Judges 1:32 - Printer Friendly

ESV: so the Asherites lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, for they did not drive them out.

NIV: The Asherites lived among the Canaanite inhabitants of the land because they did not drive them out.

NASB: So the Asherites lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; for they did not drive them out.

CSB: The Asherites lived among the Canaanites who were living in the land, because they failed to drive them out.

NLT: Instead, the people of Asher moved in among the Canaanites, who controlled the land, for they failed to drive them out.

KJV: But the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land: for they did not drive them out.

NKJV: So the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; for they did not drive them out.

Describing one territory after another, the writer of Judges has reported that the tribes of Israel failed to drive the Canaanites out of their land, allowing the Canaanites to live among them (Judges 1:19–31). This time, reporting on the tribe of Asher, the writer says the Asherites lived among the Canaanites. The people of Asher became the minority group, at least in terms of power, in their own God-given territory.

Whether the issue is lack of will or lack of strength or lack of interest, one tribe after another fails to do what God has commanded them to do. God's command was not spiteful—it was about Israel's survival (Deuteronomy 20:16–18). By leaving the notably wicked Canaanites in the land, Israel planted the seeds of future suffering. Much of the book of Judges is taken up with explaining these hardships.

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 4/29/2024 9:21:47 AM