What does Judges 1:5 mean?
Israel's campaign to clear the Canaanites out of the Promised Land has begun. Their goal is to take full possession of the territories apportioned to each tribe. At God's direction and with His blessing, Judah has attacked first, defeating 10,000 soldiers at a place called Bezek (Judges 1:1–4).During the attack, the Israelites located the enemy leader. The Hebrew term adōni means "lord" or "master," so Adoni-bezek is likely a title, rather than a given name. This is parallel to how the ruler of Egypt was called by the title Pharaoh. Though the city's Canaanites and Perizzites are defeated by the hand of the Lord, this enemy leader makes an escape—which is only temporary (Judges 1:6). This served as rousing evidence that Yahweh was still with Israel even after the death of their leader Joshua.