Judges 1:4

4 Y'hudah went up; and ADONAI gave the Kena'ani and the P'rizi into their hands; of those in Bezek they killed ten thousand men.

Judges 1:4 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 1:4

And Judah went up
Simeon being along with him, from the southern parts of the land, where they dwelt, and went more northward towards Jerusalem, and which therefore is called a going up:

and the Lord delivered the Canaanites and Perizzites into their hands:
into the hands of Judah and Simeon: the Canaanites here is not the common name of the seven nations, but the name of one of those nations, distinguished from the rest, as here from the Perizzites, who otherwise were also Canaanites; and both these, at least many of them, dwelt in those parts, and were subdued by the united forces of Judah and Simeon, whereby the Lord's promise was fulfilled, ( Judges 1:2 ) ;

and they slew of them in Bezek ten thousand men:
that is, in and about Bezek, first and last, in the course of this war, as after related. Jerom says F4 there were two villages of this name in his time near one another, seven miles from Neapolis, as you go to Scythopolis; and our countryman Mr. Sandys F5 says, that when they departed from Bethlehem, bending their course from the mountains of Judea lying west from it, near to which, on the side of the opposite hill, they passed a little village called Bezek, as he took it, two miles from Bethsur, see ( 1 Samuel 11:8 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F4 De loc. Heb. fol. 89. H.
F5 Travels, p. 142. Ed. 5th.

Judges 1:4 In-Context

2 ADONAI said: "Y'hudah will go up; here, I have handed the land over to him."
3 Y'hudah said to his brother Shim'on, "Come up with me into my assigned territory, so that we can fight against the Kena'ani; and I likewise will go with you into your territory." So Shim'on went with him.
4 Y'hudah went up; and ADONAI gave the Kena'ani and the P'rizi into their hands; of those in Bezek they killed ten thousand men.
5 They found Adoni-Bezek in Bezek; and they fought against him. They killed the Kena'ani and the P'rizi,
6 but Adoni-Bezek fled. They pursued him, caught him, and cut off his thumbs and big toes.
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.