Judges 1:28 - Printer Friendly

ESV: When Israel grew strong, they put the Canaanites to forced labor, but did not drive them out completely.

NIV: When Israel became strong, they pressed the Canaanites into forced labor but never drove them out completely.

NASB: And it came about, when Israel became strong, that they put the Canaanites to forced labor; but they did not drive them out completely.

CSB: When Israel became stronger, they made the Canaanites serve as forced labor but never drove them out completely.

NLT: When the Israelites grew stronger, they forced the Canaanites to work as slaves, but they never did drive them completely out of the land.

KJV: And it came to pass, when Israel was strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute, and did not utterly drive them out.

NKJV: And it came to pass, when Israel was strong, that they put the Canaanites under tribute, but did not completely drive them out.

Most of the tribes of Israel failed to entirely remove the Canaanites from their allotted territories (Judges 1:17–21). The writer of Judges is listing these tribes and the places where Canaanites remained living in the land. The Israelites seem to simply have lacked the will or the trust in God to destroy the Canaanites as God had commanded (Deuteronomy 20:16–18).

Here, Scripture notes that Israel could have destroyed the Canaanites, eventually. They were not defeated in battle—they simply stopped short of a complete victory. The people of Israel willfully chose not to follow through on God's command. As the nation took root, the people thrived. They began to outnumber the Canaanites in some places. When they became strong enough to purge evil Canaanite culture from the land, however, they chose instead to enslave the people. They used the Canaanites for labor instead of destroying them. Harsh though this may seem, later chapters show the terrible suffering Israel experienced as a result.

Judges 1:27–36 gives nearly the same report about six separate tribes of Israel: Manasseh, Ephraim, Zebulun, Asher, Naphtali, and Dan. Each fails to drive out the inhabitants of the cities in their allotted territories. Some succeed, eventually, in subjugating portions of the Canaanites or Amorites. None succeeds in obeying God's command to completely purge the land of those depraved cultures (Deuteronomy 20:16–18). Instead, the people mingle among the Israelites, with terrible consequences in the chapters to come.

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 5/6/2024 2:23:26 AM