Judges 1:19

And the Lord was with Judah,.... Encouraging, strengthening, succeeding, and giving the tribe victory over the Canaanites; the Targum is, "the Word of the Lord was for the help of the house of

And the LORD was with Judah; and he drave out the inhabitants of the mountain; but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron.

On account of their unbelief, whereby they doubted and distrusted God’ s power to destroy those who had chariots of iron and so gave way to their own fear and sloth, whereby God was provoked to withdraw his helping hand from them, and so they were really made impotent, as they were unwilling. See .

19 These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit. Ver. 19. Who separate] From Church assemblies, upon pretence of newer lights, greater holiness. The Arabic renders it, intermitters, sc. of Church worship. Such as upon pretence of a more than ordinary holiness, and I know not what imaginary perfection, thought they might give over hearing of the word, as having immediate teaching; and separated from holy duties, as the words following show. Sensual] Gr. ψυχικοι, animal; such as have no more than a reasonable soul, and are yet in their pure naturals, 1 Corinthians 2:14, and by their profane practices animas etiam incarnaverunt, have turned their very spirits into a lump of flesh. Having not the Spirit] Unless it be the spirit of delusion, as Muncer the Anabaptist had, who wrote a book against Luther, dedicated it "To the most illustrious Prince Christ" (as his words are), uphraideth Luther with want of the Spirit, and calleth him a carnal man, a silly soul. (Scultet. Annal. 338.)

(19) The Lord was with Judah.—The Targum here has “The Word of the Lord.” The expression is frequently used to imply insured prosperity (Genesis 39:23; 1 Samuel 18:14; 2 Kings 18:7. Comp. Matthew 18:20). But.—Rather, for (kî): i.e., they only dispossessed their enemies of the mountain, for, &c. Could not.—The Hebrew seems purposely to avoid this expression, and says “there was no driving out.” Judah could have driven them out; but their faith was cowed by the (Judges 1:19) iron chariots. The valley.—Here Emek, not Shephelah. “Broad sweeps between parallel ranges of hills,” like, e.g., the “valley of Jezreel,” i.e., the plain of Esdraelon. It differs from Gî, which means a gorge or ravine. Chariots of iron.—See Judges 4:3; Joshua 11:6-9; Joshua 17:16; 1 Samuel 13:6. R. Tanchum makes it mean “very strong chariots;” but the phrase means either “chariots with iron-bound wheels,” or “scythed chariots.” Ktesias attributes scythed chariots to Ninus, but none are seen on the Nineveh sculptures, and it is doubtful whether they were known so early. Xenophon says that scythed chariots were invented by Cyrus, which would not be till five centuries after this period. For this clause the LXX. have,” because Rechab resisted them,” mistaking rekeb, “chariot,” for a proper name (as they often do with other words). Hence the notion of Theodoret that the Kenites, to which Rechab belonged (2 Kings 10:15-23; Jeremiah 35:2), secretly helped the Philistines, is quite groundless. We see a reason for the partial failure of the Israelites in the fact that at this time they had not attained to the same level of civilisation as the Canaanites in arts and arms. This advantage could only have been rendered unavailing by more faith and faithfulness than they showed in their conduct. “Their warriors often rather overran than subdued the land. . . . The chariots and better arms of the Canaanites rendered the conquest of the valleys and plains long and laborious, especially to Joseph, Judah, and Dan. . . . The Hebrews ‘walked upon the high places of the land’ (Psalms 18:33; 2 Samuel 22:34; Habakkuk 3:19; Isaiah 58:14; Deuteronomy 32:13; Deuteronomy 32:29; Deuteronomy 32:33); but these heights were often encompassed like islands by the inhabitants of the valleys” (Ewald, ii. 264).

Verse 19. And the Lord was with Judah, and he drave out the inhabitants of the mountain; but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron.] Strange! were the iron chariots too strong for Omnipotence? The whole of this verse is improperly rendered. The first clause, The Lord was with Judah should terminate the 18th verse, and this gives the reason for the success of this tribe: The Lord was with Judah, and therefore he slew the Canaanites that inhabited Zephath, c., &c. Here then is a complete period: the remaining part of the verse either refers to a different time, or to the rebellion of Judah against the Lord, which caused him to withdraw his support. Therefore the Lord was with Judah, and these were the effects of his protection but afterwards, when the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim, c., God was no longer with them, and their enemies were left to be pricks in their eyes, and thorns in their side, as God himself had said. This is the turn given to the verse by Jonathan ben Uzziel, the Chaldee paraphrast: "And the WORD of Jehovah was in the support of the house of Judah, and they extirpated the inhabitants of the mountains but afterwards, WHEN THEY SINNED, they were not able to extirpate the inhabitants of the plain country, because they had chariots of iron." They were now left to their own strength, and their adversaries prevailed against them. From a work called the Dhunoor Veda, it appears that the ancient Hindoos had war chariots similar to those of the Canaanites. They are described as having many wheels, and to have contained a number of rooms. - Ward's Customs.

19. The natural place for this verse is after Judges 1:7, i. e. after the account of Judah’s first success in the Southern Highlands. He conquered the hill country, but the inhabitants of the plain were too strong for him. There is no one word for the Hebr. verb meaning ‘drive out,’ ‘dispossess,’ ‘conquer.’ for he could not drive out] lit. ‘for (he was) not for driving out,’ a most unusual construction; correct he was not able to drive out, so two Hebr. MSS. and the Versions. The text of Jdg 1:21; Judges 1:27; Judges 1:32 is to be corrected in the same way. Comparing Judges 1:21 with Joshua 15:63, Judges 1:27 with ib. Judges 17:12, 2 Chronicles 8:8 with 1 Kings 9:21, we note a tendency to obliterate the impotence of Israel. In this chap. the editor’s theory (Judges 2:1 b–5a) has influenced the alteration: the cause of the tribes’ failure was not their inability to match the Canaanites, but their unfaithfulness (so Targum here). the inhabitants of the valley] i.e. of the Philistine plain, between the hills and the sea; see Judges 1:18 note. chariots of iron] Cf. Judges 4:3; Judges 4:13, Joshua 17:16; Joshua 17:18; i.e. plated or studded with iron, like the Hittite chariots figured on Egyptian monuments: the currus falcati, i. e. scythed chariots, as Vulgate renders, were not yet invented. The horses and chariots of the Canaanites were probably adopted from the Egyptians; but ultimately, like those of the Egyptians, from the Hittites or N. Syrians. Recent excavations confirm what we learn from the O.T. Thus at Taanach iron implements have been found in large quantities; at Megiddo they occur plentifully first at the period which is dated in the middle of the Israelite monarchy, also much earlier but in smaller quantities. In Egypt iron was in common use at the time of the Exodus, and considerably earlier; it came chiefly from the mines in the Sinaitic Peninsula.

19. And he drave out the inhabitants of the mountain — Hebrews, he seized or possessed the mountain. In ordinary cases of foreign invasion the mountains are the fortresses which are last to surrender.