Judges 1:1-26 - Continuing the Conquest

Judges 1:1-26

The Continuing Conquest of Canaan (Joshua 15:13–19)

1 Now after the death of Joshua it came to pass that the children of Israel asked the LORD, saying, “Who shall be first to go up for us against the Canaanites to fight against them?”

2 And the LORD said, “Judah shall go up. Indeed I have delivered the land into his hand.”

3 So Judah said to Simeon his brother, “Come up with me to my allotted territory, that we may fight against the Canaanites; and I will likewise go with you to your allotted territory.” And Simeon went with him. 4 Then Judah went up, and the LORD delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand; and they killed ten thousand men at Bezek. 5 And they found Adoni-Bezek in Bezek, and fought against him; and they defeated the Canaanites and the Perizzites. 6 Then Adoni-Bezek fled, and they pursued him and caught him and cut off his thumbs and big toes. 7 And Adoni-Bezek said, “Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off used to gather scraps under my table; as I have done, so God has repaid me.” Then they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died.

8 Now the children of Judah fought against Jerusalem and took it; they struck it with the edge of the sword and set the city on fire. 9 And afterward the children of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites who dwelt in the mountains, in the South, and in the lowland. 10 Then Judah went against the Canaanites who dwelt in Hebron. (Now the name of Hebron was formerly Kirjath Arba.) And they killed Sheshai, Ahiman, and Talmai.

11 From there they went against the inhabitants of Debir. (The name of Debir was formerly Kirjath Sepher.)

12 Then Caleb said, “Whoever attacks Kirjath Sepher and takes it, to him I will give my daughter Achsah as wife.” 13 And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, took it; so he gave him his daughter Achsah as wife. 14 Now it happened, when she came to him, that she urged him to ask her father for a field. And she dismounted from her donkey, and Caleb said to her, “What do you wish?” 15 So she said to him, “Give me a blessing; since you have given me land in the South, give me also springs of water.”

And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs.

16 Now the children of the Kenite, Moses’ father-in-law, went up from the City of Palms with the children of Judah into the Wilderness of Judah, which lies in the South near Arad; and they went and dwelt among the people. 17 And Judah went with his brother Simeon, and they attacked the Canaanites who inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. So the name of the city was called Hormah. 18 Also Judah took Gaza with its territory, Ashkelon with its territory, and Ekron with its territory. 19 So the LORD was with Judah. And they drove out the mountaineers, but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the lowland, because they had chariots of iron. 20 And they gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses had said. Then he expelled from there the three sons of Anak. 21 But the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who inhabited Jerusalem; so the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.

22 And the house of Joseph also went up against Bethel, and the LORD was with them. 23 So the house of Joseph sent men to spy out Bethel. (The name of the city was formerly Luz.) 24 And when the spies saw a man coming out of the city, they said to him, “Please show us the entrance to the city, and we will show you mercy.” 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. 26 And the man went to the land of the Hittites, built a city, and called its name Luz, which is its name to this day.

The conquest of the ungodly in the promised land of Canaan was continued by Israel after the death of Joshua and continued influence of faithful Caleb who stood with Joshua (Numbers 14:6-7, 8-9) on the  side of faith (Numbers 14:24) during the rebellion in the wilderness.  Israel sought the direction of the LORD and sent Judah to attack the Canaanites and was successful because they had asked God first.  The Israelites went on to take Jerusalem also, even though they left some of its inhabitants alive, contrary to the command to wipe out all influences of idolatry and its associated immorality.  This would continue to haunt them as a thorn in their spiritual and physical side to come as the judges began to rule the people going forward and downward in a long death spiral over the coming generations recorded in this historical book that documents their sad demise.  The LORD was still with them at this point in the beginning, however, as they took territories such as Gaza and Bethel along with various kings and cities while moving forward in victory.  This was the beginning of taking the promised land as commanded, but would soon slow and falter due to compromises with the commands of God and the associated sins committed with increasing frequency in their history laid out in this book as a warning (1 Corinthians 10:6-7, 11-12) about not following God’s word and will (Romans 15:4) instead for our sanctification now in Christ.  We need to continue our daily conquest of sin within (Romans 8:12-13) while we fight the good fight of the gospel without (Ephesians 6:10-11, 15, 19) that we may follow God’s word to fill the promised land with God’s people called and chosen in Christ (2 Corinthians 10:4-5) by wielding the sword of truth (John 8:32, 36) to vanquish the lie and set people free to enter the promised heavenly land.