“The house of Yosef likewise attacked Beit-El; and Adonai was with them.“ -Judges 1:22 In verse 22, for the first time, we’re introduced to “the house of Joseph”. Technically speaking, the house of Joseph was made up of 1/2 of the tribe of Manessah (recall the other half of Manessah decided to settle on east […]

“Y’hudah went with Shim‘on his brother; they overpowered the Kena‘ani who inhabited Tz’fat, and completely destroyed it. The name of the city was called Hormah.  Y’hudah also took ‘Azah with its territory, Ashkelon with its territory and ‘Ekron with its territory. Adonai was with Y’hudah, and they took possession of the hill-country, because they could […]

“Kalev said: ‘To whoever overpowers Kiryat-Sefer and captures it I will give my daughter ‘Akhsah as his wife.’ Otni’el the son of K’naz, Kalev’s younger brother, captured it; so he gave him ‘Akhsah his daughter as his wife.  After becoming his wife, she persuaded him to ask her father to give them a field; when she […]

“Y’hudah also attacked the Kena‘ani living in Hevron (formerly called Kiryat-Arba), and they overpowered Sheshai, Achiman and Talmai.  From there they attacked the inhabitants of D’vir (D’vir was formerly called Kiryat-Sefer).”-Judges 1:10-11 Verse 10 tells us Judah and Simeon launched an attack against Hebron. Interestingly, Hebron also went by the name KIRYAT-ARBA. In those days, […]

Let’s tackle what might seem to be a contradiction in the text of Judges Chapter 1. So we just read how the tribes of Judah and Simeon captured Jerusalem, right? However, a couple of sentences later, we find this tidbit in verse 21. “The Benjamites, however, did not drive out the Jebusites, who were living […]