrounded by a wall built by David and Solomon, who appear to have restored the original Jebusite fortifications. The name Zion appears to have been, like Ariel the hearth of God, a poetical term for Jerusalem, but in the Greek age was more specially used of the Temple hill.
The priests quarter grew up on Ophel, south of the Temple, where also was Solomon's Palace outside the original city of David. The walls of the city were extended by Jotham and Manasseh to include this suburb and the Temple. Jerusalem is now a town of some 50,000 inhabitants, with ancient mediaeval walls, partly on the old lines, but extending less far to the south. The traditional sites, as a rule, were first shown in the fourth and later centuries AD, and have no authority. The results of excavation have, however, settled most of the disputed questions, the limits of the Temple area, and the course of the old walls having been traced.
Kitron
Knotty, a city of Zebulun, called also Kattath; supposed to be Cana of Galilee.
Megiddo
Place of troops, originally one of the royal cities of the Canaanites, belonged to the tribe of Manasseh, but does not seem to have been fully occupied by the Israelites till the time of Solomon. The valley or plain of Megiddo was part of the plain of Esdraelon, the great battlefield of Palestine. It was here Barak gained a notable victory over Jabin, the king of Hazor, whose general, Sisera, led on the hostile army. Barak rallied the warriors of the northern tribes, and under the encouragement of Deborah, the prophetess, attacked the Canaanites in the great plain.
The army of Sisera was thrown into complete confusion, and was engulfed in the waters of the Kishon, which had risen and overflowed its banks. Many years after this, Pharaohnecho II., on his march against the king of Assyria, passed through the plains of Philistia and Sharon; and King Josiah, attempting to bar his progress in the plain of Megiddo, was defeated by the Egyptians.
He was wounded in battle, and died as they bore him away in his chariot towards Jerusalem, and all Israel mourned for him. So general and bitter was this mourning that it became a proverb, to which Zechariah alludes. Megiddo has been identified with the modern el-Lejjun, at the head of the Kishon, under the northeastern brow of Carmel, on the southwestern edge of the plain of Esdraelon, and nine miles west of Jezreel. Others identify it with Mujedd'a, four miles southwest of Bethshean, but the question of its site is still undetermined.
Nahallal
Pasture, a city in Zebulun on the border of Issachar, the same as Nahalol. It was given to the Levites. It has been by some identified with Malul in the plain of Esdraelon, four miles from Nazareth.
Othniel
Lion of God, the first of the judges. His wife Achsah was the daughter of Caleb. He gained her hand as a reward for his bravery in leading a successful expedition. Some 30 years after the death of Joshua, the Israelites fell under the subjection, the king of Mesopotamia. He oppressed them for full eight years, when they cried unto Jehovah, and Othniel was raised up to be their deliverer. He was the younger brother of Caleb. He is the only judge mentioned connected with the tribe of Judah. Under him the land had rest 40 years.
Plain
A grassy plain or meadow. Instead of plains of the vineyards, more correctly oak; margin, properly a valley, a broad plain between mountains. The circle, used only of the Ghor, or the low ground along the Jordan, the floor of the valley through which it flows. This name is applied to the Jordan valley as far north as Succoth, level ground, smooth, grassy table land, an expanse of rolling downs without rock or stone. In these passages, with the article prefixed, it denotes the plain in the tribe of Reuben, the plain of Judah is meant.
Jerusalem is called the rock of the plain, because the hills on which it is built rise high above the plain, the valley from the Sea of Galilee southward to the Dead Sea, a distance of about 70 miles. It is called by the modern Arabs the Ghor. Down through the centre of this plain is a ravine, from 200 to 300 yards wide, and from 50 to 100 feet deep, through which the Jordan flows in a winding course. This ravine is
called the lower plain.
The name Arabah is also applied to the whole Jordan valley from Mount Hermon to the eastern branch of the Red Sea, a distance of about 200 miles, as well as to that portion of the valley which stretches from the Sea of Galilee to the same branch of the Red Sea, to the Gulf of Akabah about 100 miles in all, low ground, low hill land, rendered vale or valley, it is also rendered low country, plain. The Revised Version renders it uniformly low land. When it is preceded by the article, it denotes the plain along the Mediterranean from Joppa to Gaza, the plain of the Philistines.
Rehob
Street; broad place. The father of Hadadezer, king of Tobah. The same, probably, as Beth-rehob, a place in the north of Palestine. It is now supposed to be represented by the castle of Hunin, south-west of Dan, on the road from Hamath into Coele-Syria. A town of Asher, to the east of Zidon. Another town of Asher, kept possession of by the Canaanites.
Sela
Rock, the capital of Edom, situated in the great valley extending from the Dead Sea to the Red Sea. It was near Mount Hor, close by the desert of Zin. It is called the rock. When Amaziah took it he called it Joktheel. It is mentioned by the prophets as doomed to destruction.
It appears in later history under the name of Petra. The caravans from all ages, from the interior of Arabia and from the Gulf of Persia, from Hadramaut on the ocean, and even from Sabea or Yemen, appear to have pointed to Petra as a common centre; and from Petra the tide seems again to have branched out in every direction, to Egypt, Palestine, and Syria, through Arsinoe, Gaza, Tyre, Jerusalem, and Damascus, and by other routes, terminating at the Mediterranean.
Talmai
Abounding in furrows. One of the Anakim of Hebron, who were slain by the men of Judah under Caleb. A king of Geshur, to whom Absalom fled after he had put Amnon to death. His daughter, Maachah, was one of David's wives, and the mother of Absalom.
Wilderness
District or region suitable for pasturing sheep and cattle; an uncultivated place. This word is used of the wilderness of Beersheba, on the southern border of Palestine; the wilderness of the Red Sea; of Shur, a portion of the Sinaitic peninsula; of Sin, Sinai, Moab, Judah, Ziph, Maon, En-gedi, Jeruel and Tekoa, Kadesh. The wilderness of the sea. A mysterious name, which must be meant to describe Babylon, perhaps because it became the place of discipline to God's people, as the wilderness of the Red Sea.
Otherwise it is in contrast with the symbolic title. Jerusalem is the valley of vision, rich in spiritual husbandry; whereas Babylon, the rival centre of influence, is spiritually barren and as restless as the sea. Jeshimon, a desert waste. Arabah, the name given to the valley from the Dead Sea to the eastern branch of the Red Sea, it is rendered plain. Tziyyah, a dry place. Tohu, a desolate place, a place waste or unoccupied.
Zidon
Fishery, a town on the Mediterranean coast, about 25 miles north of Tyre. It received its name from the first born of Canaan, the grandson of Noah. It was the first home of the Phoenicians on the coast of Palestine, and from its extensive commercial relations became a great city. It was the mother city of Tyre. It lay within the lot of the tribe of Asher, but was never subdued. The Zidonians long oppressed Israel. From the time of David its glory began to wane, and Tyre, rose to its place of pre-eminence.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
Proceedings of the tribes of Judah and Simeon. The Israelites were convinced that the war against the Canaanites was to be continued; but they were in doubt as to the manner in which it was to be carried on after the death of Joshua. In these respects they inquired of the Lord. God appoints service according to the strength he has given. From those who are most able, most work is expected. Judah was first in dignity, and must be first in duty. Judah's service will not avail unless God give success; but God will not give the success, unless Judah applies to the service. Judah was the most considerable of all the tribes, and Simeon the least; yet Judah begs Simeon's friendship, and prays for aid from him.
It becomes Israelites to help one another against Canaanites; and all Christians, even those of different tribes, should strengthen one another. Those who thus help one another in love, have reason to hope that God will graciously help both. Adoni-bezek was taken prisoner. This prince had been a severe tyrant. The Israelites, doubtless under the Divine direction, made him suffer what he had done to others; and his own conscience confessed that he was justly treated as he had treated others.
Thus the righteous God sometimes, in his providence, makes the punishment answer the sin. Hebron and other cities taken. The Canaanites had iron chariots; but Israel had God on their side, whose chariots are thousands of angels. Yet they suffered their fears to prevail against their faith. The Kenites had settled in the land. Israel let them fix where they pleased, being a quiet, contented people. They that molested none, were molested by none. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
The proceedings of other tribes. The people of Israel were very careless of their duty and interest. Owing to slothfulness and cowardice, they would not be at the pains to complete their conquests. It was also owing to their covetousness: they were willing to let the Canaanites live among them, that they might make advantage of them.
They had not the dread and detestation of idolatry they ought to have had. The same unbelief that kept their fathers forty years out of Canaan, kept them now out of the full possession of it. Distrust of the power and promise of God deprived them of advantages, and brought them into troubles.
Thus many a believer who begins well is hindered. His graces languish, his lusts revive, Satan plies him with suitable temptations, the world recovers its hold; he brings guilt into his conscience, anguish into his heart, discredit on his character, and reproach on the gospel.
Though he may have sharp rebukes, and be so recovered that he does not perish, yet he will have deeply to lament his folly through his remaining days; and upon his dying bed to mourn over the opportunities of glorifying God and serving the church he has lost. We can have no fellowship with the enemies of God within us or around us, but to our hurt; therefore our only wisdom is to maintain unceasing war against them.
Judges 1:1
Now it came about after the death of Joshua that the sons of Israel inquired of the LORD, saying, “Who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites, to fight against them?”
Judges 1:2
The LORD said, “Judah shall go up; behold, I have given the land into his hand.”
Judges 1:3
Then Judah said to Simeon his brother, “Come up with me into the territory allotted me, that we may fight against the Canaanites; and I in turn will go with you into the territory allotted you.” So Simeon went with him.
Judges 1:4
Judah went up, and the LORD gave the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hands, and they defeated ten thousand men at Bezek.
Judges 1:5
They found Adoni-bezek in Bezek and fought against him, and they defeated the Canaanites and the Perizzites.
Judges 1:6
But Adoni-bezek fled; and they pursued him and caught him and cut off his thumbs and big toes.
Judges 1:7
Adoni-bezek said, “Seventy kings with their thumbs and their big toes cut off used to gather up scraps under my table; as I have done, so God has repaid me.” So they brought him to Jerusalem and he died there.
Judges 1:8
Then the sons of Judah fought against Jerusalem and captured it and struck it with the edge of the sword and set the city on fire.
Judges 1:9
Afterward the sons of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites living in the hill country and in the Negev and in the lowland.
Judges 1:10
So Judah went against the Canaanites who lived in Hebron (now the name of Hebron formerly was Kiriath-arba); and they struck Sheshai and Ahiman and Talmai.
Judges 1:11
Then from there he went against the inhabitants of Debir (now the name of Debir formerly was Kiriath-sepher).
Judges 1:12
And Caleb said, “The one who attacks Kiriath-sepher and captures it, I will even give him my daughter Achsah for a wife.”
Judges 1:13
Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, captured it; so he gave him his daughter Achsah for a wife.
Judges 1:14
Then it came about when she came to him, that she persuaded him to ask her father for a field. Then she alighted from her donkey, and Caleb said to her, “What do you want?”
Judges 1:15
She said to him, “Give me a blessing, since you have given me the land of the Negev, give me also springs of water.” So Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.
Judges 1:16
The descendants of the Kenite, Moses’ father-in-law, went up from the city of palms with the sons of Judah, to the wilderness of Judah which is in the south of Arad; and they went and lived with the people.
Judges 1:17
Then Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they struck the Canaanites living in Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. So the name of the city was called Hormah.
Judges 1:18
And Judah took Gaza with its territory and Ashkelon with its territory and Ekron with its territory.
Judges 1:19
Now the LORD was with Judah, and they took possession of the hill country; but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley because they had iron chariots.
Judges 1:20
Then they gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses had promised; and he drove out from there the three sons of Anak.
Judges 1:21
But the sons of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who lived in Jerusalem; so the Jebusites have lived with the sons of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.
Judges 1:22
Likewise the house of Joseph went up against Bethel, and the LORD was with them.
Judges 1:23
The house of Joseph spied out Bethel (now the name of the city was formerly Luz).
Judges 1:24
The spies saw a man coming out of the city and they said to him, “Please show us the entrance to the
city and we will treat you kindly.”
Judges 1:25
So he showed them the entrance to the city, and they struck the city with the edge of the sword, but they let the man and all his family go free.
Judges 1:26
The man went into the land of the Hittites and built a city and named it Luz which is its name to this day.
Judges 1:27
But Manasseh did not take possession of Beth-shean and its villages, or Taanach and its villages, or the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, or the inhabitants of Ibleam and its villages, or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages; so the Canaanites persisted in living in that land.
Judges 1:28
It came about when Israel became strong, that they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but they did not drive them out completely.
Judges 1:29
Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites who were living in Gezer; so the Canaanites lived in Gezer among them.
Judges 1:30
Zebulun did not drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, or the inhabitants of Nahalol; so the Canaanites lived among them and became subject to forced labor.
Judges 1:31
Asher did not drive out the inhabitants of Acco, or the inhabitants of Sidon, or of Ahlab, or of Achzib, or of Helbah, or of Aphik, or of Rehob.
Judges 1:32
So the Asherites lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; for they did not drive them out.
Judges 1:33
Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh, or the inhabitants of Beth-anath, but lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; and the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh and Beth-anath became forced labor for them.
Judges 1:34
Then the Amorites forced the sons of Dan into the hill country, for they did not allow them to come down to the valley;
Judges 1:35
yet the Amorites persisted in living in Mount Heres, in Aijalon and in Shaalbim; but when the power of the house of Joseph grew strong, they became forced labor.
Judges 1:36
The border of the Amorites ran from the ascent of Akrabbim, from Sela and upward.
Cross References
Judges 1:1: Numbers 27:21; Judges 1:27; 2:21-23; 3:1-6; Judges 1:2: Genesis 49:8; Judges 1:4: Psalm 44:2; 78:55; Judges 1:7: Leviticus 24:19; Judges 1:8: Joshua 15:63; Judges 1:21; Judges 1:10: Joshua 15:13-19; Judges 1:11: Joshua 15:15; Judges 1:13: Judges 3:9; Judges 1:14: Joshua 15:18; Judges 1:16: Numbers 10:29-32; Judges 4:11; Judges 1:16: Deuteronomy 34:3; Judges 3:13; Judges 1:16: Numbers 21:1; Judges 1:17: Numbers 21:3; Judges 1:18: Joshua 11:22; Judges 1:19: Joshua 17:16; Judges 4:3, 13; Judges 1:20: Josh 14:9; Judges 1:20: Joshua 15:14; Judges 1:10; Judges 1:21: Joshua 15:63; Judges 1:8; Judges 1:21: 1 Chronicles 11:4; Judges 1:23: Genesis 28:19; Judges 1:24: Joshua 2:12; Judges 1:25: Joshua 6:25; Judges 1:27: Joshua 17:12; Judges 1:27: Judges 1:1; Judges 1:29: Joshua 16:10; Judges 1:36: Joshua 15:3
Easton's Bible Dictionary
Asher
Happy, Jacob's eight son; his mother was Zilpah, Leah's handmaid. Of the tribe founded by him nothing is recorded beyond its holding a place in the list of the tribes. It increased in numbers 29 percent, during the 38 years of wanderings. The place of this tribe during the march through the desert was between Dan and Naphtali. The boundaries of the inheritance given to it, which contained some of the richest soil in Palestine, and the names of its towns. Asher and Simeon were the only tribes west of the Jordan which furnished no hero or judge for the nation. Anna the prophetess was of this tribe.
Bezek
Lightning. The residence of Adoni-bezek, in the lot of Judah. It was in the mountains, not far from Jerusalem. Probably the modern Bezkah, six miles southeast of Lydda. The place where Saul numbered the forces of Israel and Judah; somewhere in the centre of the country, near the Jordan valley. Probably the modern Ibzik, 13 miles northeast of Shechem.
Captive
One taken in war. Captives were often treated with great cruelty and indignity. When a city was taken by assault, all the men were slain, and the women and children carried away captive and sold as slaves, and exposed to the most cruel treatment. Captives were sometimes carried away into foreign countries, as was the case with the Jews.
Dor
Dwelling, the Dora of the Romans, an ancient royal city of the Canaanites. It was the most southern settlement of the Phoenicians on the coast of Syria. The original inhabitants seem never to have been expelled, although they were made tributary by David. It was one of Solomon's commissariat districts. It has been identified with Tantura so named from the supposed resemblance of its tower, a horn. This tower fell in 1895, and nothing remains but debris and foundation walls, the remains of an old Crusading fortress. It is about eight miles north of Caesarea, a sad and sickly hamlet of wretched huts on a naked sea beach.
Fenced Cities
There were in Palestine cities, unwalled villages, and villages with castles or towers. Cities, so called, had walls, and were thus fenced. The fortifications consisted of one or two walls, on which were towers or parapets at regular intervals. Around ancient Jerusalem were three walls, on one of which were 90 towers, on the second 14, and on the third 60. The tower of Hananeel, near the northeast corner of the city wall, is frequently referred to. The gateways of such cities were also fortified.
The Hebrews found many fenced cities when they entered the Promised Land, and we may estimate the strength of some of these cities from the fact that they were long held in possession by the Canaanites. The Jebusites were enabled to hold possession of Jerusalem till the time of David. Several of the kings of Israel and Judah distinguished themselves as fortifiers or builders of cities.
Gaza
Called also Azzah, strong, a city on the Mediterranean shore, remarkable for its early importance as the chief centre of a great commercial traffic with Egypt. It is one of the oldest cities of the world. Its earliest inhabitants were the Avims, who were conquered and displaced by the Caphtorims, a Philistine tribe. In the division of the land it fell to the lot of Judah. It was the southernmost of the five great Philistine cities which gave as a trespass offering unto the Lord.
Hobab
Beloved, the Kenite, has been usually identified with Jethro, the word rendered father-in-law means properly any male relative by marriage, son-in-law, and should be rendered brother-in-law. His descendants followed Israel to Canaan, and at first pitched their tents near Jericho, but afterwards settled in the south in the borders of Arad.
Jerusalem
Called also Salem, Ariel, Jebus, the city of God, the holy city; by the modern Arabs el-Khuds, meaning the holy; once the city of Judah. This name is in the original in the dual form, and means possession of peace, or foundation of peace. The dual form probably refers to the two mountains on which it was built, Zion and Moriah; or, as some suppose, to the two parts of the city, the upper and the lower city. Jerusalem is a mountain city enthroned on a mountain fastness.
It stands on the edge of one of the highest table lands in Palestine, and is surrounded on the south-eastern, the southern, and the western sides by deep and precipitous ravines. It is first mentioned in Scripture under the name Salem.
When first mentioned under the name Jerusalem, Adonizedek was its king. It is afterwards named among the cities of Benjamin; but in the time of David it was divided between Benjamin and Judah. After the death of Joshua the city was taken and set on fire by the men of Judah; but the Jebusites were not wholly driven out of it.
The city is not again mentioned till we are told that David brought the head of Goliath thither. David afterwards led his forces against the Jebusites still residing within its walls, and drove them out, fixing his own dwelling on Zion, which he called the city of David. Here he built an altar to the Lord on the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite, and thither he brought up the ark of the covenant and placed it in the new tabernacle which he had prepared for it.
Jerusalem now became the capital of the kingdom. After the death of David, Solomon built the temple, a house for the name of the Lord, on Mount Moriah. He also greatly strengthened and adorned the city, and it became the great centre of all the civil and religious affairs of the nation. After the disruption of the kingdom on the accession to the throne of Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, Jerusalem became the capital of the kingdom of the two tribes.
It was subsequently often taken and retaken by the Egyptians, the Assyrians, and by the kings of Israel, for the abounding iniquities of the nation, after a siege of three years, it was taken and utterly destroyed, its walls razed to the ground, and its temple and palaces consumed by fire, by Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, 588 BC.
The desolation of the city and the land was completed by the retreat of the principal Jews into Egypt, and by the final carrying captive into Babylon of all that still remained in the land, so that it was left without an inhabitant. Compare the predictions. But the streets and walls of Jerusalem were again to be built, in troublous times, after a captivity of 70 years. This restoration was begun 536 BC, in the first year of Cyrus.
The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah contain the history of the re-building of the city and temple, and the restoration of the kingdom of the Jews, consisting of a portion of all the tribes. The kingdom thus constituted was for two centuries under the dominion of Persia; and thereafter, for about a century and a half, under the rulers of the Greek empire in Asia. For a century the Jews maintained their independence under native rulers, the Asmonean princes. At the close of this period they fell under the rule of Herod and of members of his family, but practically under Rome, till the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, 70 AD.
The city was then laid in ruins. The modern Jerusalem began to be built over the immense beds of rubbish resulting from the overthrow of the ancient city; and whilst it occupies certainly the same site, there are no evidences that even the lines of its streets are now what they were in the ancient city. Jews who still lingered about Jerusalem quietly submitted to the Roman sway. But in that year the emperor, in order to hold them in subjection, rebuilt and fortified the city.
The Jews, however, took possession of it, having risen under the leadership of one Bar-Chohaba in revolt against the Romans. Some four years afterward, however, they were driven out of it with great slaughter, and the city was again destroyed; and over its ruins was built a Roman city called Aelia Capitolina, a name which it retained till it fell under the dominion of the Mohammedans, when it was called el-Khuds, the holy.
In 326 AD Helena, mother of the emperor Constantine, made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem with the view of discovering the places mentioned in the life of our Lord. She caused a church to be built on what was then supposed to be the place of the nativity at Bethlehem. Constantine, animated by her example, searched for the holy sepulchre, and built over the supposed site a magnificent church, which was completed and dedicated 335 AD.
He relaxed the laws against the Jews till this time in force, and permitted them once a year to visit the city and wail over the desolation of the holy and beautiful house. In 614 AD the Persians, after defeating the Roman forces of the emperor Heraclius, took Jerusalem by storm, and retained it until 637 AD, when it was taken by the Arabians under the Khalif Omar.
It remained in their possession till it passed, in 960 AD under the dominion of the Fatimite khalifs of Egypt, and in 1073 AD under the Turcomans. In 1099 AD the crusader Godfrey of Bouillon took the city from the Moslems with great slaughter, and was elected king of Jerusalem. He converted the Mosque of Omar into a Christian cathedral.
During the 88 years which followed, many churches and convents were erected in the holy city. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre was rebuilt during this period, and it alone remains to this day. In 1187 AD the sultan Saladin wrested the city from the Christians. From that time to the present day, with few intervals, Jerusalem has remained in the hands of the Moslems.
It has, however, during that period been again and again taken and retaken, demolished in great part and rebuilt, no city in the world having passed through so many vicissitudes. In the year 1850 the Greek and Latin monks residing in Jerusalem had a fierce dispute about the guardianship of what are called the holy places. In this dispute the emperor Nicholas of Russia sided with the Greeks, and Louis Napoleon, the emperor of the French, with the Latins.
This led the Turkish authorities to settle the question in a way unsatisfactory to Russia. Out of this there sprang the Crimean War, which was protracted and sanguinary, but which had important consequences in the way of breaking down the barriers of Turkish exclusiveness.
Modern Jerusalem lies near the summit of a broad mountain ridge, which extends without interruption from the plain of Esdraelon to a line drawn between the southern end of the Dead Sea and the southeastern corner of the Mediterranean. This high, uneven table land is everywhere from 20 to 25 geographical miles in breadth. It was anciently known as the mountains of Ephraim and Judah.
Jerusalem is a city of contrasts, and differs widely from Damascus, not merely because it is a stone town in mountains, whilst the latter is a mud city in a plain, but because while in Damascus Moslem religion and Oriental custom are unmixed with any foreign element, in Jerusalem every form of religion, every nationality of East and West, is represented at one time.
Jerusalem is first mentioned under that name in the Book of Joshua, and the Tell-el-Amarna collection of tablets includes six letters from its Amorite king to Egypt, recording the attack of the Abiri about 1480 BC. The name is there spelt Uru-Salim city of peace. Another monumental record in which the Holy City is named is that of Sennacherib's attack in 702 BC. The camp of the Assyrians was still shown about 70 AD, on the flat ground to the northwest, included in the new quarter of the city.
The city of David included both the upper city and Millo, and was surrounded by a wall built by David and Solomon, who appear to have restored the original Jebusite fortifications. The name Zion appears to have been, like Ariel the hearth of God, a poetical term for Jerusalem, but in the Greek age was more specially used of the Temple hill.
The priests quarter grew up on Ophel, south of the Temple, where also was Solomon's Palace outside the original city of David. The walls of the city were extended by Jotham and Manasseh to include this suburb and the Temple. Jerusalem is now a town of some 50,000 inhabitants, with ancient mediaeval walls, partly on the old lines, but extending less far to the south. The traditional sites, as a rule, were first shown in the fourth and later centuries AD, and have no authority. The results of excavation have, however, settled most of the disputed questions, the limits of the Temple area, and the course of the old walls having been traced.
Kitron
Knotty, a city of Zebulun, called also Kattath; supposed to be Cana of Galilee.
Megiddo
Place of troops, originally one of the royal cities of the Canaanites, belonged to the tribe of Manasseh, but does not seem to have been fully occupied by the Israelites till the time of Solomon. The valley or plain of Megiddo was part of the plain of Esdraelon, the great battlefield of Palestine. It was here Barak gained a notable victory over Jabin, the king of Hazor, whose general, Sisera, led on the hostile army. Barak rallied the warriors of the northern tribes, and under the encouragement of Deborah, the prophetess, attacked the Canaanites in the great plain.
The army of Sisera was thrown into complete confusion, and was engulfed in the waters of the Kishon, which had risen and overflowed its banks. Many years after this, Pharaohnecho II., on his march against the king of Assyria, passed through the plains of Philistia and Sharon; and King Josiah, attempting to bar his progress in the plain of Megiddo, was defeated by the Egyptians.
He was wounded in battle, and died as they bore him away in his chariot towards Jerusalem, and all Israel mourned for him. So general and bitter was this mourning that it became a proverb, to which Zechariah alludes. Megiddo has been identified with the modern el-Lejjun, at the head of the Kishon, under the northeastern brow of Carmel, on the southwestern edge of the plain of Esdraelon, and nine miles west of Jezreel. Others identify it with Mujedd'a, four miles southwest of Bethshean, but the question of its site is still undetermined.
Nahallal
Pasture, a city in Zebulun on the border of Issachar, the same as Nahalol. It was given to the Levites. It has been by some identified with Malul in the plain of Esdraelon, four miles from Nazareth.
Othniel
Lion of God, the first of the judges. His wife Achsah was the daughter of Caleb. He gained her hand as a reward for his bravery in leading a successful expedition. Some 30 years after the death of Joshua, the Israelites fell under the subjection, the king of Mesopotamia. He oppressed them for full eight years, when they cried unto Jehovah, and Othniel was raised up to be their deliverer. He was the younger brother of Caleb. He is the only judge mentioned connected with the tribe of Judah. Under him the land had rest 40 years.
Plain
A grassy plain or meadow. Instead of plains of the vineyards, more correctly oak; margin, properly a valley, a broad plain between mountains. The circle, used only of the Ghor, or the low ground along the Jordan, the floor of the valley through which it flows. This name is applied to the Jordan valley as far north as Succoth, level ground, smooth, grassy table land, an expanse of rolling downs without rock or stone. In these passages, with the article prefixed, it denotes the plain in the tribe of Reuben, the plain of Judah is meant.
Jerusalem is called the rock of the plain, because the hills on which it is built rise high above the plain, the valley from the Sea of Galilee southward to the Dead Sea, a distance of about 70 miles. It is called by the modern Arabs the Ghor. Down through the centre of this plain is a ravine, from 200 to 300 yards wide, and from 50 to 100 feet deep, through which the Jordan flows in a winding course. This ravine is
called the lower plain.
The name Arabah is also applied to the whole Jordan valley from Mount Hermon to the eastern branch of the Red Sea, a distance of about 200 miles, as well as to that portion of the valley which stretches from the Sea of Galilee to the same branch of the Red Sea, to the Gulf of Akabah about 100 miles in all, low ground, low hill land, rendered vale or valley, it is also rendered low country, plain. The Revised Version renders it uniformly low land. When it is preceded by the article, it denotes the plain along the Mediterranean from Joppa to Gaza, the plain of the Philistines.
Rehob
Street; broad place. The father of Hadadezer, king of Tobah. The same, probably, as Beth-rehob, a place in the north of Palestine. It is now supposed to be represented by the castle of Hunin, south-west of Dan, on the road from Hamath into Coele-Syria. A town of Asher, to the east of Zidon. Another town of Asher, kept possession of by the Canaanites.
Sela
Rock, the capital of Edom, situated in the great valley extending from the Dead Sea to the Red Sea. It was near Mount Hor, close by the desert of Zin. It is called the rock. When Amaziah took it he called it Joktheel. It is mentioned by the prophets as doomed to destruction.
It appears in later history under the name of Petra. The caravans from all ages, from the interior of Arabia and from the Gulf of Persia, from Hadramaut on the ocean, and even from Sabea or Yemen, appear to have pointed to Petra as a common centre; and from Petra the tide seems again to have branched out in every direction, to Egypt, Palestine, and Syria, through Arsinoe, Gaza, Tyre, Jerusalem, and Damascus, and by other routes, terminating at the Mediterranean.
Talmai
Abounding in furrows. One of the Anakim of Hebron, who were slain by the men of Judah under Caleb. A king of Geshur, to whom Absalom fled after he had put Amnon to death. His daughter, Maachah, was one of David's wives, and the mother of Absalom.
Wilderness
District or region suitable for pasturing sheep and cattle; an uncultivated place. This word is used of the wilderness of Beersheba, on the southern border of Palestine; the wilderness of the Red Sea; of Shur, a portion of the Sinaitic peninsula; of Sin, Sinai, Moab, Judah, Ziph, Maon, En-gedi, Jeruel and Tekoa, Kadesh. The wilderness of the sea. A mysterious name, which must be meant to describe Babylon, perhaps because it became the place of discipline to God's people, as the wilderness of the Red Sea.
Otherwise it is in contrast with the symbolic title. Jerusalem is the valley of vision, rich in spiritual husbandry; whereas Babylon, the rival centre of influence, is spiritually barren and as restless as the sea. Jeshimon, a desert waste. Arabah, the name given to the valley from the Dead Sea to the eastern branch of the Red Sea, it is rendered plain. Tziyyah, a dry place. Tohu, a desolate place, a place waste or unoccupied.
Zidon
Fishery, a town on the Mediterranean coast, about 25 miles north of Tyre. It received its name from the first born of Canaan, the grandson of Noah. It was the first home of the Phoenicians on the coast of Palestine, and from its extensive commercial relations became a great city. It was the mother city of Tyre. It lay within the lot of the tribe of Asher, but was never subdued. The Zidonians long oppressed Israel. From the time of David its glory began to wane, and Tyre, rose to its place of pre-eminence.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
Proceedings of the tribes of Judah and Simeon. The Israelites were convinced that the war against the Canaanites was to be continued; but they were in doubt as to the manner in which it was to be carried on after the death of Joshua. In these respects they inquired of the Lord. God appoints service according to the strength he has given. From those who are most able, most work is expected. Judah was first in dignity, and must be first in duty. Judah's service will not avail unless God give success; but God will not give the success, unless Judah applies to the service. Judah was the most considerable of all the tribes, and Simeon the least; yet Judah begs Simeon's friendship, and prays for aid from him.
It becomes Israelites to help one another against Canaanites; and all Christians, even those of different tribes, should strengthen one another. Those who thus help one another in love, have reason to hope that God will graciously help both. Adoni-bezek was taken prisoner. This prince had been a severe tyrant. The Israelites, doubtless under the Divine direction, made him suffer what he had done to others; and his own conscience confessed that he was justly treated as he had treated others.
Thus the righteous God sometimes, in his providence, makes the punishment answer the sin. Hebron and other cities taken. The Canaanites had iron chariots; but Israel had God on their side, whose chariots are thousands of angels. Yet they suffered their fears to prevail against their faith. The Kenites had settled in the land. Israel let them fix where they pleased, being a quiet, contented people. They that molested none, were molested by none. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
The proceedings of other tribes. The people of Israel were very careless of their duty and interest. Owing to slothfulness and cowardice, they would not be at the pains to complete their conquests. It was also owing to their covetousness: they were willing to let the Canaanites live among them, that they might make advantage of them.
They had not the dread and detestation of idolatry they ought to have had. The same unbelief that kept their fathers forty years out of Canaan, kept them now out of the full possession of it. Distrust of the power and promise of God deprived them of advantages, and brought them into troubles.
Thus many a believer who begins well is hindered. His graces languish, his lusts revive, Satan plies him with suitable temptations, the world recovers its hold; he brings guilt into his conscience, anguish into his heart, discredit on his character, and reproach on the gospel.
Though he may have sharp rebukes, and be so recovered that he does not perish, yet he will have deeply to lament his folly through his remaining days; and upon his dying bed to mourn over the opportunities of glorifying God and serving the church he has lost. We can have no fellowship with the enemies of God within us or around us, but to our hurt; therefore our only wisdom is to maintain unceasing war against them.
Genesis to Revelation Verse by Verse
Brands For Jesus Christ
The Way Christian Church
