Judges 1:6 - Printer Friendly

ESV: Adoni-bezek fled, but they pursued him and caught him and cut off his thumbs and his big toes.

NIV: Adoni-Bezek fled, but they chased him and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and big toes.

NASB: But Adoni-bezek fled; and they pursued him and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and big toes.

CSB: When Adoni-bezek fled, they pursued him, caught him, and cut off his thumbs and big toes.

NLT: Adoni-bezek escaped, but the Israelites soon captured him and cut off his thumbs and big toes.

KJV: But Adonibezek fled; and they pursued after him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his great toes.

NKJV: Then Adoni-Bezek fled, and they pursued him and caught him and cut off his thumbs and big toes.

The leader or governor of the city of Bezek was apparently known by the title Adoni-Bezek, which simply means "master of Bezek." This enemy ruler fled after his city was defeated by the soldiers of the tribe of Judah (Judges 1:4–5). The soldiers chase down the Adoni-bezek, and eventually capture him. What the men of Judah do next is troubling, at best: they cut off the man's thumbs and his big toes. This mutilation emphasizes the ruler's weakness and utter defeat.

And so, in their first military action after the death of Joshua, Israel has already begun to imitate the wicked people of Canaan (Deuteronomy 7:1–5; 9:4). As the prisoner himself reveals in the following verse, this style of mutilation, used against a captured leader, was a common Canaanite practice (Judges 1:7). The Israelites were following the brutal, local customs. According to this passage, the defeated ruler might have been kept as a trophy, of sorts, until his own death.

What the soldiers of Judah should have done, according to the commands of the Lord, was to execute the enemy leader, not maim him. God had been extremely clear on that point (Deuteronomy 20:16–17). While this, itself, also seems harsh, there was good reason for it. Primarily, God wanted Israel to avoid taking on any aspects of Canaanite culture: "…that they may not teach you to do according to all their abominable practices that they have done for their gods, and so you sin against the Lord your God" (Deuteronomy 20:18).

This incident, as with many others to come, records Israel's refusal to fully destroy the depraved people of Canaan. This will eventually lead them to worship foreign gods, breaking their covenant with the Lord. Though it might seem a minor incident, this torture of a captured leader begins that pattern of disobedience.

Judges 1:1–20 describes the campaign of the tribes of Judah and Simeon, to drive out or destroy all the Canaanites from their large territory in southern Israel. It begins with victories over Bezek and Jerusalem. The report rehearses the former victories by Caleb and his family in the hill country. The campaign continues into the desert wilderness of the Negeb, where a group of descendants of Moses' father-in-law settles. Judah dominates the hill country but doesn't entirely evict the wicked Canaanites because of their iron chariots.

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).