Judges 1:17

And Judah went with Simeon his brother,.... Having subtitled his Canaanites which were in his own lot, according to his promise, he went with his brother Simeon, or the tribe of Simeon, into their

And Judah went with Simeon his brother, and they slew the Canaanites that inhabited Zephath, and utterly destroyed it. And the name of the city was called Hormah. Judah went with Simeon his brother.

Judah went with Simeon his brother, according to his promise, , and the laws of justice and gratitude. Hormah; either, 1. The same place so destroyed and called, , and so what was there vowed is here executed; or, 2. Some other place called by the same name upon the like occasion, which was frequent among the Hebrews. This seems more probable, 1. Because this was but one city, that divers cities, ,3. 2. Because that seems to have been done in Moses’ s time, though interpreters generally think otherwise; of which see my notes there.

17 But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; Ver. 17. Of the apostles] Paul and Peter, from whom St Jude borroweth much from his Epistle. See my Preface to God’ s Love Tokens.

(17) Zephath.—This name is only mentioned elsewhere in 2 Chronicles 14:10, as the scene of Asa’s battle with Zerah the Ethiopian. Hormah—i.e., “a place devoted by ban.” The name Chormah is derived from Cherem (anathema or oan), and the verb rendered “utterly destroyed” means ‘executed the ban upon it.” By their conquest the Israelites fulfilled the vow which they had made in consequence of the “defeat inflicted on them by the king of Arad,” as a punishment for their disobedient Attempt to force their way into Palestine (see Numbers 14:45; Numbers 21:1-3). The town belonged to Simeon (Joshua 19:4; 1 Chronicles 4:28-32), and was close to the lands of the Kenites (1 Samuel 30:29-30).

Verse 17. The city was called Hormah.] This appears to be the same transaction mentioned Numbers 21:1, &c., where see the notes.

17. Zephath] Only here; the site is unknown. So far as situation goes, es-Sebaita, 25 m. N.N.E. of ‘Ain el-Ḳ ?adξs (Kadesh), would be suitable; but it has no philological connexion with Zephath (Ṣ ?ephath). The Canaanite name of the city which was known to the Hebrews as Hormah is not likely to have survived.utterly destroyed] So the AV. and RV. render the verb, but RVm. devoted, lit. ‘placed under the ban,’ ḥ ?ιrem RV. ‘devoted thing,’ AV. ‘accursed thing.’ Underlying the practice was the ancient principle of taboo; the ḥ ?ιrem, as the Arabic meaning of the root shews, was something separated from common use, secluded, wholly made over to the deity and therefore inviolable. Hence in Arab. ḥ ?arβm = sanctuary, the Moslem name of the temple area at Jerusalem; ḥ ?arξm = the women’s chambers; in Aram. dialects the word is used in various forms of a sanctuary, a tomb (Nabataean), consecrated offerings (Palmyrene). Among the Moabites we have an account of the practice which reads almost like a passage in the O.T.; King Mesha ‘devoted’ 7000 Israelite prisoners to ‘Ashtar-Chemosh (Moab. Stone, lines 16–18). Among the Hebrews anything which might endanger the religious life of the community was put out of harm’s way by being ‘devoted’ to God, and whatever was thus placed under the ban had to be destroyed; e.g. the idolatrous Canaanites, or the idolatrous Israelite city, Joshua 10:1; Joshua 10:28 etc., Judges 11:11 etc.; Deuteronomy 13:15-17; Leviticus 27:28 f. Instances of the practice are recorded in Joshua 7:1; Joshua 7:22-26; Judges 21:10 ff.; 1 Samuel 15:3; 1 Samuel 15:8 f., 15 etc. Hormah] i.e. devoted; but the explanation given here and in Numbers 21:3 JE is, perhaps, only literary. The name, like Hermon, Hŏ ?rηm (Joshua 19:38), can also mean holy place, and the character of the city as sacred or inviolable may have been due to some other cause. Hormah is mentioned again in Numbers 14:45 JE, Deuteronomy 1:44; in Joshua 12:14 it comes immediately before Arad; in ib. Joshua 15:30 it belongs to Judah, in Judges 19:4 to Simeon; it follows the cities of the Kenites on the list in 1 Samuel 30:30. Other traditions connected with Hormah, which differ from the present one, are preserved in Numbers 14:45; Numbers 21:1-3. In the latter fragment Hormah is ‘devoted’ after a repulse at Arad, by Israel, not by Judah and Simeon; it is implied that the former name of the place was Arad; and the episode is placed at an earlier stage of the history. It is best to recognize the differences; they can hardly be reconciled.

Hormah - See Numbers 21:1 note. The destruction then vowed was now accomplished. This is another decisive indication that the events here related belong to Joshua’s lifetime. This would be about six years after the vow.

OF ZEPHATH AND THREE CITIES OF , Judges 1:17-19. 17. Judah went with Simeon — The narrative of their exploits is resumed after the episode about Caleb and Othniel.