Judges 1, An Incomplete Conquest

Israel has conquered the land under Joshua's leadership.  Now Joshua has died.

Judges 1: 1-7, Tribes of Judah and Simeon fight the Canaanites

After the death of Joshua, the Israelites asked the LORD, "Who will be the first to go up and fight for us against the Canaanites?"

    

The LORD answered, "Judah is to go; I have given the land into their hands."

    

Then the men of Judah said to the Simeonites their brothers, "Come up with us into the territory allotted to us, to fight against the Canaanites. We in turn will go with you into yours." So the Simeonites went with them.

When Judah attacked, the LORD gave the Canaanites and Perizzites into their hands and they struck down ten thousand men at Bezek. It was there that they found Adoni-Bezek and fought against him, putting to rout the Canaanites and Perizzites. Adoni-Bezek fled, but they chased him and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and big toes. 

Then Adoni-Bezek said, "Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off have picked up scraps under my table. Now God has paid me back for what I did to them." They brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

The tribes of Judah and Simeon attack the Canaanites and Perizzites at a place called Bezek.  There they capture Adoni-Bezek.

It is not clear how the Israelites got such a precise answer from their question of YHWH.  Was it verbal? Or a lottery choice among 12 images?

The book records Adoni-Bezek's confession of justice.

Judges 1: 8, Destruction of Jerusalem

The men of Judah attacked Jerusalem also and took it. They put the city to the sword and set it on fire.

Jerusalem now belongs to the tribe of Judah.  This city will need to be conquered several times, finally by David several centuries later. At the time of the conquest of Canaan, Jerusalem is given to the tribe of Benjamin (see Joshua 18: 21-28) and was on the border of the possessions of Benjamin and Judah. Here the tribe of Judah is reported as completing the conquest of the city. 

Judges 1: 9-11, Driving out Canaanites

After that, the men of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites living in the hill country, the Negev and the western foothills. They advanced against the Canaanites living in Hebron (formerly called Kiriath Arba) and defeated Sheshai, Ahiman and Talmai. From there they advanced against the people living in Debir (formerly called Kiriath Sepher).

The nation continues to try to drive out (or assimilate) the other people groups living there.

Judges 1: 12-13, Offering Caleb's daughter

And Caleb said, "I will give my daughter Acsah in marriage to the man who attacks and captures Kiriath Sepher." Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, took it; so Caleb gave his daughter Acsah to him in marriage.

Othniel is identified as Caleb's younger brother. (Commentaries say that the Hebrew allows other interpretations of the relationship but "brother" of Caleb is the most likely.)  Like Caleb, Othniel is a hero in the early days of Israel.  Here he wins Caleb's daughter.  My reaction to this "win" is a mixture of admiration, from the fairy tale trope of the king offering his daughter's hand in marriage, to horror that a daughter is viewed as a prize to give away. 

So Acsah is given to her nephew, Othniel. This repeats an account appearing in Joshua 15: 13-19. 

Judges 1: 14-15, Caleb's daughter acquires a field.

One day when she came to Othniel, she urged him to ask her father for a field. When she got off her donkey, Caleb asked her, "What can I do for you?"

She replied, "Do me a special favor. Since you have given me land in the Negev, give me also springs of water." 

Then Caleb gave her the upper and lower springs.

There is apparently a conflict here between some ancient manuscripts: does Acsah urge Othniel to ask her father for a field? Or does Othniel urge Acsah to make the request?  The NIV apparently follows most ancient manuscripts in reporting that Acsah initiated this request for land, with Othniel following her lead. Do other manuscripts "sanitize" the assertiveness of Acsah?

Judges 1: 16-18, Conquests of Judah

The descendants of Moses' father-in-law, the Kenite, went up from the City of Palms with the men of Judah to live among the people of the Desert of Judah in the Negev near Arad. Then the men of Judah went with the Simeonites their brothers and attacked the Canaanites living in Zephath, and they totally destroyed the city. Therefore it was called Hormah. 

The men of Judah also took Gaza, Ashkelon and Ekron--each city with its territory.

Here are more recordings of conquests, following the traditions of the book of Joshua. The Kenites are Midianites, not Hebrews, but here they cooperate with the people of Judah. (A Midianite woman, Jael, will play an important role in Judges 5.)

(NIV Footnotes: The City of Palms is Jericho. Hormah, in verse 17, means "destruction."

In verse 18, the NIV is following ancient Hebrew manuscripts; the Septuagint  apparently says that Judah did not take Gaza.)

Judges 1: 19, YHWH with Judah

The LORD was with the men of Judah. They took possession of the hill country, but they were unable to drive the people from the plains, because they had iron chariots.

If YHWH is on your side, you are good. But the people of Judah apparently feared the new technology, the iron chariots. (We are in the early Iron Age.)

Judges 1: 21-22, Success and failure

As Moses had promised, Hebron was given to Caleb, who drove from it the three sons of Anak.

The Benjamites, however, failed to dislodge the Jebusites, who were living in Jerusalem; to this day the Jebusites live there with the Benjamites.

We have a first mention of failure.  It is at Jerusalem.  (The Jebusites stay in that region despite the sacking of that town described earlier?)

Judges 1: 22-25, Bethel sacked

Now the house of Joseph attacked Bethel, and the LORD was with them. When they sent men to spy out Bethel (formerly called Luz), the spies saw a man coming out of the city and they said to him, "Show us how to get into the city and we will see that you are treated well."

So he showed them, and they put the city to the sword but spared the man and his whole family.  He then went to the land of the Hittites, where he built a city and called it Luz, which is its name to this day.

We get an explanation of the founding of Luz, separate from Bethel. (See Jacob's naming of that place in Genesis 28: 11-19.) The capture of Bethel involves recruiting a resident to show them the way into the city.

Judges 1: 27-36, Failures

But Manasseh did not drive out the people of Beth Shan or Taanach or Dor or Ibleam or Megiddo and their surrounding settlements, for the Canaanites were determined to live in that land. When Israel became strong, they pressed the Canaanites into forced labor but never drove them out completely.

Nor did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer, but the Canaanites continued to live there among them. Neither did Zebulun drive out the Canaanites living in Kitron or Nahalol, who remained among them; but they did subject them to forced labor.

Nor did Asher drive out those living in Acco or Sidon or Ahlab or Aczib or Helbah or Aphek or Rehob, and because of this the people of Asher lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land.

Neither did Naphtali drive out those living in Beth Shemesh or Beth Anath; but the Naphtalites too lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land, and those living in Beth Shemesh and Beth Anath became forced laborers for them.

The Amorites confined the Danites to the hill country, not allowing them to come down into the plain. And the Amorites were determined also to hold out in Mount Heres, Aijalon and Shaalbim, but when the power of the house of Joseph increased, they too were pressed into forced labor. The boundary of the Amorites was from Scorpion Pass to Sela and beyond.

Despite the claims in Joshua that these various tribes were "totally destroyed" or "completely devoted over to God", the Amorites and various tribes persist in the land.  The conquest of Canaan has only been partial.

From Wikipedia comes this map of the presumed possessions of Israel at the start of the time of the Judges.

The rest of this book will deal with issues raised by an incomplete conquest.