Judges 1:23

_AND THE HOUSE OF JOSEPH SENT TO DESCRY BETHEL. (NOW THE NAME OF THE CITY BEFORE WAS LUZ.)_ No JFB commentary on this verse....

21-36 The people of Israel were very careless of their duty and interest. Owing to slothfulness and cowardice, they would not be at the pains to complete their conquests. It was also owing to their covetousness: they were willing to let the Canaanites live among them, that they might make advantage of them. They had not the dread and detestation of idolatry they ought to have had. The same unbelief that kept their fathers forty years out of Canaan, kept them now out of the full possession of it. Distrust of the power and promise of God deprived them of advantages, and brought them into troubles. Thus many a believer who begins well is hindered. His graces languish, his lusts revive, Satan plies him with suitable temptations, the world recovers its hold; he brings guilt into his conscience, anguish into his heart, discredit on his character, and reproach on the gospel. Though he may have...

Verse Judges 1:23. _BETH-EL - THE NAME OF THE CITY BEFORE_ WAS _LUZ._] Concerning this city and its names, Genesis 28:19....

EXPOSITION JUDGES 1:21 This verse is identical with Joshua 15:63, except that there we read "the children of Judah" instead of "the children of Benjamin," as in this verse. The boundary line between Judah and Jerusalem passed through JEBUS or JEBUSI, as Jerusalem was anciently called (see Joshua 15:8; Joshua 18:28; Judges 19:10, Judges 19:11;...

AND THE HOUSE OF JOSEPH SENT TO DESCRY BETHEL,.... To reconnoitre the place, to observe its passes and avenues, which were most accessible, and to examine the walls of it, where they were weakest and least defended: NOW THE NAME OF THE CITY BEFORE [WAS] LUZ; which signifies a "nut"; perhaps it was so called from large numbers of nut trees which grew near it; the Jews suggest as if it was like a nut, no entrance into it but through a cave or some subterraneous passage, see Genesis 28:19....

ANALYSIS AND ANNOTATIONS I. THE INTRODUCTION: ISRAEL'S FAILURE AND THE RESULTS 1. Israel's Failure in mingling with the Canaanites CHAPTER 1 _ 1. The question and the answer (Judges 1:1)_ 2. Adoni-Bezek (Judges 1:5) 3. Jerusalem (Judges 1:8) 4. Judah's victory and failure (Judges 1:9) 5. The children of Benjamin and their failure (Judges 1:21) 6. The failures of others (Judges 1:22) The book begins with an inquiry of the Lord.

JUDGES 1:1 TO JUDGES 2:5. THE CONQUESTS AND SETTLEMENTS OF THE ISRAELITES IN WESTERN PALESTINE. From this introduction, which is one of the most valuable parts of early Hebrew history, we learn that the various tribes invaded the land either singly or in small groups; that they had failures as well as successes; that in many instances they did not destroy the older population, but settled peacefully among them; and that, in particular, the larger cities of Canaan, as well as the fertile valleys and the Maritime Plain, remained in the possession of the Canaanites. The conquests of Judah were separated from those of Joseph by a belt of walled cities with Jerusalem in its centre. Another line of strongholds, extending from Bethshan near the Jordan to Dor on the sea coast, shut up Ephraim and Manasseh in the central highland

LUZ. Compare Genesis 28:19, and see Joshua 16:1; Joshua 16:2. Luz and Beth-el not two cities. 34 SPIES. sentries....

_The fortunes of the house of Joseph_ The account of the capture of Beth-el (Judges 1:22) has all the marks of antiquity, like the early fragments preserved in Judges 1:1. After the invasion of the South comes the invasion of Central Palestine, and, as this ancient version of the history shews, the two were independent of one another. The narrative knows nothing of such a leader as Joshua, though tradition connected him with the house of Joseph (Joshua 19:50 JE, Joshua 24:1 [Shechem], Joshua 24:30 E;...

_Conquest of Other Tribes Judges 1:22-36_ 22 And the house of Joseph, they also went up against Beth-el: and the Lord was with them. 23 And the house of Joseph sent to descry Beth-el (Now the name of the city before was Luz.) 24 And the spies saw a man come forth out of the city, and they said unto him, Show us, we pray thee, the entrance into the city, and we will show thee mercy. 25 And when he showed them the entrance into the city, they smote the city with the edge of the sword; but they let go the man and all his family. 26 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. 27 Neither did Manasseh drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean and her towns, nor Taanach and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Dor and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Ibleam and her towns, nor the inha