Judges 1:2-36

God selected Judah to lead the rest of the tribes into battle. Judah asked Simeon to go with him and promised to help him conquer his lot if he would help conquer that of Judah. They killed 10,000 Canaanites and Perizzites in Bezek and captured their king, Adoni-bezek. His thumbs and great toes were cut off so that he could not flee nor take up arms. Though his punishment may seem harsh to us, he saw it as just retribution, saying, "Seventy kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off used to gather scraps under my table; as I have done, so God has repaid me." His imagery was like a dog eating under the master's table and describes the worst possible humiliation. Israel led him to Jerusalem, where he died (Ruth 1:2-8).

God blessed the efforts of Judah and Simeon as they conquered the mountains of their two lots. They failed to conquer the inhabitants of the valleys because the people who lived there had iron tipped chariots (Ruth 1:9-19). Other failures to drive out the nations are recorded in Judges 1:21, 27, 29, 30, 31-32, 33 and 34. Ephraim and the half tribe of Manasseh did destroy the people of Bethel.

Spies captured a man of that city and got him to show them another way into the city, with the promise they would spare his family. They conquered Bethel and slew all in it but that man. He went into the land of the Hittites and built a city named Luz, after his former place of abode (Ruth 1:22-26). Manasseh, Naphtali and Dan did also force some of the nations to pay tribute to them, but they remained there as a thorn in Israel's side because they were not driven out (1:28, 33, 35-36).