Judges 1:8 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And the men of Judah fought against Jerusalem and captured it and struck it with the edge of the sword and set the city on fire.

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

NASB: Then the sons of Judah fought against Jerusalem and captured it, and struck it with the edge of the sword, and set the city on fire.

CSB: The men of Judah fought against Jerusalem, captured it, put it to the sword, and set the city on fire.

NLT: The men of Judah attacked Jerusalem and captured it, killing all its people and setting the city on fire.

KJV: Now the children of Judah had fought against Jerusalem, and had taken it, and smitten it with the edge of the sword, and set the city on fire.

NKJV: Now the children of Judah fought against Jerusalem and took it; they struck it with the edge of the sword and set the city on fire.

After defeating the city of Bezek, Judah's soldiers attack the Canaanite-occupied city of Jerusalem. Again, the Lord gives Judah success. This time, the Israelites leave nobody alive, striking down all with the sword and even burning the city.

Scholars speculate that after Jerusalem was defeated and wiped out by Judah, the people known as the Jebusites moved in and took over the town. Later in Israel's history, King David will finally take Jerusalem from the Jebusites (2 Samuel 5:6–9) before making it Israel's capital. Alternatively, the reference to Jerusalem might mean the surrounding area. Prior campaigns there were difficult (Joshua 15:63) and the tribe of Benjamin would later struggle to secure the area (Judges 1:21). It's possible this battle was against a lesser city or fortification on what is now called Mount Zion.

Although Jerusalem was technically in the territory of the tribe of Benjamin, it may have been considered on the border between Judah and Benjamin at this time. It's possible that the men of Judah burned only part of the city and that they did not hold the city for long.

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).