Judges 3:3

Namely, five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites that dwelt in mount Lebanon, from mount Baalhermon unto the entering in of Hamath.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(3) Five lords of the Philistines.—The princes of the Pentapolis, Gaza, Ashdod, Askelon, Gath, Ekron. The word rendered “lords” is evidently a technical or local title—Seranim. It is rendered by the LXX. “satrapies,” and by the Vulgate, “satraps.” It is variously derived from seren, “a hinge” (comp. “cardinal” from “cardo”); from sar, “a prince,” being interchanged with sarim, in 1 Sam. 13:30; 1Samuel 29:6 (Ewald, i. 332); and from some Phœnician root. For the Philistines, see Judges 13:1.

All the Canaanites.—Of the shephēlah or maritime plain.

The Sidonians.—In Genesis 10:15 “Sidon” is the eldest son of Canaan. They maintained their complete independence to the last.

The Hivites that dwelt in Mount Lebanon.—In Joshua 11:3 they are described as living “under Hermon, in the land at Mizpeh,” whence Mizpeh has been identified with “el-Mutalleh,” which also means “the look-out” or “watch-tower.” The name has been derived from Havvah, a circular encampment or village, because they lived (as they do to this day in northern Syria) in circular villages, with enclosures for cattle in the centre. Ewald ( i. 318) supposes that the word means “midlanders,” and Gesenius “villagers.” The Hivite is the sixth son of Canaan, in Genesis 10:17.

Mount Baal-hermon unto the entering in of Hamath.—In Joshua 13:5 we have “from Baal-gad under mount Hermon unto,” &c. Baal-gad is also mentioned in Joshua 12:7; Joshua 11:17, and is usually supposed to be Paneas or Cesarea Philippi. It was probably a temple of Baal, but must be farther south than Baalbek. The hill of Paneas is therefore, in all probability, “ Mount Baal-hermon,” and Baal-hermon may be only another name for Baal-gad. Fürst supposes that both Gad and Gedi (in Engedi) are names of Astarte.

The entering in of Hamath.—This is the usual phrase to describe the northern boundary of Canaan. The LXX. take it as a proper name, Labo emath.

Benson Commentary

Jdg 3:3. Five lords of the Philistines — See Joshua 13:2-3, and Jdg 1:18, where it appears that three of them had been, in some measure, subdued, but had now recovered their country again, in consequence of the slothful conduct of the Israelites. All the Canaanites — Properly so called, who were very numerous, and dispersed through several parts of the land, whence they gave denomination to all the rest of the people. Sidonians — The people living near Zidon, and subject to its jurisdiction. Baal-hermon — Which was the eastern part about Lebanon.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

3:1-7 As the Israelites were a type of the church on earth, they were not to be idle and slothful. The Lord was pleased to try them by the remains of the devoted nations they spared. Temptations and trials detect the wickedness of the hearts of sinners; and strengthen he graces of believers in their daily conflict with Satan, sin, and this evil world. They must live in this world, but they are not of it, and are forbidden to conform to it. This marks the difference between the followers of Christ and mere professors. The friendship of the world is more fatal than its enmity; the latter can only kill the body, but the former murders many precious souls.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Lords - Seranim, a title used exclusively of the princes of the five Philistine cities. The title is probably of Phoenician origin.

Joshua appears to have smitten and subdued the Hivites as far north as Baal-Gad, in the valley of Lebanon under Mount Hermon Joshua 11:17; Joshua 12:7, but no further Joshua 13:5. There was an unsubdued Hivite population to the north of Baal-hermon (probably Baal-Gad under Hermon, since it is not synonymous with Hermon; see 1 Chronicles 5:23), to the entering in of Hamath: i. e. in the fertile valley of Coele-Syria. Hamath is always spoken of as the extreme northern boundary of the land of Canaan. It was the gate of approach to Canaan from Babylon, and all the north Zechariah 9:2; Jeremiah 39:5. It formed part of the dominions of Solomon 2 Chronicles 8:4, and of the future inheritance of Israel, as described in vision by Ezekiel EZechariah 47:16.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

CHAPTER 3

Jud 3:1-4. Nations Left to Prove Israel.

1. these are the nations which the Lord left, to prove Israel—This was the special design of these nations being left, and it evinces the direct influence of the theocracy under which the Israelites were placed. These nations were left for a double purpose: in the first instance, to be instrumental, by their inroads, in promoting the moral and spiritual discipline of the Israelites; and also to subserve the design of making them acquainted with war, in order that the young, more especially, who were total strangers to it, might learn the use of weapons and the art of wielding them.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Five lords of the Philistines; whereof three had been in some sort subdued, Judges 1:18, but afterwards rescued themselves, and recovered their former strength. See Poole on "Judges 1:18".

The Canaanites; properly so called, who were very numerous, and dispersed through several parts of the land whence they gave denomination to all the rest of the people.

The Sidonians; the people living near Sidon, and subject to its jurisdiction.

Mount Baal-hermon was the eastern part of Mount Lebanon: see Deu 3:8,9.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Namely, five lords of the Philistines,.... The places they were lords of were Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron; see Joshua 13:3; three of these, Gaza, Ashkelon, and Ekron, had been taken from them by Judah, since the death of Joshua, Judges 1:18; but they soon recovered them again, perhaps by the help of the other two. The Philistines were a people originally of Egypt, but came from thence and settled in these parts, and were here as early as in the times of Abraham, and were very troublesome neighbours to the Israelites in later times; see Genesis 10:14,

and all the Canaanites; these were a particular tribe or nation in the land so called, which inhabited by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan, Numbers 13:29; otherwise this is the general name for the seven nations:

and the Sidonians; the inhabitants of the famous city of Sidon, which had its name from the firstborn of Canaan, Genesis 10:15,

and the Hivites that dwelt in Mount Lebanon; on the north of the land of Canaan:

from Mount Baalhermon; the eastern part of Lebanon, the same with Baalgad, where Baal was worshipped:

unto the entering in of Hamath; the boundary of the northern part of the land, which entrance led into the valley between Libanus and Antilibanus; see Numbers 34:8.

Geneva Study Bible

Namely, five lords of the Philistines, and all the Canaanites, and the Sidonians, and the Hivites that dwelt in mount Lebanon, from mount Baalhermon unto the entering in of Hamath.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

3. This verse should be compared with Joshua 13:2-6 D. The nations here are those occupying particular districts in W. Palestine; contrast Jdg 3:5, and the races mentioned in ch. 1.

the five lords of the Philistines] Probably one for each of the five cities named in 1 Samuel 6:17, cf. Joshua 13:3. The word for ‘lords’ (seren, sing.) is only found in this connexion, cf. ch. 16; it is evidently a native title.

and all the Canaanites] Hardly the entire population of W. Palestine, as in J (see Jdg 1:34 n.), but ‘Canaanites’ in the restricted sense found in E and D, viz. the inhabitants of the sea coast and Jordan valley, cf. Numbers 13:29 E; Deuteronomy 1:7; Deuteronomy 11:30; Joshua 5:1; Joshua 13:3 f. D; Zephaniah 2:5. Similarly in the Amarna tablets Kinaḥḥi (Canaan), and in some Egypt. inscr. Ka-n-’-na as a geographical term, appears to be limited to the northern ‘lowland ‘or sea coast (Ency. Bibl. art. Canaan).

the Zidonians] is a general term for the Phoenicians, used in the O.T. (Deuteronomy 3:9; Joshua 13:4; Joshua 13:6; Jdg 10:12; Jdg 18:7 etc.), by the Assyrians, and the Greeks, and the Phoenicians themselves1[25]

[25] See NSI., pp. 54, 352.

the Hivites that dwelt in mount Lebanon] Elsewhere the Hivites inhabit the centre of Canaan, Genesis 34:2, Joshua 9:7 etc.; the Lebanon district belonged to the kingdom of the Hittites (Jdg 1:26 n.), which extended from the far N.W. till it touched Canaan at this point. Hence for Hivites read Hittites, cf. Joshua 11:3 LXX

mount Baal-hermon] i.e. the mountain to which the town of Baal-hermon (1 Chronicles 5:23) gave its name. But such a designation is contrary to usage; Joshua 13:5 D, in a passage closely resembling this, has ‘Baal-gad under Mt Hermon,’ which may be the correct reading here (Budde, Nowack); or we may simply follow LXX. cod. B ‘mount H.’

the entering in of Hamath] frequently marks the N. boundary of Canaan or of Israel, Numbers 13:21; Numbers 34:8; Joshua 13:5; 1 Kings 8:65; 2 Kings 14:25 etc. The ‘Entrance of H.’ is the great valley between Lebanon and Hermon-Antilibanus, called Coele-Syria in classical times, and now ‘The Valley’ (El-Biḳa‘, cf. Joshua 11:17); Moore, however, considers it to have been the plain of Ḥömṣ, 30 m. S. of Hamaṭh. The city itself (now Ḥamâ) lay on the Orontes, about 150 m. N. of Dan, but its territory stretched 50 m. to the S., as far as Riblah (2 Kings 23:33). Hamath is mentioned in Egyptian monuments and the Amarna letters before the Israelite invasion, and in the inscrr. of the Assyrian kings (Schrader COT. 323).

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 3. - The five lords, etc. The title seren, here rendered "lord," is one exclusively applied to the lords of the five Philistine cities enumerated in Joshua 13:3; 1 Samuel 6:17, 18, viz., Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron. It occurs repeatedly in ch. 16; 1 Samuel 5, 6, 29, etc. The word means an axle-tree. The entering in of Hamath. There are two theories in regard to Hamath. Some, as Professor Rawlinson in the 'Dictionary of the Bible,' identify it with Hamah, a large and important city on the Orontes in Upper Syria, and consider that the kingdom of Hamath, which was overthrown by the king of Assyria (2 Kings 18:34; 2 Kings 19:13), and of which Hamath was the capital, was for the most part an independent Hamitic or Canaanite kingdom (Genesis 10:18), but occasionally, as in the days of Solomon and Jeroboam (1 Kings 8:65; 2 Kings 14:28; 2 Chronicles 8:4), subject to Israel Others, however, justly considering the great improbability of the Israelite dominion having ever extended so far north as the valley of the Orontes, and observing how it is spoken of as an integral part of Israel (1 Kings 8:65), look for Hamath much further south, in the neighbourhood of Beth-rehob (see Judges 18:28, note). As regards the phrase "the entering in of Hamath," the identical Hebrew words occur seven times, viz., Numbers 13:21; Numbers 34:8; Joshua 13:5; in this passage; 1 Kings 8:65; 2 Kings 14:25; 2 Chronicles 7:8, and are variously rendered in the A.V.: "as men come to Hamath;" "unto the entrance of Hamath;" "the entering into Hamath;" "the entering in of Hamath (three times); and the entering of Hamath." The exact meaning of the phrase seems to be "the approach to Hamath," some particular spot in the valley from whence the direct road to Hamath begins; very much like the railway term for certain stations which are the nearest to, though at some little distance from, the place from which they are named, as, e.g., Shapwick Road, Mildenhall Road, etc. The latter words of the verse describe the territory of the Hivites, which reached from Mount Baal-hermon in the Lebanon range as far as the point where the road leads to Hamath. Judges 3:3

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The enumeration of the different nations rests upon Joshua 13:2-6, and, with its conciseness and brevity, is only fully intelligible through the light thrown upon it by that passage. The five princes of the Philistines are mentioned singly there. According to Joshua 13:4., "all the Canaanites and the Sidonians and the Hivites," are the Canaanitish tribes dwelling in northern Canaan, by the Phoenician coast and upon Mount Lebanon. "The Canaanites:" viz., those who dwelt along the sea-coast to the south of Sidon. The Hivites: those who were settled more in the heart of the country, "from the mountains of Baal-hermon up to the territory of Hamath." Baal-hermon is only another name for Baal-gad, the present Banjas, under the Hermon (cf. Joshua 13:5). When it is stated still further in Judges 3:4, that "they were left in existence (i.e., were not exterminated by Joshua) to prove Israel by them," we are struck with the fact, that besides the Philistines, only these northern Canaanites are mentioned; whereas, according to Judges 1, many towns in the centre of the land were also left in the hands of the Canaanites, and therefore here also the Canaanites were not yet exterminated, and became likewise a snare to the Israelites, not only according to the word of the angel of the Lord (Judges 2:3), but also because the Israelites who dwelt among these Canaanitish tribes contracted marriages with them, and served their gods. This striking circumstance cannot be set aside, as Bertheau supposes, by the simple remark, that "the two lists (that of the countries which the tribes of Israel did not conquer after Joshua's death in Judges 1, and the one given here of the nations which Joshua had not subjugated) must correspond on the whole," since the correspondence referred to really does not exist. It can only be explained on the ground that the Canaanites who were left in the different towns in the midst of the land, acquired all their power to maintain their stand against Israel from the simple fact that the Philistines on the south-west, and several whole tribes of Canaanites in the north, had been left by Joshua neither exterminated nor even conquered, inasmuch as they so crippled the power of the Israelites by wars and invasions of the Israelitish territory, that they were unable to exterminate those who remained in the different fortresses of their own possessions. Because, therefore, the power to resist the Israelites and oppress them for a time resided not so much in the Canaanites who were dwelling in the midst of Israel, as in the Philistines and the Canaanites upon the mountains of Lebanon who had been left unconquered by Joshua, these are the only tribes mentioned in this brief survey as the nations through which the Lord would prove His people.