Judges 1:25-30

Judges 1:25

And when he shewed them the entrance into the city, they smote the city with the edge of the sword; but they let go the man and all his family.

The man would probably be considered to be a traitor to his people in helping the Israelites but if he had knowledge of what was going to happen and if the reputation of God who smote the Egyptians had reached him, then he knew that he made the right decision.  Since nothing happens without planning, no doubt this man was ordained to help the Israelites just as Rahab helped in previous times.  After the Israelites received the information, then they commenced the attack against Beth-El.  They probably held this man captive until the campaign was over to make sure that he did not give them bad information.  Once they took the city and it was secure, they then kept their promise to let the man go along with his family seeing that the information that he gave them was good.

Judges 1:26

And the man went into the land of the Hittites, and built a city, and called the name thereof Luz: which is the name thereof unto this day.

It seems this man was a man of wealth and was allowed to take all his estate with him.  He left and went into the land of the Hittites which in this case would not have been in the land of Canaan but outside of it since he knew that Israel was in the midst of conquering the land.  They would have went north since before the Exodus, the Hittite empire was located north of Israel in which in the time of Paul was known as Asia Minor, Galatia, and Cappadocia which would be Modern Turkey.  He also built the city of Luz which he named after the city of Luz which he had just left.  The phrase “unto this day” means to the time this book of Judges was written. 

Judges 1:27

Neither did Manasseh drive out the inhabitants of Beth-shean and her towns, nor Taanach and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Dor and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Ibleam and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Megiddo and her towns: but the Canaanites would dwell in that land.

The towns named above were in the territory given to Manasseh.  Unfortunately, they could not drive out these inhabitants who were diametrically opposed in theology as they were all idolaters, something that would come back later and cause problems with Israel.  Beth-shean was in the valley of Jezreel close to the Jordan River.  Taanach was just north of the hill country of Ephraim in a central location.  Dor was located on the Mediterranean Sea and was a port town.  Ibleam was southeast of Taanach.  Megiddo was east of Dor and north of Taanach.  Now the Canaanites still had a foothold in the land and would later cause negative influence on Israel.

Judges 1:28

And it came to pass, when Israel was strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute, and did not utterly drive them out.

When Israel had a gained a foothold in the land they made one grave mistake.  Instead of completely driving the Canaanites out they put them to tribute, that is, they had placed them into forced labor.  They had the belief that they could control the enemy by placing them in this situation.  It is a foolish belief.  It is like a drunkard who claims they can control their drinking while they have a bottle of Whiskey in their hands.  God told them to drive them out, not live with them.

Judges 1:29

Neither did Ephraim drive out the Canaanites that dwelt in Gezer; but the Canaanites dwelt in Gezer among them.

Ephraim did not drive out the Canaanites from Gezer which was located in the territory given to the tribe of Dan.  Ephraim made the same mistake as Manasseh.  They probably saw that Manasseh had put the Canaanites to tribute and thought they could do the same thing without consequence.  What we are seeing in these verses is that Israel did not have enough faith in God that He would give them the victories in the areas they were given.  Instead they compromised and chose to live with the heathen civilizations that God told them to drive out and would have given them the victories.  It seems history was repeating itself since they were acting like the ten spies who showed no faith in God who would give them the land and their unbelief resulted in 40 years in the wilderness rather than entering the Promised Land in 11 days.

Judges 1:30

Neither did Zebulun drive out the inhabitants of Kitron, nor the inhabitants of Nahalol; but the Canaanites dwelt among them, and became tributaries.