Judges 1:2

2 The LORD said, "The tribe of Judah will go up. I've handed over the land to them."

Judges 1:2 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 1:2

And the Lord said
By an articulate voice, which it is probable was the usual way of answering by Urim and Thummim:

Judah shall go up;
not Judah in person, who was long ago dead, but the tribe of Judah; it was the will of the Lord that that tribe should engage first with the Canaanites, being the principal one, and the most numerous, powerful, and valiant, and perhaps had the greatest number of Canaanites among them; and who succeeding, would inspire the other tribes with courage, and fill their enemies with a panic:

behold, I have delivered the land into his hands;
that part of it which belonged to that tribe as yet unsubdued, the conquest of which they are assured of for their encouragement.

Judges 1:2 In-Context

1 After Joshua's death, the Israelites asked the LORD, "Who should go up first to fight for us against the Canaanites?"

2 The LORD said, "The tribe of Judah will go up. I've handed over the land to them."

3 So the tribe of Judah said to the tribe of Simeon, their brothers, "Come up with us into our territory, and let's fight against the Canaanites. Then we'll go with you into your territory too." So Simeon went with them.

4 When Judah went up, the LORD handed them the Canaanites and Perizzites. They defeated ten thousand men at Bezek.

5 There they found Adoni-bezek at Bezek, fought against him, and defeated the Canaanites and Perizzites.