Judges 1:19 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And the LORD was with Judah, and he took possession of the hill country, but he could not drive out the inhabitants of the plain because they had chariots of iron.

NIV: The LORD was with the men of Judah. They took possession of the hill country, but they were unable to drive the people from the plains, because they had chariots fitted with iron.

NASB: Now the Lord was with Judah, and they took possession of the hill country; but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had iron chariots.

CSB: The Lord was with Judah and enabled them to take possession of the hill country, but they could not drive out the people who were living in the plain because those people had iron chariots.

NLT: The Lord was with the people of Judah, and they took possession of the hill country. But they failed to drive out the people living in the plains, who had iron chariots.

KJV: And the LORD was with Judah; and he drave out the inhabitants of the mountain; but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron.

NKJV: So the Lord was with Judah. And they drove out the mountaineers, but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the lowland, because they had chariots of iron.

To this point, the book of Judges has followed Judah's campaign to defeat all the Canaanite peoples in their allotted territory. This verse summarizes their overall progress. It is a good news, bad news scenario. The good news is that because the Lord was with Judah, they were able to conquer the region known as the hill country in southern Israel. So far as Judah maintained faith in God, they could accomplish all He had asked them to do.

The bad news, though, is that they could not entirely drive out the inhabitants of the lowlands—meaning the plains—because those Canaanites had iron chariots. The use of iron in chariots was a relatively new technology at this moment in history, and Israel did not have a battle plan to overcome it on strictly human terms. Chariots could not help the Canaanites in the hilly regions of Judah, but they were very powerful on the plains.

The text makes no further comment about this difficulty. Readers are often confused, given that God's influence is supposed to be at work in these battles. The God that miraculously made Jericho's walls fall (Joshua 6:20–21) could also intervene to overcome iron chariots. The text does not say Judah was defeated, only that they didn't "drive out" those inhabitants. Later, Israel would successfully counter armies equipped with iron chariots (Judges 4). So why didn't God intervene here? Bible scholars are left to speculate, since the text offers no clues.

A common theme in Israel's failures in Canaan is complacency and lack of faith. It could be this limited victory was an early consequence of Judah's failure to utterly destroy some of the Canaanites they came across (Deuteronomy 20:16–18). It could also simply be that Judah's armies were fearful and apprehensive about fighting enemies with iron chariots. Whatever the reason, Judah failed to completely secure all their territory, though they were very successful overall.

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).