Judges 1 Bible Study / Podcast

The Time of the Judges and Israel’s Need for Leadership

So, if you have a Bible on hand, turn to Judges chapter 1. This time period in ancient Israel, the time period of the Judges, was sort of like the Wild West, that's how I would characterize it. The Wild West in Israel, it was marked by lawlessness.

Every man, the scripture says, did what was right in his own eyes. Included in Judges are well-known stories about Gideon, Samson, and Delilah, which is probably the most famous. And at the end of the time period of the Judges, that is when Samuel the prophet is ruling, and he of course was the last judge.

And then you have the transition into the monarchy with King Saul, and then of course King David. The book of Judges was written somewhere around the 11th century BC, perhaps by Samuel the prophet, we're not exactly sure.

And it's the 7th book of the Hebrew Bible, and the 7th book of the Christian Old Testament. As I indicated, it covers a time period, the Apostle Paul in the New Testament says 430 years I believe, but it's a time period, a little over 400 years, between the conquest of Canaan, which Joshua describes, and then the establishment of the kingdom in the books of Samuel.

So the Judges is in between Joshua and Samuel, which leads into the monarchy. So that's the time period we're looking at. What is a judge? We think of a judge today as a man or a woman with a long black robe who sits in a courtroom.

Well that's not what a judge was biblically. A judge was basically a military ruler, something like a governor slash military ruler, and they were temporary leaders in Israel, kind of a regional leader.

And what would happen is the people, the Israelites, were unfaithful to the Lord, therefore the Lord delivers them into the hands of their enemies. The people repent and cry out to God for mercy, at which point he sends in the form of a leader or a champion, a judge, to deliver them from oppression.

And then once Israel is restored to peace and prosperity after a generation, they forget about God and the cycle just plays, it just is repeated over and over again. So with that as background, let's listen along to Judges chapter 1.

Judah’s Early Victories and the Failure to Drive Out the Canaanites

The book of Judges.

Now after the death of Joshua, it came to pass that the children of Israel asked the Lord.

Who shall be first to go up for us against the Canaanites, to fight against them?

And the Lord said, Judah shall go up, indeed I have delivered the land into his hand.

So Judah said to Simeon his brother, Come up with me to my allotted territory, that we may fight against the Canaanites, and I will likewise go with you to your allotted territory.

And Simeon went with him. Then Judah went up, and the Lord delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand, and they killed ten thousand men at Bezek. And they found Adonai Bezek in Bezek, and fought against him, and they defeated the Canaanites and the Perizzites.

Then Adonai Bezek fled, and they pursued him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and big toes. And Adonai Bezek said, Seventy kings, with their thumbs and big toes cut off, used to gather scraps under my table, as I have done, so God has repaid me.

Then they brought him to Jerusalem, and there he died. Now the children of Judah fought against Jerusalem, and took it. They struck it with the edge of the sword, and set the city on fire. And afterward the children of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites, who dwelt in the mountains, in the south, and in the lowland.

Then Judah went against the Canaanites who dwelt in Hebron. Now the name of Hebron was formerly Kirjath-Aba, and they killed Shishai, Ahimon, and Talmai. From there they went against the inhabitants of Deba.

The name of Deba was formerly Kirjath-Sipher. Then Caleb said, Whoever attacks Kirjath-Sipher and takes it, to him I will give my daughter Aksa as wife. And Atheniel, the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, took it.

So he gave him his daughter Aksa as wife. Now it happened, when she came to him, that she urged him to ask her father for a field. And she dismounted from her donkey, and Caleb said to her, What do you wish?

Give me a blessing, since you have given me land in the south. Give me also springs of water.

And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs. Now the children of the Kenite, Moses' father-in-law, went up from the city of Palms with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which lies in the south, Neirat.

And they went and dwelt among the people. And Judah went with his brother Simeon, and they attacked the Canaanites who inhabited Zephath and utterly destroyed it. So the name of the city was called Hormah.

Also Judah took Gaza with its territory, Ashkelon with its territory, and Ekron with its territory. So the Lord was with Judah. And they drove out the mountaineers, but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the lowland, because they had chariots of iron.

And they gave Hebron to Caleb, as Moses had said. Then he expelled from there the three sons of Anak. But the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who inhabited Jerusalem. So the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day.

And the house of Joseph also went up against Bethel, and the Lord was with them. So the house of Joseph sent men to spy out Bethel. The name of the city was formerly Luz. And when the spies saw a man coming out of the city, they said to him, Please show us the entrance to the city, and we will show you mercy.

So he showed them the entrance to the city. And they struck the city with the edge of the sword. But they let the man and all his family go. And the man went to the land of the Hittites, built a city, and called its name Luz, which is its name to this day.

However, Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants of Beth-she-an and its villages, or Ta-anak and its villages, or the inhabitants of Dor and its villages, or the inhabitants of Iblium and its villages, or the inhabitants of Megiddo and its villages.

For the Canaanites were determined to dwell in that land. And it came to pass, when Israel was strong, that they put the Canaanites under tribute, but did not completely drive them out. Nor did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites who dwelt in Giza.

So the Canaanites dwelt in Giza among them. Nor did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kitram, or the inhabitants of Naal. So the Canaanites dwelt among them and were put under tribute. Nor did Asher drive out the inhabitants of Akko, or the inhabitants of Sidon, or of Arlab, Aqsib, Helber, Apheg, or Rehab.

So the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, for they did not drive them out. Nor did Naphtali drive out the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh, or the inhabitants of Beth Anath.

But they dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land. Nevertheless, the inhabitants of Beth Shemesh and Beth Anath were put under tribute to them. And the Amorites forced the children of Dan into the mountains, for they would not allow them to come down to the valley.

And the Amorites were determined to dwell in Mount Heres, in Agelon, and in Shealban. Yet when the strength of the house of Joseph became greater, they were put under tribute. Now the boundary of the Amorites was from the ascent of Akrabim, from Sila, and upward.

The Cycle of Unfaithfulness, Repentance, and Deliverance

Okay, so that's Judges chapter 1. And again, this book follows a consistent pattern. The people are unfaithful to the Lord, therefore He delivers them into the hands of their enemies. The Israelites repent and cry out to God for mercy, which He sends in the form of a leader or a judge to deliver the people from oppression.

Once again, they experience prosperity, but as usually happens when things are good, they forget about God and slide back into their old ways. And then the cycle is repeated. And one of the things we saw from that chapter, Judges chapter 1, is that the children of Israel did not really obey God.

They were supposed to drive out all the Canaanite tribes. And instead, as you just heard, they did not drive them out. And in some instances, they intentionally allowed them to stay. The Bible says to put them under tribute.

In other words, they enslaved many of the Canaanites. But after generations, the Canaanites were no longer slaves, they influenced the Israelites, and they were just a consistent thorn in their side. So that's Judges chapter 1.

Joshua, Moses, and the Need to Train the Next Generation

Let's go through these verses a little more closely. Judges 1 begins, Now after the death of Joshua, it came to pass that the children of Israel asked the Lord, saying, Who shall be first to go up for us against the Canaanites, to fight against them?

And the Lord said, Judah shall go up. Indeed, I have delivered the land into his hand. So Judah said to Simeon his brother, Come up with me to my allotted territory, that we might fight against the Canaanites.

And I will likewise go with you to your allotted territory. And Simeon went with him. Then Judah went up, and the Lord delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand. So I'll stop there. A few things jump out right away.

First of all, we see that this book picks up where Joshua left off. Joshua, the servant of the Lord, is dead. Unfortunately for the children of Israel, they didn't have a strong leader wading in the wings.

At least not a leader like Joshua. Moses and Joshua were very unique. They were very, really amazing leaders in Israel. When Moses was alive, you remember what he did. If you've read through the first five books of the Bible, you know that Moses had Joshua, he trained Joshua, having him sort of as we would say his right-hand man.

So when Moses died, Joshua took over. And it was natural. God then exalted Joshua in the sight of the whole nation when he used the Ark of the Covenant to part the Jordan River. The people crossed over on dry ground.

So that point is, that transfer of leadership from Moses to Joshua was relatively seamless. And that's really the best situation to have because as it's been said, everything rises or falls based on leadership.

Joshua was a good leader so when he took over from Moses things went well. Joshua really didn't have that great leader wading as his right-hand man. And just to make application to the church, if a church has a good pastor who preaches the word and loves the people, you understand he's not going to be there forever.

So when he gets older, it's wise to have a younger man that he has trained so if and when the time comes, and that time will of course come, the church isn't left leaderless. And then they have to put together a search committee and import some guy from far away that nobody knows.

That could turn out well but it might also be a disaster. It's better to have someone you know. Someone who knows the people. Also, while churches have gotten away from this, training up men in the local church, that's where it's supposed to happen.

Younger men are supposed to be trained up in the Lord and it's supposed to happen in the local church. But in modern times, unfortunately that has been outsourced to seminaries. And you can't look around and tell me that we are better off for it.

No, just as Moses trained Joshua, a pastor, if he has willing young men, he also should be training them. Of course, if you don't have anyone, what are you supposed to do? But this is one thing churches are missing these days.

It's pretty obvious. Churches have a lot of older folks, a lot of women, but not a lot of young men. So when a young man who has his act together comes into a church, that's what pastors are looking for.

They should be training those men up to be that next generation of leaders. So, Moses had Joshua. What did Joshua have? Well, the first judge we will see this in chapter 3 is a man named Othniel. Othniel was a great leader, but just not on the level of a Moses or a Joshua.

Othniel was the nephew of Caleb. Of course, Caleb was another great man of God to be sure. Now, I had said just to clarify one thing, I said everything rises or falls on leadership or that's something that is often repeated.

That's true to a large degree, but the people do bear some responsibility. Clearly, in the book of Judges, the people were fickle. Of course, they were pretty fickle in Moses' day also, but Moses was able to deal with it.

Alright, let's get back to the text, verses 1 and 2. Now, after the death of Joshua came to pass, that the children of Israel asked the Lord, saying, Who shall be first to go up for us against the Canaanites to fight against them?

And the Lord said, Judah shall go up. Indeed, I have delivered the land into his hand. So, we see that Judah is first. Judah was the largest tribe. In the way that the tribes were camped around the tabernacle, Judah was first.

They were the biggest. They were the strongest. So much so that the whole tribe of Simeon, when Simeon received their allotment of land, their territory was within Judah. And eventually, Judah just kind of swallowed them up.

Look at verse 3, So Judah said to Simeon, his brother, Come up with me to my allotted territory, that we might fight against the Canaanites. And I will likewise go with you to your allotted territory.

And these, remember these are the tribes. These are, or the leaders of the tribes speaking to one another. Since the men, Judah and Simeon, had been dead for hundreds of years. What does that say? Judah said to Simeon, his brother.

Well, that doesn't mean that the man Judah said this, because again, Judah and Simeon are both long gone. So, the leaders of the tribes are speaking to one another. So, that's not to be taken as a, in a literal sense, that Judah speaking to Simeon.

And let's not forget, what's the nation called? The nation is called Israel. And that's named after a man. Jacob had his name changed by God to Israel. So, Israel can refer to a man, it can refer to a family, it can refer to a whole nation.

Therefore, the people of the nation were called the children of Israel. Now, there were the literal, physical children of Israel, Judah, Simeon, Levi, Asher, right? But, it's also a reference to the nation.

So, the twelve sons of Jacob, being the patriarchs, the tribes are named after the physical children of Jacob, or Israel. Sometimes we think of the patriarchs as being Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but actually, the Bible talks about the patriarchs as being Judah, Simeon, Levi, and the twelve sons.

Of course, that's a bad word today in our godless culture. Have you noticed this? I'm sure you have. If you haven't, God bless you that you're not watching the news and hearing everything that's going on.

But, that's kind of a bad word in our day and age, right? Patriarch, or people complain about the patriarchy. And I always, when I hear that, not to get too off topic, but when I hear people complaining about the patriarchy, I think to myself, well, what do they want?

Do they want a matriarchy? I mean, do they want women in control? I guess they probably do, but I digress. Of course, living in New England, we do have ministers who write into the newspaper and instead of talking about God the Father, using he and him for pronouns for God, they talk about God as a she or a her.

So, if you don't live in New England and that, you've never heard of such a thing, again, God bless you, please pray for us. But there's still, hey, there's still 7 ,000 up here who haven't bowed the knee to Baal, amen?

Alright, so Israel was in covenant with Jehovah God and we're reading the pages of the Old Testament the term Old Testament and Old Covenant are synonymous I mean, Old Testament we usually refer to as the scriptures but Testament and Covenant mean the same thing.

Old Covenant is the covenant they were under the covenant of the law and God told the Israelites, through Moses if you obey me you will be blessed, but if you disobey me, you will be cursed. So, the book of Joshua was a bright spot in Israel's history but the book of Judges is just known as probably the darkest time in Israel's history with the exception of maybe the Babylonian captivity.

Descriptive and Prescriptive Scripture, and the Principle of Sowing and Reaping

But things are starting out well, look at verse 4, then Judah went up and the Lord delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand. And then it goes on to tell of all their great victories it says they killed 10 ,000 men at Bezek then they found Adonai Bezek in Bezek and they fought against him and they defeated the Canaanites and the Perizzites then Adonai Bezek who was their king, so Bezek is the land, Adonai means Lord, he's the Lord of Bezek, he's the king he fled and it says Israel pursued the king, they caught him and they cut off his thumbs and his big toes it's kind of like when you well, you read about this too I think we read this when we went through Joshua, how at times they would immobilize the horses by hamstringing them right, so this is the same idea with a warrior, with a king you cut off his thumbs and that makes it impossible for him.

I know this is kind of grizzly maybe for some people this is in the Bible yeah, it's in the Bible, there's worse things than this in the Bible, so if little kids are listening it is what it is, we'll talk about that in a second, but obviously if you don't have thumbs you can't hold a weapon and by cutting off the king's big toe it makes it difficult to remain stable on his feet and I realize that there will be some people who listen if you've never read through the Bible cover to cover I highly recommend you do that, but if you've never done that, it might surprise some people the things that are in Scripture so the Israelites cut off his thumbs and his big toes and someone's thinking oh, that's an awful thing to be in the Bible but this is an important lesson for us to learn that number one, just because something is in the Bible it doesn't mean that God told them to do it.

Just because you read something in the Bible, doesn't mean that God necessarily approves of it, so that's the first thing because sometimes you do get those commands, thus saith the Lord, but just remember just because an Israelite did something it doesn't make it right.

The other thing we have to understand the second thing is that there are verses of Scripture. There are passages of Scripture that are descriptive and there are passages of Scripture that are prescriptive.

Let me give an example when God told the Israelites, thou shall keep the Sabbath day holy that was prescriptive. God was telling them to do that. But this verse about how they cut off the king's thumbs and toes, that is descriptive.

It's just telling you what happened. It doesn't say that God told them to do it or didn't or that he approves or doesn't approve, it's just telling you what took place. So the Bible is a book about God and about man, the Bible contains just about everything it contains the good, the bad, and the ugly.

So we need to approach Scripture with an open mind, an open heart, that's true. But also we need to approach Scripture with a mature attitude. If you read a book about any war it's going to give you some details and they might be gruesome at times.

That's the world we live in. So this is what happened to the king of Bezek. And if you do go by the principle of an eye for an eye, or a man that which a man sows he will also reap. The king did seem to deserve what he got, look at verse 7 and Adonai that's what he says about himself.

Verse 7 says and Adonai Bezek said 70 kings with their thumbs and big toes cut off used to gather scraps under my table. So he did this to other kings. And he says as I have done so God has repaid me.

That's a sobering statement. What did Jesus say? Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. If you treat people a certain way don't be surprised when it comes back to you it says they brought the king to Jerusalem and there he died.

And you say well maybe God did approve of it, well I don't know it doesn't say but Adonai Bezek did come to the realization. At least this is his opinion. This is his assessment that hey I got what I deserved.

So there is that scriptural principle that what a man sows he shall also reap. In modern times these days people call this karma. Christians would say you reap what you sow. Unbelievers they talk about karma.

And by the way if you are a Christian you shouldn't be using the term karma because karma is not actually real. Let me just quickly describe the difference. You reap what you sow goes like this. If you are cruel to others don't be surprised when someone is cruel back to you you kind of have it coming.

You are sowing seeds and then you are going to get the harvest. If you sow to the wind you will reap the whirlwind. If you spend half of your paycheck on scratch tickets every week don't be surprised when you end up poor and in debt.

If you eat McDonalds five days a week don't be surprised if you are unhealthy. This is pretty basic karma though is a tenant of eastern religion that the idea is you store up good karma or bad karma so that when you are reincarnated that karma will determine how your next life goes.

Of course that's completely unbiblical and there is zero evidence for reincarnation. Of course we don't believe in that. That's another sermon for another day. But karma and reap you reap what you sow is not the same thing.

Israel’s Incomplete Conquest and the Danger of Compromise

Let's look at verses 8 -10. Now the children of Judah fought against Jerusalem and took it. They struck it with the edge of the sword and set the city on fire. And afterward the children of Judah went down to fight against the Canaanites who dwelt in the mountains in the south and in the lowland.

Then Judah went against the Canaanites who dwelt in Hebron. Now the name of Hebron was formerly Kirjath Arba. So if you have followed along in our Joshua Bible study or if you have read the book of Joshua and know the story you know that the conquest of the land of Canaan it's complete but it's not really complete.

The tribes all get their land the nation is established. But each tribe is then responsible for sort of finishing the job and driving out the remaining stragglers from the land. Ultimately they fail in this.

And because they fail the tribes that remain the heathens that remain in the land they become a snare to the children of Israel. And eventually Israel will adopt their practices. And there's another principle there you know if you hang out with unbelievers all the time who's influencing.

Who. Right. So if you have the people of God living in Canaan but you have the heathen living in Canaan one will influence the other. Now God didn't say okay Israelites just do your best and try to be good.

And you can influence the Canaanites. That's not what God said he said drive them out. And you know sometimes believers think well you know I'll just yeah I'm hanging out with heathens and they're doing all this stuff that really I shouldn't be involved in but maybe I'll have a good influence on them.

That's almost never the way it works a little leaven leavens the whole lump the unbeliever almost certainly will influence the believer. Okay. So in this passage verses 8 through 10 two cities are mentioned Jerusalem and Hebron or Hebron depending on how you pronounce it.

So both Israel both became Israelite capitals. If you remember David when he was king he was king first at Hebron that was the original capital city until David took the stronghold of Zion defeating the Jebusites who dwell in Jerusalem.

So David was first king at Hebron and then he took the city of Jerusalem and he made that the capital city. So even though it says that Judah fought against Jerusalem and took it that clearly was only temporary because we're going to read a verse just in a little while that makes it seem like no the Israelites didn't occupy Jerusalem.

So we'll address that too because this is common throughout the book of Joshua and Judges statements are made. And then like in the next chapter it seems like the opposite is said and it's just how how you define it.

Did they take the land? Yes. Did they drive out the Canaanites? Yes. But not completely. So you could say yes they did and no they didn't. Both are true. Ok. So verse 12 then Caleb said so while Jerusalem excuse me Caleb said whoever attacks Kirjath and takes it to him I will give my daughter Ashath.

So remember Joshua is dead his former partner Caleb is still alive and Caleb offers this reward to whichever man will lead the assault on this city. Verse 13 says. And Othniel the son of Kenaz Caleb's younger brother took it so he gave him Othniel his daughter Aksah as wife.

So Othniel again he will be the first judge of Israel. And you can already see it he's already in Caleb's family which is a very prominent family in Israel. So he's Caleb's nephew. And yes I guess that means he married his cousin.

Right. This was a different time people did that kind of thing back then but by marrying Caleb's daughter now he's the son in law so he kind of climbs up the ladder a little bit after he gets this victory and marries Caleb's daughter.

Verse 14. Now it happened Abraham married his half sister. So like this type of thing happens in scripture and it doesn't mean that it was right. Actually when Moses gave the law he gave commands that you are not to marry close relatives and we're thankful for that.

Verse 14. Now it happened when she came to him that she urged him to ask her father for a field and she dismounted from her donkey. This is Caleb's daughter and Caleb said to her what do you wish. So she said to him give me a blessing since you have given me the land in the south give me also springs of water.

And Caleb gave her the upper springs and the lower springs. So you can see now Othniel is with Caleb's daughter. They possess this land. He's earned this great honor and he got this victory. So now Othniel is in a position to become a leader in Israel which he does again in chapter 3.

Verse 16 says. Now the children of the Kenite. We need to keep all these characters straight. It says now the children of the Kenite. Moses' father-in-law went up from the city of Palms with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah which lies in the south near Arad and they went and dwelt among the people.

So the city of the Palms is either Jericho or an area surrounding Jericho and the children of the Kenite are probably Hobab and his children. I know most people listening right now Hobab. Who's Hobab.

Needless to say Hobab is not one of the more well known characters in the Bible. Might be the first time you've ever heard of him. But we studied this back in Numbers chapter 10. According to Numbers 10 29 Hobab you know kids just don't name their children Hobab anymore.

I don't know if they. Well they obviously did here. But Numbers 10 29 Hobab was the son of Rul the Midianite. Moses' father-in-law. Okay so most people know the father-in-law of Moses. They know him by the name of Jethro.

So there's at least two different names in the Pentateuch for the father-in-law of Moses Jethro and Rul. And he had a son Hobab. But here we see in the book of Judges that Jethro is called the Kenite or the Kenite.

So that would be the people that he descended from. Remember he was the priest in the land of Midian. This is when Moses lived with him for 40 years after he killed the Egyptian. That's where he encountered God.

In the wilderness of Midian he encountered God at the burning bush. So that's who the Kenite is Jethro or Rul the father-in-law of Moses. So we're getting a little description of who's who and who came from where most people today we read over these details.

It's sort of like with a genealogy in the Bible we say this person begot this person begot this person and they lived here and they went there and lived there. And you know you think it doesn't have a whole lot of relevance to you and your life.

And it probably doesn't. But this was important information for the Israelites. This is history. History is important and when you study it you do gain some significant there is some significant things we can learn.

So let's pick up in verse 19 so the Lord says was with Judah. So after all these details are given all these different men and where they lived and all the battles that are won we see the statement the Lord was with Judah and the people would have wanted to know the history of the tribe of Judah.

This is the tribe that would bring forth the Christ. So the Lord is with Judah. And they drove out the mountaineers but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the lowland because they had chariots of iron.

So it appears that they tried and they gave Hebron to Caleb as Moses had said. Then he expelled from there the three sons of Anak. Here is another biblical character Anak. I think this is interesting.

We have read about Anak before because in the old testament it talks about the giants. We know David and Goliath. Goliath was a giant. Well Anak was an early inhabitant. Anak was an early inhabitant of the central of central Canaan near Hebron.

And from Anak came a race or a group of people called the Anakim. Now Star Wars fans that's not Anakin. That's Anakim with an M who the ten spies remember back in the book of numbers. The ten spies came back with the bad report and they said we can't take the land.

I know God told us to take the land but we can't because the giants are living there. Well that was the Anakim descendants of Anak. So Israel did not take the promised land the first time because the ten spies saw the descendants of Anak and they said we are like grasshoppers in their sight.

And we are like grasshoppers in our own sight. We can't do it. Which is kind of a pathetic statement. But I don't actually think they were giants. Not like giants. We would think of this was probably an excuse by the ten spies to pull off a coup against Moses get a new leader who would bring the Israelites back to Egypt.

But here's why it's significant. Here's the neat thing about it. Remember the ten spies gave the bad report. There's giants in the land. But there were twelve spies originally. And who were the two spies that gave the good report.

It was Caleb and Joshua. So this is the neat thing it is fitting that over forty years later Caleb is the one who does what the ten spies said could not be done. He eliminates the descendants of Anak.

I think that's pretty cool. So he drives them out but not fully. He's not able to drive out the inhabitants of the lowland because they have chariots of iron today that might be the equivalent. Well they had tanks.

We tried to drive them out but they had tanks. You can understand verse 21. So he drives them out not fully. And this is kind of the whole situation with all of the tribes they do their best. Maybe some of them probably don't try very hard.

Others don't really try at all. But the consistent thing that we see with all the tribes they don't drive out all the Canaanites that comes back to bite them. Verse 21 we see this statement that the children of Benjamin did not drive out the Jebusites who inhabited Jerusalem.

So the Jebusites dwell with the children of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this day. You say wait a minute. Doesn't that conflict with that statement earlier that Judah took Jerusalem. Right. Well that's the thing.

There's many statements throughout Joshua and Judges where for example in Joshua it says the land rested from war and then in the next chapter they're fighting again. So it's like well yes it did rest from war for a time or well they took the city.

Well the Jebusites are still there. Well it's like which is it. Well it's both but the main point to remember is that each of these tribes they're just not driving out the people like they're supposed to now this is not a contradiction.

I'll just address that because somewhere there's a critic listening. Yeah there's a lot of stuff in the Bible like that where there's contradictions in the Bible. Well yeah if you're a critic if you don't believe the Bible you're going to say there's contradictions.

Admittedly there are some things that are hard to reconcile. There are probably a few things that may in fact be scribal errors. That's sort of a bigger subject. But all of this history has been available to people for hundreds and thousands of years and the Bible has stood the test of time.

So yeah the critics are going to say well that's a contradiction. He said he took the city of Jerusalem but then this verse sounds like they didn't really take the city. Well both can be true depending on how you define take the city.

It would be a contradiction if if in verse 8 it said they drove out all the Jebusites and the Jebusites never dwell in the city again not a single one. And then in the next chapter it says and the Jebusites dwell in the city until this day see that would be a contradiction but it doesn't say that.

So that would be how I would answer that. And yeah critics do what critics do. They criticize that's not a surprise. We're coming to the end. Verse 22 and the house of Joseph also went up against Bethel and the Lord was with them.

Verse 27 however Manasseh did not drive out the inhabitants. And then it talks about Ephraim and Zebulun and Asher and all the other tribes who they drove out and who they didn't. And the author of Judges who again may be Samuel the prophet we're not exactly sure or a combination of people who knows whoever it is the author of Judges points this out that Israel when they were strong that is even when they had the ability to drive out the Canaanites they often chose not to do it.

And I talked about this a while back. Sometimes you know the right thing to do but the right thing to do is really difficult. And sometimes we take the path of least resistance but it's always going to come back to get you.

So even when the Israelites had the ability to drive out the heathen sometimes they chose not to and instead we see here that in some cases they actually enslaved the Canaanites. They put them under tribute.