Judges 3:1

1 These are the nations the LORD left behind to test all the Israelites who had not experienced any war in Canaan.

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 behind to test all the Israelites who had not experienced any war in Canaan.

2 The LORD left them to teach Israel's descendants about war, at least those who had known nothing about it in the past.

3 He left the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites who lived on Mount Lebanon from Mount Baal Hermon to the border of Hamath.

4 These nations were left to test the Israelites, to find out if they would obey the commands the LORD had given their ancestors through Moses.

5 So the people of Israel lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.