Judges 3:1

1 Now these are the nations which the LORD left, to test Israel by them, that is, all in Israel who had no experience of 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 Now these are the nations which the LORD left, to test Israel by them, that is, all in Israel who had no experience of any war in Canaan;

2 it was only that the generations of the people of Israel might know war, that he might teach war to such at least as had not known it before.

3 These are the nations: the five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sido'nians, and the Hivites who dwelt on Mount Lebanon, from Mount Ba'al-her'mon as far as the entrance of Hamath.

4 They were for the testing of Israel, to know whether Israel would obey the commandments of the LORD, which he commanded their fathers by Moses.

5 So the people of Israel dwelt among the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Per'izzites, the Hivites, and the Jeb'usites;