Judges 1:2

2 The Lord said to them, "The tribe of Judah will go. I have handed the land over to them."

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 Joshua died, the Israelites asked the Lord, "Who will be first to go and fight for us against the Canaanites?"

2 The Lord said to them, "The tribe of Judah will go. I have handed the land over to them."

3 The men of Judah said to the men of Simeon, their relatives, "Come and help us fight the Canaanites for our land. If you do, we will go and help you fight for your land." So the men of Simeon went with them.

4 When Judah attacked, the Lord handed over the Canaanites and the Perizzites to them, and they defeated ten thousand men at the city of Bezek.

5 There they found Adoni-Bezek, the ruler of the city, and fought him. The men of Judah defeated the Canaanites and the Perizzites,