Judges 3:4

4 These nations were left to test the Israelites, to find out if they would obey the commands the LORD had given their ancestors through Moses.

Judges 3:4 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 3:4

And they were to prove Israel by them
They were left in the land, as to inure them to war, and try their courage, so to prove their faithfulness to God:

to know whether they would hearken to the commandments, of the Lord,
which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses;
even all the commandments of the Lord delivered to them by Moses, moral, civil, and ceremonial, and particularly those that concerned the destruction of the Canaanites, their altars, and their idols, ( Deuteronomy 7:1 Deuteronomy 7:5 ) .

Judges 3:4 In-Context

2 The LORD left them to teach Israel's descendants about war, at least those who had known nothing about it in the past.

3 He left the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon from Mount Baal Hermon to the border of Hamath.

4 These nations were left to test the Israelites, to find out if they would obey the commands the LORD had given their ancestors through Moses.

5 So the people of Israel lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.

6 The Israelites allowed their sons and daughters to marry these people. Israel also served their gods.