Judges 1:29 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, so the Canaanites lived in Gezer among them.

NIV: Nor did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer, but the Canaanites continued to live there among them.

NASB: And Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites who were living in Gezer; so the Canaanites lived in Gezer among them.

CSB: At that time Ephraim failed to drive out the Canaanites who were living in Gezer, so the Canaanites have lived among them in Gezer.

NLT: The tribe of Ephraim failed to drive out the Canaanites living in Gezer, so the Canaanites continued to live there among them.

KJV: Neither did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer; but the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them.

NKJV: Nor did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites who dwelt in Gezer; so the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them.

Earlier in the chapter, the writer of Judges reported on a military victory for the "house of Joseph." This most likely meant the tribe of Ephraim (Genesis 48:3–6). They successfully captured the city at Bethel. This great success was tempered by the fact that they allowed one of the residents of Bethel to live in exchange for helping them find a way into the city. That man joined the Hittites and launched a new Canaanite city with the same name as the one destroyed by the people of Ephraim (Judges 1:22–26).

Now Judges calls Ephraim by name in reporting that they also failed to drive out the Canaanites in the city of Gezer, west of Jerusalem and about halfway to the sea. Gezer guarded an important crossroad for all of Palestine. Because they could not or did not remove the Canaanites, the people of the land continued to live among the people of the tribe of Ephraim.

God's purpose for removing the wicked people of Canaan was closely tied to their cancerous, depraved culture (Deuteronomy 7:1–4, 9:4–5). Israel's failure to purge that evil (Deuteronomy 20:16–18) would lead to tremendous suffering, as the rest of the book of Judges will explain.

Judges 1:27–36 gives nearly the same report about six separate tribes of Israel: Manasseh, Ephraim, Zebulun, Asher, Naphtali, and Dan. Each fails to drive out the inhabitants of the cities in their allotted territories. Some succeed, eventually, in subjugating portions of the Canaanites or Amorites. None succeeds in obeying God's command to completely purge the land of those depraved cultures (Deuteronomy 20:16–18). Instead, the people mingle among the Israelites, with terrible consequences in the chapters to come.

Judges 1 summarizes the early efforts of the tribes of Israel to drive the Canaanites from the land or to destroy them entirely (Deuteronomy 7:1–5; 9:4). The process starts well with a string of successes by Judah and Simeon in the south. Then the news turns sour as one tribe after another is said to have failed to drive the Canaanites out of their allotted territories. Instead, they occupy certain territories, often allowing inhabitants of the land to live among them.

Judges 1 continues immediately from the death of Joshua (Joshua 24:29–30). It begins a new era for Israel, now referred to as the time of "the judges." In a series of reports, tribe by tribe, the narrator describes Israel's success or failure to drive the deeply wicked Canaanites (Deuteronomy 7:1–5; 9:4) from the land or to destroy them. Judah experiences much success, but it is unable to drive the inhabitants out of one region, at least. Every other tribe either fails utterly to remove the Canaanites, or only gradually grows strong enough to capture the territory.

The Book of Judges describes Israel's history from the death of Joshua to shortly before Israel's first king, Saul. Israel fails to complete God's command to purge the wicked Canaanites from the land (Deuteronomy 7:1–5; 9:4). This results in a centuries-long cycle where Israel falls into sin and is oppressed by local enemies. After each oppression, God sends a civil-military leader, labeled using a Hebrew word loosely translated into English as "judge." These appointed rescuers would free Israel from enemy control and govern for a certain time. After each judge's death, the cycle of sin and oppression begins again. This continues until the people of Israel choose a king, during the ministry of the prophet-and-judge Samuel (1 Samuel 1—7).