Judges 1:26 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And the man went to the land of the Hittites and built a city and called its name Luz. That is its name to this day.

NIV: He then went to the land of the Hittites, where he built a city and called it Luz, which is its name to this day.

NASB: Then the man went to the land of the Hittites and built a city, and named it Luz, which is its name to this day.

CSB: Then the man went to the land of the Hittites, built a town, and named it Luz. That is its name still today.

NLT: Later the man moved to the land of the Hittites, where he built a town. He named it Luz, which is its name to this day.

KJV: And the man went into the land of the Hittites, and built a city, and called the name thereof Luz: which is the name thereof unto this day.

NKJV: And the man went to the land of the Hittites, built a city, and called its name Luz, which is its name to this day.

The people of the tribe of Ephraim succeed in destroying the Canaanite people of the city of Bethel/Luz (Judges 1:22–25). They almost obey God's command to utterly dedicate the inhabitants to destruction (Deuteronomy 20:16–18). Instead, they let one man and his family go free in exchange for his help in getting them into Bethel to destroy it.

The result is found in this verse. The man travels to live with the Hittite people and builds a new city. He calls this city Luz, after the old city. He succeeds in replacing a Canaanite city destroyed by the Israelites with a new one of the same name. This is a direct result of the Israelite's failure to obey God's command to thoroughly cleanse the Promised Land of all Canaanite influence.

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 4/29/2024 1:37:02 AM