Judges 1:25

25 So he made clear to them the way into the town, and they put it to the sword; but they let the man and all his family get away safe.

Judges 1:25 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 1:25

And when he showed them the entrance, into the city
Pointing to it with his fingers, as the same writers observe:

they smote the city with the edge of the sword;
they gave notice of what intelligence they had got to the body of the army, who came up, entered the city, took it, and put the inhabitants of it to the sword, as they were ordered to do with all the Canaanites:

but they let go the man and all his family;
who had returned to it, encouraged by the promise made him, and for the sake of saving of his family; which though not expressed, he might have asked the favour of sparing them, which might be promised, as was in the case of Rahab; provided he would either renounce Heathenism, and embrace the true religion, or depart to another country, the latter of which he chose.

Judges 1:25 In-Context

23 So they sent men to make a search round Beth-el. (Now the name of the town in earlier times was Luz.)
24 And the watchers saw a man coming out of the town, and said to him, If you will make clear to us the way into the town, we will be kind to you.
25 So he made clear to them the way into the town, and they put it to the sword; but they let the man and all his family get away safe.
26 And he went into the land of the Hittites, building a town there and naming it Luz: which is its name to this day.
27 And Manasseh did not take away the land of the people of Beth-shean and its daughter-towns, or of Taanach and its daughter-towns, or of the people of Dor and its daughter-towns, or of the people of Ibleam and its daughter-towns, or of the people of Megiddo and its daughter-towns, driving them out; but the Canaanites would go on living in that land.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.