Judges 1:4

4 Then Judah went up and the LORD gave the Canaanites and the Per'izzites into their hand; and they defeated ten thousand of them at Bezek.

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 The LORD said, "Judah shall go up; behold, I have given the land into his hand."
3 And Judah said to Simeon his brother, "Come up with me into the territory allotted to me, that we may fight against the Canaanites; and I likewise will go with you into the territory allotted to you." So Simeon went with him.
4 Then Judah went up and the LORD gave the Canaanites and the Per'izzites into their hand; and they defeated ten thousand of them at Bezek.
5 They came upon Ado'ni-be'zek at Bezek, and fought against him, and defeated the Canaanites and the Per'izzites.
6 Ado'ni-be'zek fled; but they pursued him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his great toes.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.