Judges 1:17

17 And Judah went with his brother Simeon, and they defeated the Canaanites^[a] inhabiting Zephath; they utterly destroyed it, so he called the name of the city Hormah.

Judges 1:17 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 1:17

And Judah went with Simeon his brother
Having subtitled his Canaanites which were in his own lot, according to his promise, he went with his brother Simeon, or the tribe of Simeon, into their lot to reduce those that were in that:

and they slew the Canaanites that inhabited Zephath, and utterly
destroyed it:
where and what this city was is not certain; there was a place of this name in upper Galilee, mentioned in Jewish writings ^F16, which cannot be meant here; and we read of the valley of Zephathah, ( 2 Chronicles 14:10 ) ; which might have its name from hence, and if so it was near Mareshah:

and the name of the city was called Hormah;
from the destruction made of it, and of the country about it; for now what had been vowed by Israel in the wilderness, when near Arad, was fulfilled, ( Numbers 21:1-3 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F16 Juchasin, fol. 68. 1.

Judges 1:17 In-Context

15 And she said to him, "Give me {a gift}; you have given me the land of the Negev, and give me also a spring of water." And Caleb gave to her the upper and lower spring.

16 The descendants of Hobab [the] Kenite, Moses' father-in-law, went up with the descendants of Judah from the city of palms [into] the wilderness of Judah, which [is] in [the] Negev [near] Arad. And they went and settled with the people.

17 And Judah went with his brother Simeon, and they defeated the Canaanites inhabiting Zephath; they utterly destroyed it, so he called the name of the city Hormah.

18 Judah captured Gaza and its territory, Ashkelon and its territory, and Ekron and its territory.

19 And Yahweh was with Judah, and he took possession of the hill country, but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the plain because they [had] chariots of iron.

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew "Canaanite"