Judges 1:25

25 So he showed them the entrance of the city, and they struck the city with {the edge of the sword},[a] but they let go the man and all his family.

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 And the house of Joseph spied out Bethel (the former name of the city was Luz).
24 And when the spies saw a man leaving the city, they said to him, "Please show us the entrance of the city, and we will deal kindly with you."
25 So he showed them the entrance of the city, and they struck the city with {the edge of the sword}, but they let go the man and all his family.
26 And the man went [to] the land of the Hittites, and he built a city and named it Luz; this [is] its name to this day.
27 Manasseh did not drive out Beth-Sean and its towns, or Taanach and its towns, or the inhabitants of Dor and its towns, or the inhabitants of Ibleam and its towns, or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its towns; the Canaanites [were] determined to live in this land.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Literally "[the] mouth of [the] sword"
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.