Judges 1:13

1:9-20 The Canaanites had iron chariots; but Israel had God on their side, whose chariots are thousands of angels, Ps 68:17. Yet they suffered their fears to prevail against their faith. About Caleb we read in Jos 15:16-19. The Kenites had settled in the land. Israel let them fix where they pleased, being a quiet, contented people. They that molested none, were molested by none. Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.

13 . Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother ] The language leaves it uncertain whether Othniel was the nephew (LXX. cod. B) or the brother (LXX. cod. A, Vulgate) of Caleb; but tradition favours the latter alternative. Elsewhere, though in later documents, Caleb is styled ‘the son of Jephunneh, the Kenizzite’ Josh, Joshua 14:6 ; Joshua 14:14 D; Numbers 32:12 P. Kenaz was not the actual father, but the name of an Edomite tribe Genesis 36:15 ; Genesis 36:42 ; ‘the son of Kenaz,’ therefore, is equivalent to ‘the Kenizzite.’ Kenaz being a tribe, we must suppose that Othniel and Caleb were really clans belonging to it. As a tribal name Othniel may be compared with Israel and Jeraḥmeel. Caleb was closely connected with Jeraḥmeel ( 1 Chronicles 2:9 ; 1 Chronicles 2:25 ; 1 Chronicles 2:42 ; 1 Chronicles 2:49 ), a clan settled in the Negeb, S. of Caleb ( 1 Samuel 27:10 ; 1 Samuel 30:29 ), which, as the present narrative shews, settled in Hebron and the neighbourhood. How Caleb came to find a home in Judah is told in Joshua 15:13 JE, cf. Joshua 14:6 ff. D. In the time of David Caleb was still distinct from Judah, 1 Samuel 30:14 ; but later on the clan became absorbed into Judah, so much so that in Numbers 13:6 ; Numbers 34:19 P Caleb is the ‘prince’ of Judah, and the Chronicler knows of hardly any other Judahites outside the Calebite family (1 Chronicles 2). The present story gives the tribal traditions under the guise of a narrative dealing with individuals (cf.

Jdg 1:3 note). Othniel is called ‘the younger’ (not in Joshua 15:17 ) brother of Caleb to account for his being of an age to marry Caleb’s daughter, as in Jdg 3:9 to explain how he outlived Caleb so long. The marriage indicates an alliance between the Othniel clan and an off-shoot of Caleb. Contrast the account of the conquest of Debir by Joshua and all Israel given in Joshua 10:38-39 ; Joshua 11:21 D.

Render "and the children of Judah fought against Jerusalem, and took it, and smote it," etc. With regard to the capture of Jerusalem there is some obscurity. It is here said to have been taken, smitten with the edge of the sword, and burned, by the children of Judah. In Joshua 12:8 , Joshua 12:10 the Jebusite and the king of Jerusalem are enumerated among Joshua's conquests, but without any distinct mention of the capture of the city; and in the marginal reference we read that the Jebusites were not expelled from Jerusalem, but dwelt with the children of Judah (compare Judges 1:21 ). Further, we learn from Judges 19:10-12 that Jerusalem was wholly a Jebusite city in the lifetime of Phinehas Judges 20:28 , and so it continued until the reign of David 2 Samuel 5:6-9 . The conclusion is that Jerusalem was only taken once, namely, at the time here described, and that this was in the lifetime of Joshua; but that the children of Judah did not occupy it in sufficient force to prevent the return of the Jebusites, who gradually recovered complete possession. Set the city on fire - A phrase found only at Judges 20:48; 2 Kings 8:12, and Psalm 74:7.

8. Now the children of Judah had fought against Jerusalem, and had taken it—The capture of this important city, which ranks among the early incidents in the war of invasion (Jos 15:63), is here noticed to account for its being in the possession of the Judahites; and they brought Adoni-bezek thither [Jud 1:7], in order, probably, that his fate being rendered so public, might inspire terror far and wide. Similar inroads were made into the other unconquered parts of Judah's inheritance [Jud 1:9-11]. The story of Caleb's acquisition of Hebron is here repeated (Jos 15:16-19). [See on [208]Jos 15:16.]

(13) Othniel. — Joshua 15:15-17 . It is here added that he was Caleb’s younger brother. (See Judges 3:9 .) The Hebrew may mean either that Othniel was “son of Kenaz and brother of Caleb” (in which case he married his niece); or “son of Kenaz, who was Caleb’s brother” (as in “Jonadab, the son of Shimeah David’s brother,” 2Samuel 13:3 ), in which case Achsah was his cousin. The Masoretes, to whom is due the punctuation, &c., of our Hebrew Scriptures, show by their pointing that they understood the words in the former sense. But though Ben-kenaz may simply mean Kenezite ( Joshua 14:6 ; Numbers 32:12 ), it is strange in that case that Othniel should never be called a son of Jephunneh. If he was a brother of Caleb’s, he must have lived to extreme old age, and have been an old man when he married Achsah. For the importance of Caleb’s family, see 1Chronicles 27:15 . The Rabbis identify Othniel with the Jabez who is so abruptly introduced in 1Chronicles 4:9-10 , and connect Achsah’s petition with the prayer there recorded; and they suppose that he founded the school of scribes at Jabez ( 1Chronicles 2:55 ), and was a teacher of law to the Kenites.

After the conquest of Jerusalem, the children of Judah (together with the Simeonites, Judges 1:3 ) went down to their own possessions, to make war upon the Canaanites in the mountains, the Negeb, and the shephelah (see at Joshua 15:48 ; Joshua 21:33 ), and to exterminate them. They first of all conquered Hebron and Debir upon the mountains ( Judges 1:10-15 ), as has already been related in Joshua 15:14-19 (see the commentary on this passage). The forms עלּית and תּחתּית ( Judges 1:15 ), instead of עלּיּות and תּחתּיּות ( Joshua 15:19 ), are in the singular, and are construed with the plural form of the feminine גּלּות, because this is used in the sense of the singular, "a spring" (see Ewald, 318, a.).