Judges 1:26

_AND THE SPIES SAW A MAN COME FORTH OUT OF THE CITY, AND THEY SAID UNTO HIM, SHEW US, WE PRAY THEE, THE ENTRANCE INTO THE CITY, AND WE WILL SHEW THEE MERCY._ The spies ... said ... Show us ... the entrance into the city - i:e., the avenues to the city, and the weakest part of the walls. WE WILL SHOW THEE MERCY. The Israelites might employ these means of getting possession of a place which was divinely appropriated to them: they might promise life and rewards to this man, though he and all the Canaanites were doomed to destruction (Joshua 2:12); but we may assume that the promise was suspended on his embracing the true religion, or quitting the country, as he did. If they had seen him to be firmly opposed to either of these alternatives, they would not have constrained him, by promises any more than by threats, to betray his countrymen. But if they found him dispo

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 1:26. _THE LAND OF THE HITTITES_] Probably some place beyond the land of Canaan, in Arabia, whither this people emigrated when expelled by Joshua. The man himself appears to have been a Hittite, and to perpetuate the name of his city he called the new one which he now founded _Luz_, this being the ancient name of _Beth-el_....

The site of this new Luz is not known, but “the land of the Hittites” was apparently in the north of Palestine, on the borders of Syria (Genesis 10:15 note)....

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 MAN WENT INTO THE LAND OF THE HITTITES,.... With his family; Kimchi says this was not one of the seven nations of Canaan; and it is very clear from this narrative, that the land this man went to was not in the land of Canaan; though it is certain a people of this name formerly dwelt there, Genesis 15:20; and the land of Canaan is called the land of the Hittites, Joshua 1:4; these either might flee to another country upon Joshua's entry into the land of Canaan, or a colony of them from thence might settle elsewhere, to which this man chose to go, who might be originally of them: AND BUILT A CITY; his family was numerous, and he a man of wealth, and was allowed to carry all his substance with him: AND CALLED THE NAME OF IT LUZ; in memory of the place he left, and had

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

HITTITES.. nation north of Syria, mentioned on Egyptian inscriptions from 1500 B.C....

_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;...