Judges 3:1

1 Now these are the Gentiles which the LORD left, to prove Israel with them, even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of 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 Now these are the Gentiles which the LORD left, to prove Israel with them, even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan;

2 he left them only that the generations of the sons of Israel might know, and to teach them war, only for those that had known nothing before:

3 namely, five cardinals of the Philistines and all the Canaanites and the Sidonians and the Hivites that dwelt in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baalhermon unto the entering in of Hamath.

4 These, therefore, were left to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of the LORD, which he had commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses.

5 And as the sons of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites,