Judges 1:17-21

The soldiers of Judah and Simeon also conquered Hormah (lit. devotion or destruction), Gaza, Ashkelon, and Ekron (Judges 1:17-18). The "valley" from which the Israelites could not drive out the Canaanites (Judges 1:19) probably refers to the flat Coastal Plain. This inability was, of course, due to a failure in Israel’s trust and obedience (cf. Joshua 1:5-8; Joshua 17:16-18).

The reference to iron chariots (Judges 1:19) has caused problems for some readers since archaeologists have dated the Iron Age as beginning in 1200 B.C., about 150 years after the event recorded here took place. However the Hittites had mastered the production of iron by 1400 B.C. Evidently the Canaanites and Philistines had iron implements by 1350 B.C. The Iron Age is, after all, a general description of the period during which iron was the most important metal. [Note: See Jacquetta Hawkes, The First Great Civilizations, p. 113; V. Gordon Childe, New Light on the Most Ancient East, p. 157; Leonard Cottrell, The Anvil of Civilization, p. 157; and Volkmar Fritz, "Conquest or Settlement? The Early Iron Age in Palestine," Biblical Archaeologist 50:2 (June 1987):84-100.]

Caleb had driven out the Anakim in Hebron earlier (Judges 1:20; cf. Joshua 15:13-14). The writer probably repeated the account here to fill out the record of the subjugation of Judah’s territory. "Then" (Judges 1:20) can also mean "and." It does not imply that the events of Judges 1:20 followed those of Judges 1:19 in chronological sequence.

Jerusalem (Judges 1:21) was on the border of Judah and Benjamin but mainly within Benjamin’s territory. The Hinnom Valley on the southern edge of the city was the boundary. Even though the soldiers of Judah and Simeon captured Jerusalem, the Benjamites could not hold it. This is evidently why the writer referred to the Benjamites at this point. This failure was another significant incident of inadequate trust and obedience (cf. Judges 1:19). It also foreshadowed the Benjamites’ role in the final disastrous chapters of the book (chs. 19-21).