Judges 1:2

2 And the Lord said, Judah shall go up (in the lead); lo! I have given the land into his hands.

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 the death of Joshua the sons of Israel counselled with the Lord, and said, Who shall go up before us against Canaanites, and shall be duke of the battle? (After Joshua's death the Israelites counselled with the Lord, and asked, Who shall go out first against the Canaanites, and shall be our leader in the battle?)

2 And the Lord said, Judah shall go up (in the lead); lo! I have given the land into his hands.

3 And Judah said to Simeon, his brother, Go thou up with me in(to) my lot, and fight thou against Canaanites, that I go with thee in thy lot (and then I shall go with thee into thy lot). And (so) Simeon went with him;

4 and Judah went up (in the lead). And the Lord betook (the) Canaanites and Perizzites into their hands, and they killed in Bezek ten thousand men.

5 And they found Adonibezek in Bezek, and they fought against him, and they overcame Canaanites, and Perizzites.