Bible Synapse
If the Lord was with Judah, why could Judah not drive out the people of the valley with their iron chariots?
Hard question · Who God is · raised by 1 of the lists sceptics circulate
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“The Lord was with Judah”; Judah took the hill country but “could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron”.
And the Lord was with Judah; and he drave out the inhabitants of the mountain; but could not drive out the inhabitants of the valley, because they had chariots of iron.
Joshua tells the tribes of Joseph, “thou shalt drive out the Canaanites, though they have iron chariots, and though they be strong”.
And the children of Joseph said, The hill is not enough for us: and all the Canaanites that dwell in the land of the valley have chariots of iron, both they who are of Beth–shean and her towns, and they who are of the valley of Jezreel. And Joshua spake unto the house of Joseph, even to Ephraim and to Manasseh, saying, Thou art a great people, and hast great power: thou shalt not have one lot only: But the mountain shall be thine; for it is a wood, and thou shalt cut it down: and the outgoings of it shall be thine: for thou shalt drive out the Canaanites, though they have iron chariots, and though they be strong.
The angel of the Lord rebukes Israel, “ye have not obeyed my voice”, and says, “I will not drive them out from before you”.
And an angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to Bochim, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fathers; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you. And ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars: but ye have not obeyed my voice: why have ye done this? Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you.
Sisera brings “nine hundred chariots of iron”, but “the Lord discomfited Sisera, and all his chariots” before Barak.
And Sisera gathered together all his chariots, even nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people that were with him, from Harosheth of the Gentiles unto the river of Kishon. And Deborah said unto Barak, Up; for this is the day in which the Lord hath delivered Sisera into thine hand: is not the Lord gone out before thee? So Barak went down from mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him. And the Lord discomfited Sisera, and all his chariots, and all his host, with the edge of the sword before Barak; so that Sisera lighted down off his chariot, and fled away on his feet. But Barak pursued after the chariots, and after the host, unto Harosheth of the Gentiles: and all the host of Sisera fell upon the edge of the sword; and there was not a man left.
The objection
Judges 1:19 says that the Lord was with Judah, and yet Judah could not drive out the people of the valley “because they had chariots of iron”. Sceptics ask what kind of God is held back by iron chariots, especially since in Judges 4 the Lord routs Sisera’s nine hundred iron chariots without difficulty.
The answer
The one who ‘could not’ is Judah, not the Lord. In the KJV the ‘he’ who drove out the people of the hills is Judah, and the BSB makes this plain: “they took possession of the hill country; but they could not drive out the inhabitants of the plains”. The verse reports what Judah achieved; it says nothing about a limit on God’s power. The Hebrew here is unusual, literally ‘there was no driving out’, and Ellicott comments that Judah could have driven them out, but its faith was cowed by the chariots.
The surrounding chapters explain the failure. Joshua had told the tribes of Joseph that iron chariots were no bar: “thou shalt drive out the Canaanites, though they have iron chariots, and though they be strong” (Joshua 17:18). Judges 1 then lists tribe after tribe that did not drive out the Canaanites (1:21–36), and the angel of the Lord rebukes Israel for making terms with them: “ye have not obeyed my voice” (2:2). So he says, “I will not drive them out from before you” (2:3). The Lord’s being ‘with’ Judah meant success as Judah trusted and obeyed him, as it did in the hills; it was not a promise that held whatever Judah did.
Judges 4 shows what happened when Israel did trust him. Sisera came with “nine hundred chariots of iron”, and “the Lord discomfited Sisera, and all his chariots” before Barak (4:13–15). The two passages agree: one records Judah’s failure of nerve, and the other shows that iron chariots were never a match for God.
Other answers Christians give
‘By little and little’
Some add that God had said he would drive out the Canaanites gradually, “by little and little” (Exodus 23:30; Deuteronomy 7:22), and Judges 3:1–4 says he left some nations in the land to test Israel and to teach later generations war. On this view Judah’s partial conquest also fell within God’s purpose. Either way the chariots marked the limit of Judah’s strength, not of God’s.
Still open
The Hebrew construction in Judges 1:19 is unusual. The Cambridge Bible notes that two Hebrew manuscripts and the ancient versions read ‘he was not able to drive out’. On either reading the subject is Judah, not God.
From the classic commentators
The war was of the Lord, whose omnipotent aid would have ensured their success in every encounter, whether on the mountains or the plains, with foot soldiers or cavalry. It was distrust, the want of a simple and firm reliance on the promise of God, that made them afraid of the iron chariotsJamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary on Judges 1:19 (1871), at Bible Hub
Sources
- Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers: Judges 1, at Bible Hub
- Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary: Judges 1, at Bible Hub
- John Gill, Exposition of the Bible: Judges 1, at Bible Hub
- Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges: Judges 1, at Bible Hub