Charles Ellicott Commentary Judges 1:4

"And Judah went up; and Jehovah delivered the Canaanites and the Perizzites into their hand: and they smote of them in Bezek ten thousand men." — Judges 1:4 (ASV)

And Judah went up. —Under the leadership of Caleb (Joshua 14:6).

The Canaanites and the Perizzites. —See Genesis 13:7 and Genesis 34:30. The former seem to have been lowlanders —by the sea and by the coast of Jordan (Numbers 13:29), on the east and on the west (Joshua 11:3; Joshua 17:16).

The Perizzites were the mountain and forest tribes (Joshua 11:3; Joshua 17:15). Their antiquity and importance are evident from the allusions to them in Genesis 13:7, Genesis 34:30, 1 Kings 9:20, and 2E Esther 1:21.

The name Perizzite itself seems to imply open villages (1 Samuel 6:18; Deuteronomy 3:5), and may suggest that they were agriculturists. This name does not occur in the genealogy of nations in Genesis 10.

In Bezek. —The name means “lightning.” There seems to be no adequate reason to distinguish this town from the one mentioned in 1 Samuel 11:8. Saul numbered the people there before his expedition to deliver Jabesh Gilead.

At first sight, the mention of this town is surprising, since we have no information about any Bezek except the two villages of that name referred to by Eusebius and Jerome. These villages were seventeen miles from Shechem and therefore in the territory of Ephraim. It is, however, unnecessary to conjecture that there was another Bezek in the territory of Judah.

We must suppose that the two warlike tribes began their conquest by marching into the center of Palestine to strike a blow at the main stronghold of Canaanite power. Ewald conjectures that in this expedition they took Shiloh, and refers Genesis 49:8-12 to this event, rendering the relevant phrase as till he come to Shiloh (Hist. Isr. i. 284, E. Tr.).

If this chapter does not refer retrospectively to events that occurred before the death of Joshua, it might well be considered strange that this powerful king is not mentioned among those attacked by the Israelites during Joshua’s lifetime. It is, however, possible, as Ewald suggests, that a new power may have sprung up.