And Caleb said, He that smiteth Kirjath-sepher, and taketh it, to him will I give Achsah my daughter to wife.
Judges 1:12 stands in the introduction and in the opening chapters of the book of Judges. Its setting shows that Israel had not yet possessed all of the country. It belongs to the record of the period after the death of Joshua leading toward Samuel and First Samuel, the record of Israel's experiences between Joshua's death and the raising up of Samuel. That period was estimated at roughly 350 to 450 years.
In that period Israel failed to carry out the instructions God had given, repeatedly backslid and fell into captivity, and the Lord raised up judges to help them. The judges were defenders of a cause raised up in times of crisis to contend for the independence of the people, called saviours, who also judged the people by administering law. God worked through people who were often unpromising, yet the best available.
The chronology of the judges' period is difficult because some judges were contemporaneous, some ruled only locally, and there were gaps between their rule of which no account is taken. The book was written at least as late as the time of Samuel when Saul was king, by Samuel.
Judges 1:12 stands in the introduction and in the opening chapters of the book of Judges. Its setting shows that Israel had not yet possessed all of the country. It belongs to the record of the period after the death of Joshua leading toward Samuel and First Samuel, the record of Israel's experiences between Joshua's death and the raising up of Samuel. That period was estimated at roughly 350 to 450 years.
In that period Israel failed to carry out the instructions God had given, repeatedly backslid and fell into captivity, and the Lord raised up judges to help them. The judges were defenders of a cause raised up in times of crisis to contend for the independence of the people, called saviours, who also judged the people by administering law. God worked through people who were often unpromising, yet the best available.
The chronology of the judges' period is difficult because some judges were contemporaneous, some ruled only locally, and there were gaps between their rule of which no account is taken. The book was written at least as late as the time of Samuel when Saul was king, by Samuel.