Charles Ellicott Commentary Judges 1:14

"And it came to pass, when she came [unto him], that she moved him to ask of her father a field: and she alighted from off her ass; and Caleb said unto her, What wouldest thou?" — Judges 1:14 (ASV)

When she came to him. —When she first reached his house as a bride.

She moved him. —He was too modest to ask for himself, and he declined her request; but she would not enter until she gained her way.

A field. —Rather, the field. In the passage in Joshua 15:18 there is no definite article, but by the time this book was written, the field then obtained by Achsah had become historical.

Lighted. —Not merely in sign of reverence (like Rebecca in Genesis 24:64, and Abigail in 1 Samuel 25:25), but “leaped off” with eager impetuosity. The Hebrew verb tsanach used here occurs in Judges 4:21, where it is rendered “fastened,” i.e., “drove it firmly by a blow.” The Septuagint renders it “screamed” or “shouted from the ass;” the Vulgate, “sighed as she was sitting on the ass;” but they probably had a different reading. “Suddenly,” says Ewald, “as if some accident had happened to her, she fell from her ass, and on being embraced by her anxious father, she adjured him as if in words of inspiration” (Hist. Isr. ii. 366).

What wilt thou? —Caleb was unable to understand her conduct in refusing to enter the house of her bridegroom.