Judges 3:1

The Lord Tests Israel

1 These are the nations the Lord left in order to test Israel, since none of these Israelites had fought in^[a] any of the wars with Canaan.^[b]

Judges 3:1 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 3:1

Now these [are] the nations which the Lord left to prove
Israel by them
Which are later mentioned, ( Judges 3:3 Judges 3:5 ) ;

[even] as many [of Israel] as had not known all the wars of Canaan;
those that Joshua, and the people of Israel under him, had with the Canaanites, when they first entered the land and subdued it; being then not born, or so young as not to have knowledge of them, at least not able to bear arms at that time.

Judges 3:1 In-Context

1 These are the nations the Lord left in order to test Israel, since none of these Israelites had fought in any of the wars with Canaan.

2 This was to teach the future generations of the Israelites [how to fight in] battle, especially those who had not fought before.

3 [These nations included:] the five rulers of the Philistines and all of the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived in the Lebanese mountains from Mount Baal-hermon as far as the entrance to Hamath.

4 The Lord left them to test Israel, to determine if they would keep the Lord's commands He had given their fathers through Moses.

5 But they settled among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.

Footnotes

• [a] Lit had known
• [b] Jos 1-12