The title of this book in the Hebrew copies is Sepher Shophetim, the Book of Judges; but the Syriac and Arabic interpreters call it, “the Book of the Judges of the Children of Israel;” and the Septuagint only Judges; so called, not because it was written by them, though some think it was compiled…

Now after the death of Joshua With the account of which the preceding book is concluded, and therefore this very properly follows after that; though Epiphanius [[1]] places the book of Job between them: it came to pass that the children of Israel asked the Lord; that is, the heads of them who…

And the Lord said By an articulate voice, which it is probable was the usual way of answering by Urim and Thummim: Judah shall go up; not Judah in person, who was long ago dead, but the tribe of Judah; it was the will of the Lord that that tribe should engage first with the Canaanites, being the…

And Judah said unto Simeon his brother The men of the tribe of Judah said to those of the tribe of Simeon, they being not only brethren by father’s and mother’s side, which was not the case of all the sons of Jacob, but their possessions and inheritances lay near together; and indeed those of…

And Judah went up Simeon being along with him, from the southern parts of the land, where they dwelt, and went more northward towards Jerusalem, and which therefore is called a going up: and the Lord delivered the Canaanites and Perizzites into their hands: into the hands of Judah and Simeon: the…

And they found Adonibezek in Bezek Who was king of, the place, and whose name signifies lord of Bezek; not that they took him there, for he is afterwards said to make his escape from thence, but here he was when they came against that city, and into which they rushed upon him, and fell upon him as…

But Adonibezek fled, and they pursued after him, and caught him It is very probable his view was to get to Jebus or Jerusalem, a strong and fortified city and he made his way thither as fast as he could, but was pursued and overtaken by some of the forces of Judah and Simeon; and the rather it may…

And Adonibezek said To the men of Judah, after his thumbs and toes were cut off, his conscience accusing him for what he had done to others, and being obliged to acknowledge he was righteously dealt with: threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off; that is, by him,…

Now the children of Judah had fought against Jerusalem, and had taken it Which accounted for their carrying Adonibezek thither. This they had done in the times of Joshua; for when the king of that place was taken and slain by Joshua, it seems that he and Israel went and fought against the city, and…

And afterwards the children of Judah After the taking of Bezek, and the king of it, having him to Jerusalem, where he died: they went down; from Jerusalem; which was on high ground: to fight against the Canaanites that dwelt in the mountain, and in the south, and in the valley; into which several…

And Judah went against the Canaanites that dwelt in Hebron, &c.] Hebron was first taken by Joshua, and the inhabitants of it put to the sword, (Josh. 10:36, Josh.

And from thence he went against the inhabitants of Debir: and the name of Debir before was Kirjathsepher. ] (See Gill on Josh. 15:15).

And Caleb said, He that smiteth Kirjathsepher, and taketh it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter to wife. ] (See Gill on Josh. 15:16).

And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, took it: and he gave him Achsah his daughter to wife. ] (See Gill on Josh. 15:17).

And it came to pass, when she came to him, that she moved him to ask of her father a field: and she lighted from off her ass; and Caleb said unto her, What wilt thou?] (See Gill on Josh. 15:18).

And she said unto him, Give me a blessing: for thou hast given me a south land; give me also springs of water. And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the nether springs. ] (See Gill on Josh. 15:19).

And the children of the Kenite, Moses’ father in law The posterity of Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses; for though Jethro returned to his own country, after he had paid a visit to Moses in the wilderness, yet Hobab his son, at the persuasion of Moses, travelled with him and Israel through the…

And Judah went with Simeon his brother Having subtitled his Canaanites which were in his own lot, according to his promise, he went with his brother Simeon, or the tribe of Simeon, into their lot to reduce those that were in that: and they slew the Canaanites that inhabited Zephath, and utterly…

Also Judah took Gaza, with the coast thereof Which by lot fell to that tribe, ; it was not till now subdued: and Ashkelon with the coast thereof; which, according to our countryman Sandys [[15]], was ten miles from Gaza: and Ekron with the coast thereof; this also is the lot that fell to Judah, but…

And the Lord was with Judah Encouraging, strengthening, succeeding, and giving the tribe victory over the Canaanites; the Targum is, “the Word of the Lord was for the help of the house of Judah:” and he drove out the inhabitants of the mountains; the mountainous part of Judea, such as was about…

And they gave Hebron unto Caleb, as Moses said Which was done in the times of Joshua, both by him and all the people, according to the order of Moses. This is to be understood not of the city which was given to the Levites, but of the fields and parts adjacent, (Josh. 21:11, Josh.

And the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites that inhabited Jerusalem That is, that part of it which belonged to them, for it lay between Judah and Benjamin; and neither of them separately, nor both conjunctly, could drive out the Jebusites from it, particularly the strong hold on…

And the house of Joseph, they also went up against Bethel, &c.] Which lay upon the borders of the sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh, (Josh. 16:1, Josh.

And the house of Joseph sent to descry Bethel To reconnoitre the place, to observe its passes and avenues, which were most accessible, and to examine the walls of it, where they were weakest and least defended: now the name of the city before was Luz; which signifies a “nut”; perhaps it was so…

And the spies saw a man come forth out of the city Or “the keepers” [[16]]; those that were sent to watch, and observe, and get what intelligence they could of the city, and the way into it: and they said unto him, show us, we pray, thee, the entrance into the city; not the gate or gates of it,…

And when he showed them the entrance, into the city Pointing to it with his fingers, as the same writers observe: they smote the city with the edge of the sword; they gave notice of what intelligence they had got to the body of the army, who came up, entered the city, took it, and put the…

And the man went into the land of the Hittites With his family; Kimchi says this was not one of the seven nations of Canaan; and it is very clear from this narrative, that the land this man went to was not in the land of Canaan; though it is certain a people of this name formerly dwelt there, ; and…

Neither did Manasseh One of the sons of Joseph before mentioned; and it respects that half tribe of Manasseh, which had its portion on this side Jordan in the land of Canaan: these did not drive out the inhabitants of Bethshean and her towns, nor Taanach and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Dor…

And it came to pass, when Israel was strong All the tribes of Israel were become numerous, and able to drive the Canaanites out of the land everywhere, and particularly were able to assist Manasseh in expelling the Canaanites out of the above places, yet they did not; but all they did was, that…

Neither did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer Not so much as made them tributaries, but made a covenant with them, it is probable, contrary to the express will of God: but the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them; the Ephraimites agreeing to it, and here they dwelt to the times…

Neither did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol The first of these seems to be the same with Kattah or Kartah, and the latter with Nahalal, both cities given to the Levites, (Josh. 21:34, Josh.

Neither did Asher drive out the inhabitants of Accho The same with Ptolemais, (See Gill on Acts 21:7); so called from the first Ptolemy king of Egypt, who enlarged it; but it has since recovered its ancient name pretty nearly, and is now called Acca or Acra. “On its north and east sides (Mr.

But the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land They were in a worse condition than those before mentioned; for the Canaanites were possessed of their country, especially of the above cities, and were masters of them; and the Asherites only dwelt among them upon…

Neither did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of Bethshemesh, nor the inhabitants of Bethanath Of which places (See Gill on Josh. 19:38); but he dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; in the same disgraceful manner as Asher did, owing to cowardice or sloth: nevertheless, the…

And the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountain Into the mountainous part of the tribe of Dan; the most noted mountains in it were Sear and Baalah, which lay on the border of Judah, (Josh. 15:10, Josh.

But the Amorites would dwell in Mount Heres in Aijalon, and in Shaalbim And they would not suffer the Danites to dwell in the valley, a fruitful and delightful part of their country, terrifying them with their iron chariots, which in the vale they could make use of to great advantage; so neither…

And the coast of the Amorites was from the going up to Akrabbim Of which (See Gill on Num. 34:4) and (See Gill on Josh. 15:3): from the rock, and upwards; even from the city Petra in Idumea, and beyond that; and there was a country near Idumea, called Acrabatane, from this mountain Akrabbim, “Then…