Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Judges 1:4
And Judah went up; and the LORD delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand: and they slew of them in Bezek ten thousand men.
4. This verse is made up of general phrases borrowed from Jdg 1:5-7, with the addition of the 10,000 a common round number, Jdg 3:29, Jdg 4:6, Jdg 7:3. The story of Adoni-bezek which follows has evidently been abridged; the editor has substituted a verse of his own for the omitted clauses. Note that the verb went up is singular; Judah alone is mentioned, as in the other editorial Jdg 1:8-10; Jdg 1:18.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The Canaanites and the Perizzites – See Gen 12:6, note; Gen 13:7, note. Bezek may be the name of a district. It has not yet been identified.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Not in the city, for that was not yet taken, Jdg 1:5, but in the territory of it, or near to it; as in Hor is taken, Num 33:37; and in Jericho, Jos 5:13.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
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, Jud 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 d 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 e 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
1Sa 11:8.
d De loc. Heb. fol. 89. H. e Travels, p. 142. Ed. 5th.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
“ And Judah went up,” sc., against the Canaanites, to make war upon them.
The completion of the sentence is supplied by the context, more especially by Jdg 1:2. So far as the sense is concerned, Rosenmller has given the correct explanation of , “Judah entered upon the expedition along with Simeon.” “ And they smote the Canaanites and the Perizzites in Bezek, 10,000 men. ” The result of the war is summed up briefly in these words; and then in Jdg 1:5-7 the capture and punishment of the hostile king Adoni-bezek is specially mentioned as being the most important event in the war. The foe is described as consisting of Canaanites and Perizzites, two tribes which have been already named in Gen 13:7 and Gen 34:30 as representing the entire population of Canaan, “ the Canaanites ” comprising principally those in the lowlands by the Jordan and the Mediterranean (vid., Num 13:29; Jos 11:3), and “ the Perizzites ” the tribes who dwelt in the mountains (Jos 17:15). On the Perizzites, see Gen 13:7. The place mentioned, Bezek, is only mentioned once more, namely in 1Sa 11:8, where it is described as being situated between Gibeah of Saul (see at Jos 18:28) and Jabesh in Gilead. According to the Onom. ( s. v. Bezek), there were at that time two places very near together both named Bezek, seventeen Roman miles from Neapolis on the road to Scythopolis, i.e., about seven hours to the north of Nabulus on the road to Beisan. This description is perfectly reconcilable with 1Sa 11:8. On the other hand, Clericus ( ad h. l.), Rosenmller, and v. Raumer suppose the Bezek mentioned here to have been situated in the territory of Judah; though this cannot be proved, since it is merely based upon an inference drawn from Jdg 1:3, viz., that Judah and Simeon simply attacked the Canaanites in their own allotted territories-an assumption which is very uncertain. There is no necessity, however, to adopt the opposite and erroneous opinion of Bertheau, that the tribes of Judah and Simeon commenced their expedition to the south from the gathering-place of the united tribes at Shechem, and fought the battle with the Canaanitish forces in that region upon this expedition; since Shechem is not described in Josha as the gathering-place of the united tribes, i.e., of the whole of the military force of Israel, and the battle fought with Adoni-bezek did not take place at the time when the tribes prepared to leave Shiloh and march to their own possessions after the casting of the lots was over. The simplest explanation is, that when the tribes of Judah and Simeon prepared to make war upon the Canaanites in the possessions allotted to them, they were threatened or attacked by the forces of the Canaanites collected together by Adoni-bezek, so that they had first of all to turn their arms against this king before they could attack the Canaanites in their own tribe-land. As the precise circumstances connected with the occasion and course of this war have not been recorded, there is nothing to hinder the supposition that Adoni-bezek may have marched from the north against the possession of Benjamin and Judah, possibly with the intention of joining the Canaanites in Jebus, and the Anakim in Hebron and upon the mountains in the south, and then making a combined attack upon the Israelites. This might induce or even compel Judah and Simeon to attack this enemy first of all, and even to pursue him till they overtook him at his capital Bezek, and smote him with all his army. Adoni-bezek, i.e., lord of Bezek, is the official title of this king, whose proper name is unknown.
In the principal engagement, in which 10,000 Canaanites fell, Adoni-bezek escaped; but he was overtaken in his flight (Jdg 1:6, Jdg 1:7), and so mutilated, by the cutting off of his thumbs and great toes, that he could neither carry arms nor flee. With this cruel treatment, which the Athenians are said to have practised upon the capture Aegynetes ( Aelian, var. hist. ii. 9), the Israelites simply executed the just judgment of retribution, as Adoni-bezek was compelled to acknowledge, for the cruelties which he had inflicted upon captives taken by himself. “ Seventy kings, ” he says in Jdg 1:7, “ with the thumbs of their hands and feet cut off, were gathering under my table. As I have done, so God hath requited me.” … , lit. “cut in the thumbs of their hands and feet” (see Ewald, Lehrb. 284 c.). The object to , “gathering up” (viz., crumbs), is easily supplied from the idea of the verb itself. Gathering up crumbs under the table, like the dogs in Mat 15:27, is a figurative representation of the most shameful treatment and humiliation. “Seventy” is a round number, and is certainly an exaggerated hyperbole here. For even if every town of importance in Canaan had its own king, the fact that, when Joshua conquered the land, he only smote thirty-one kings, is sufficient evidence that there can hardly have been seventy kings to be found in all Canaan. It appears strange, too, that the king of Bezek is not mentioned in connection with the conquest of Canaan under Joshua. Bezek was probably situated more on the side towards the valley of the Jordan, where the Israelites under Joshua did not go. Possibly, too, the culminating point of Adoni-bezek’s power, when he conquered so many kings, was before the arrival of the Israelites in Canaan, and it may at that time have begun to decline; so that he did not venture to undertake anything against the combined forces of Israel under Joshua, and it was not till the Israelitish tribes separated to go to their own possessions, that he once more tried the fortunes of war and was defeated. The children of Judah took him with them to Jerusalem, where he died.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
(4) And Judah went up.Under the leadership of Caleb (Jos. 14:6).
The Canaanites and the Perizzites.See Gen. 13:7; Gen. 34:30. The former seem to have been lowlandersby the sea and by the coast of Jordan (Num. 13:29), on the east and on the west (Jos. 11:3; Jos. 17:16). The Perizzites were the mountain and forest tribes (Jos. 11:3; Jos. 17:15). Their antiquity and importance appear from the allusions to them in Gen. 13:7; Gen. 34:30; 1Ki. 9:20; 2Es. 1:21. The name itself seems to imply open villages (1Sa. 6:18; Deu. 3:5), and may imply that they were agriculturists. The name does not occur in the genealogy of nations in Genesis 10
In Bezek.The name means lightning. There seems to be no adequate reason to distinguish this town from the one mentioned in 1Sa. 11:8. Saul numbered the people there before his expedition to deliver Jabesh Gilead. At first sight the mention of this town is surprising, for we have no information of any Bezek except the two villages of that name referred to by Eusebius and Jerome, which were seventeen miles from Shechem, and therefore in the lot of Ephraim. It is, however, needless to conjecture that there was another Bezek in the lot of Judah. We must suppose that the two warlike tribes began their conquest by marching into the centre of Palestine to strike a blow at the main stronghold of Canaanitish power. Ewald conjectures that in this expedition they took Shiloh, and refers Gen. 49:8-12 to this fact, rendering till he come to Shiloh (Hist. Isr. i. 284, E. Tr.). If this chapter does not refer retrospectively to events which occurred before the death of Joshua, it might well be considered strange that this powerful king is not mentioned among those attacked by the Israelites in Joshuas lifetime. It is, however, possible, as Ewald suggests, that a new power may have sprung up.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
DEFEAT OF ADONI-BEZEK, Jdg 1:4-7.
4. Judah went up That is, in the military sense, as in Jdg 1:1. Judah proceeded to the war.
The Lord delivered The devout Hebrew was remarkable for acknowledging the Divine hand in all his victories. The civilisation which laughs at all faith in the supernatural, and makes the strongest battalions the arbiters of battles, is very defective.
The Canaanites and the Perizzites On these nations see note on Jos 3:10. There seems to have been a gathering of these foes under Adoni-bezek for the purpose of conquering and oppressing Israel, and to crush the rising rebellion Judah led an army promptly against the gathering host, and fought the decisive battle in Bezek. This place is mentioned only once again, at 1Sa 11:8, where the context shows it to have been near the Jordan valley, and within a day’s journey of Jabesh-gilead. Its site has not been identified, but there is no good reason for maintaining that this Bezek must have been within the tribe of Judah. It may have been expedient for Judah to march beyond his borders, and attack the enemy on their own grounds.
Ten thousand men Ancient battles were more destructive of human life, because there were generally no prisoners taken, or, if taken, their sufferings in slavery were worse than death on the field.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘ And Judah went up. And Yahweh delivered the Canaanites and Perizzites into their hand. And they smote of those in Bezek ten eleph men.’
“And Judah went up.” Judah was obedient to Yahweh’s command ‘go up’ (Jdg 1:2). God had said ‘go up’ and they ‘went up’. Simeon went along with them.
“And Yahweh delivered the Canaanites and Perizzites into their hand. And they smote of those in Bezek ten eleph men.” Eleph could mean a clan, a family, a military unit, a captain or a thousand. The number ‘ten’ was also used to mean ‘a number of’ (Gen 31:7; Job 19:3; Dan 1:20). Here ‘a number of military units’ is probably what is meant. Numbers tended not to be used exactly, for most people were not numerate. This principle is important to understand. When it came to numbers they thought in approximations, just like we do when we say ‘there were hundreds of them’ when we mean ‘quite a lot’.
Numbers in early times had for them that kind of significance. ‘Two’ often meant ‘a few’ (1Ki 17:12). ‘Three’ often meant ‘quite a few’. ‘Ten’ meant ‘a number of’ (Gen 31:7). ‘A hundred’ meant ‘a goodly number’ (consider the hundred sheep of the parable), an ‘eleph’ or ‘thousand’ meant a greater number still, and so on. With our mathematically trained minds we find this difficult to appreciate. The aborigines in Australia would understand exactly, as would primitive tribes in many lands. Most of the Israelites would have looked on counting beyond ten as an arduous task. They had little need of numbering. So here ‘ten eleph’ might mean anything from say five hundred upwards.
The fulfilment of God’s promise had begun. The Canaanites and Perizzites in that part of the land were smitten, including a large number in Bezek.
“The Canaanites.” This was a term often used to designate all the inhabitants of ‘Canaan’ and could be used almost interchangeably with ‘the Amorites’, a name used in the same way. But at other times they were also distinguished from ‘the Amorites’, who when so distinguished were hill dwellers, occupying the hill country. It can, however, as here, denote a special group in the land, distinguished from a number of others (see references below), in this case in contrast with the Perizzites.
“Perizzites.” The name probably means ‘villagers’ and they seem to have been hill dwellers, thus living in small communities. They were one of the tribes which identified the land and were to be driven out of it (Gen 15:20; Exo 3:8; Deu 7:1; Deu 20:17; Jos 3:10; Jos 9:1; Jdg 3:5 ; 1Ki 9:20; 2Ch 8:7; Ezr 9:1; Neh 9:8).
“Bezek.” The site is not as yet identified. A number of Bezeks have been mooted. It was not an uncommon name, possibly because connected with a god of that name.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jdg 1:4. In Bezek Bezek was a city of the tribe of Judah, and is thought to have been at a small distance from Bethlehem and Jerusalem. See 1Sa 11:8 and Wells’s Geogr. vol. 2:
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Jdg 1:4 And Judah went up; and the LORD delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand: and they slew of them in Bezek ten thousand men.
Ver. 4. And they slew of them in Bezek. ] Saul’s rendezvous. 1Sa 11:8
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Ver. 4. For there are certain men ] Not worthy to be named, as that rich glutton,Luk 16:19Luk 16:19 .
Crept in unawares ] , stealing their passage, and making as if they minded nothing less. Thus Socrates (the writer of the Ecclesiastical History) was a close Novatian, as the learned Jacobus Billius observeth; he favoureth that heresy all along his history, sed ita oblique, ut minus perspicaci Lectori non tam dolori suo atque irae obsequi quam veritatis rationem habere videatur, but he doth it so cunningly, that a man would think he did it out of pure regard to the truth. (Observat. Sacrar. i. 26.) So Spondanus, the epitomizer of Baronius, drinks to his readers the pernicious poison of Hildebrand’s heresies, quasi aliud agens, as if he intended no such matter.
Ordained to this ] Gr. , written down, enrolled, set down in the black bill.
Turning the grace of our God ] Gr. , translating it from its proper end, perverting it, by arguing from mercy to liberty, which is the devil’s logic. Corruptio optimi est pessima. The corruption of the best is the worst. Learned men have conceived, saith Plutarch, that as of oxen, being dead and rotten, there breed bees, of horses wasps, of asses beetles; so men’s bodies, when the marrow melteth and gathereth together, do bring forth serpents. The grace of God, if turned into wantonness, becometh the “savour of death unto death.”
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Lord: Exo 23:28, Exo 23:29, Deu 7:2, Deu 9:3, Jos 10:8-10, Jos 11:6-8, 1Sa 14:6, 1Sa 14:10, 1Sa 17:46, 1Sa 17:47, 1Ki 22:6, 1Ki 22:15
Bezek: Eusebius and Jerome mention two villages of this name, near each other, about seventeen miles from Shechem, towards Scythopolis. 1Sa 11:8
Reciprocal: Exo 23:31 – deliver the Deu 2:33 – the Lord Jdg 11:32 – the Lord 1Sa 26:8 – God 2Ch 13:16 – God delivered
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jdg 1:4. Judah went up The people of that tribe were principally concerned in this expedition, and therefore are only mentioned, though those of the tribe of Simeon went up with them. And the Lord delivered, &c. We meet with no such pious expression (which occurs often here) in any heathen writer. In them every success is attributed to the conduct and valour of the generals, or the strength and courage of the forces; but in the Scriptures every success is attributed to God only. They slew them in Bezek Not in the city, for that was not yet taken, (Jdg 1:5,) but in the territory of it.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Bezek was obviously a stronghold of the Canaanites and Perizzites at this time since the Israelite forces were able to smite them near this town. The word translated "thousand" (Heb. eleph) can also mean "military unit." In Jdg 20:10 it refers to a unit of 10 men. Consequently the meaning here may be 10 military units rather than 10 thousand soldiers. [Note: See my note on 20:10.]