Commentary - Judges 1:1-7

Bird's-eye view

The book of Judges opens with the passing of a giant. Joshua is dead, and the generation that saw the great works of God in the conquest is gone. The central question facing the nation is one of continuity: will the people of God continue to walk in the covenant faithfulness their leader modeled, or will they falter? This first chapter serves as a crucial prologue, a benchmark of what could have been. It begins on a high note, with Israel inquiring of Yahweh and winning a significant victory under the leadership of Judah. The capture and punishment of Adoni-bezek provides a graphic illustration of God's retributive justice, with the pagan king himself confessing the rightness of his sentence. However, this initial success is a fragile one. The chapter, and the entire book that follows, will chronicle a sad and bloody decline into apostasy, compromise, and chaos. This opening scene is the high-water mark from which the tide will tragically recede.

At its core, this passage is about the nature of the conquest and the character of God. The conquest is not a human endeavor but a divine mandate. Victory is not achieved by military might but is granted by Yahweh's hand. And the God who grants this victory is a God of perfect, fearsome justice. The principle of lex talionis, an eye for an eye, is not a primitive embarrassment but a foundational element of divine righteousness, as even a wicked Canaanite king is forced to admit. Judah is sent first, a clear pointer to the ultimate Lion of the tribe of Judah, who will win the final victory.

Outline

Context In Judges

Judges 1:1-7 forms the opening salvo of the book's introduction, which runs through chapter 2, verse 5. This section provides the historical and theological backdrop for the entire period of the judges. It answers the question, "How did Israel get into the mess described in the rest of the book?" The answer is that they failed to complete the conquest that Joshua had begun. This first scene with Judah and Simeon stands in stark contrast to the litany of failures that follows in the rest of the chapter. It presents the paradigm of how the conquest was supposed to proceed: by seeking God's direction, trusting His promises, acting in faith, and executing His justice. The initial success here makes the subsequent failures all the more culpable. This is not a story of a people who couldn't succeed; it is the story of a people who could have, and at first did, but then would not.

Key Issues

Judah Goes First

The book of Judges is a grim and gritty book. It is a record of a nation's long slide into anarchy, where the terrifying refrain is "every man did what was right in his own eyes." But it does not begin in the dark. It begins with this brief moment of light, a snapshot of how things ought to be. Joshua, the great commander, is gone. The temptation for the people would be to scatter, to settle down, to forget the central task God had given them: to possess the land and cleanse it of its idolatrous inhabitants. The land was promised, but it was not yet fully possessed. The inheritance had been granted, but it had to be taken by faith.

So the first thing the sons of Israel do right is that they ask the right question of the right person. They don't form a committee or take a poll. They ask of Yahweh. Their question, "Who shall go up first for us?" is an acknowledgment of His sovereignty and their dependence. They are still, at this point, thinking like a unified people with a common task under a common Lord. The answer they receive and the battle that follows sets the stage for everything that comes after. It is a story of faith, brotherhood, and the hard-edged justice of God.

Verse by Verse Commentary

1 Now it happened after the death of Joshua that the sons of Israel asked of Yahweh, saying, “Who shall go up first for us against the Canaanites, to fight against them?”

The death of a godly leader is a critical moment for any people. The stability and direction provided by one man is gone, and the character of the people themselves is revealed. Will they carry on the mission, or will the mission die with the man? To their credit, Israel's first impulse is the correct one. They go to Yahweh. They understood that the conquest was not Joshua's personal project; it was God's war. Their question is practical and obedient. They are not asking if they should fight, but how. "Who goes first?" This is the posture of a subordinate ready to receive orders from his commander-in-chief.

2 And Yahweh said, “Judah shall go up; behold, I have given the land into his hand.”

God's answer is direct and full of promise. He chooses Judah. This is theologically significant. Judah was the tribe from which the kings would come, the tribe of David, and ultimately, the tribe of the Messiah, the Lion of the tribe of Judah. For Judah to go first is a picture of the gospel. The King goes first to win the victory. And notice the basis for the command: "behold, I have given the land into his hand." The victory is spoken of in the past tense. It is already an accomplished fact in the decree of God. All Judah has to do is act in faith on that promise and take possession of what has already been secured for them. This is how the Christian life is to be lived; we fight from victory, not for victory.

3 Then Judah said to Simeon his brother, “Come up with me into the territory allotted me, that we may fight against the Canaanites; and I in turn will go with you into the territory allotted you.” So Simeon went with him.

Judah, despite having the direct promise of God, does not act arrogantly or independently. He turns to his brother Simeon and proposes a partnership. This is a beautiful display of covenantal solidarity. The territory of Simeon was actually enclosed within the larger allotment of Judah, so this was a natural alliance. Judah's strength is not a reason for pride, but a reason to help his weaker brother. He promises reciprocity: "I will go with you." This is how the church is to function. The strong bear the burdens of the weak, and we fight the Lord's battles together, not as isolated individuals or tribes, but as one family.

4 So Judah went up, and Yahweh gave the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hands, and they struck down 10,000 men at Bezek.

Faith is an action verb. Judah "went up." Obedience followed the promise. And the result was exactly what God said it would be. The text is clear: Yahweh gave them the victory. The 10,000 slain Canaanites were not a testament to Judah's military prowess, but to God's faithfulness. When God's people obey God's commands in God's way, God grants God's victory. It is a simple and recurring formula throughout Scripture.

5-6 Then they found Adoni-bezek in Bezek and fought against him, and they struck down the Canaanites and the Perizzites. But Adoni-bezek fled; and they pursued him and seized him and cut off his thumbs and big toes.

The narrative zooms in on the enemy commander, Adoni-bezek, which means "lord of Bezek." He is the local chieftain. He tries to escape, but is captured. His punishment is specific and, to our modern minds, brutal. They cut off his thumbs and his big toes. This was not random cruelty. It was a strategic and symbolic act. A warrior without thumbs cannot grip a sword or a spear. A man without big toes has no stability or balance, and cannot run effectively. This punishment was designed to utterly humiliate him and end his career as a military threat. He was permanently decommissioned.

7 And Adoni-bezek said, “Seventy kings with their thumbs and their big toes cut off used to gather up scraps under my table; as I have done, so God has repaid me.” So they brought him to Jerusalem, and he died there.

Here, the pagan king preaches the sermon. Out of his own mouth comes a confession of the justice of God. He had built his little empire on cruelty and humiliation, disabling seventy other kings in precisely this manner and treating them like dogs under his table. Now, the measure he used has been measured back to him. He does not blame Judah; he does not curse his fate. He recognizes the hand of a power greater than himself, and he calls that power "God" (Elohim). "As I have done, so God has repaid me." This is a perfect, unvarnished statement of the principle of retributive justice. The God of the Bible is not a cosmic teddy bear; He is a righteous judge, and His judgments are true. The fact that they bring him to Jerusalem, a city not yet fully conquered, shows their faith that it too would fall into their hands, becoming the city of the great King.

Application

This opening scene in Judges is packed with application for the church today. First, we learn that the work of God's kingdom does not depend on a single human leader. When a Joshua dies, the mission continues because Yahweh lives. Our trust must be in the unchanging God, not in charismatic men.

Second, we must learn to ask God for direction. Before we launch our programs and initiatives, the first order of business is to inquire of the Lord. "Who shall go up first?" What is the mission He has for us, here and now? We must be a people who listen before we act.

Third, we see the pattern for Christian warfare. The King, our Lord Jesus, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, has already gone up first. He has won the decisive victory over sin and death and Satan. God has "given the land into his hand." Our task is to walk in that victory, to take possession of the promises by faith, to fight our sins not in our own strength, but in the strength of the one who has already conquered.

Finally, we are reminded that God is a God of justice. The world may mock the idea of divine retribution, but the Bible affirms it on every page. Sin has consequences. What a man sows, he will also reap. Adoni-bezek learned this the hard way. His confession is a warning to all tyrants, and a comfort to all the oppressed: God sees, God knows, and God will repay. Our task is not to take vengeance into our own hands, but to act as God's appointed instruments of justice in the world where He calls us to, and to trust that in the end, His perfect justice will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.