Judges 1:8-21 - The men of Judah attacked Jerusalem

1:8-11

The reference to attacking and taking Jerusalem is a little problematic, for Josh 15:63 says that the Jebusites could not be dislodged, and it is not until David’s time that the city was properly taken. We then get notes of the continuing offensive with various towns being taken.

1:12-15

These verses, along with 1:9-11, are an almost exact repeat of Josh 15:13-19. One difference is that in Joshua it is Caleb who leads the attack. That is implicit here, but the attack is attributed more generally to Judah, i.e. to the whole tribe. The emphasis is on what the tribes were doing, i.e. on the fulfilment of God’s purpose and instructions.

1:16-21

We get more on the conquests that Judah carried out. It seems that Judah did pretty much what she was supposed to do. The promise of Moses to Caleb was also fulfilled. So things are going pretty well. We then get the first “failure”. The Benjaminites failed to drive out the Jebusites who were living in Jerusalem. We are also told that they continue to live there. This perhaps implies that the original source of the account was written before David took Jerusalem.