Judges 1:23 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And the house of Joseph scouted out Bethel. (Now the name of the city was formerly Luz.)

NIV: When they sent men to spy out Bethel (formerly called Luz),

NASB: The house of Joseph had men spy out Bethel (the name of the city previously was Luz).

CSB: They sent spies to Bethel (the town was formerly named Luz).

NLT: They sent men to scout out Bethel (formerly known as Luz).

KJV: And the house of Joseph sent to descry Bethel. (Now the name of the city before was Luz.)

NKJV: So the house of Joseph sent men to spy out Bethel. (The name of the city was formerly Luz.)

The "house of Joseph" is a reference to the tribe of Ephraim, one of Joseph's two sons (Genesis 48:1–6). The other is Manasseh, who will be noted later in this passage (Judges 1:27).

Ephraim has come up with a plan to conquer the city of Bethel, known to the Canaanites as Luz. They will follow the pattern set by Israel's destruction of the city of Jericho with its enormous walls. That plan began by sending spies to Jericho. Ephraim does the same, sending a group to scout out Bethel/Luz. This plan has a fatal flaw, however: it disobeys God's command to eliminate all the wicked Canaanites (Deuteronomy 20:16–18).

Judges 1:21–26 follows a long description of Judah's conquest with reports on two other tribes and their attempts to drive out the Canaanites from their territories. The tribe of Benjamin fails to remove the Jebusites from Jerusalem and so the Jebusites remained living among the people. Scouts from the tribe of Ephraim, here called "the house of Joseph," unwisely agree to allow one citizen of the Canaanite city of Bethel, also known as Luz, to live in exchange for providing them a way into the city. That man starts a new Canaanite city with the same name.

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).

Accessed 5/4/2024 1:02:16 AM