Judges 1:4

4 When Judah attacked, the Lord handed the Canaanites and Perizzites over to them. They struck down 10,000 men in Bezek.^[a]

Judges 1:4 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 1:4

And Judah went up
Simeon being along with him, from the southern parts of the land, where they dwelt, and went more northward towards Jerusalem, and which therefore is called a going up:

and the Lord delivered the Canaanites and Perizzites into their hands:
into the hands of Judah and Simeon: the Canaanites here is not the common name of the seven nations, but the name of one of those nations, distinguished from the rest, as here from the Perizzites, who otherwise were also Canaanites; and both these, at least many of them, dwelt in those parts, and were subdued by the united forces of Judah and Simeon, whereby the Lord's promise was fulfilled, ( Judges 1:2 ) ;

and they slew of them in Bezek ten thousand men:
that is, in and about Bezek, first and last, in the course of this war, as after related. Jerom says ^F4 there were two villages of this name in his time near one another, seven miles from Neapolis, as you go to Scythopolis; and our countryman Mr. Sandys ^F5 says, that when they departed from Bethlehem, bending their course from the mountains of Judea lying west from it, near to which, on the side of the opposite hill, they passed a little village called Bezek, as he took it, two miles from Bethsur, see ( 1 Samuel 11:8 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F4 De loc. Heb. fol. 89. H.
F5 Travels, p. 142. Ed. 5th.

Judges 1:4 In-Context

2 The Lord answered, "Judah is to go. I have handed the land over to him."

3 Judah said to his brother Simeon, "Come with me to my territory, and let us fight against the Canaanites. I will also go with you to your territory." So Simeon went with him.

4 When Judah attacked, the Lord handed the Canaanites and Perizzites over to them. They struck down 10,000 men in Bezek.

5 They found Adoni-bezek in Bezek, fought against him, and struck down the Canaanites and Perizzites.

6 When Adoni-bezek fled, they pursued him, seized him, and cut off his thumbs and big toes.

Footnotes

• [a]. 1 Sm 11:8