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Joshua 15 says the men of Judah could not drive the Jebusites out of Jerusalem, who remained to that day. Judges repeats this almost exactly but blames Benjamin instead of Judah, shifting the failure off the leading tribe.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Joshua 15:63
Hebrew Bible
59 Maarath, Beth Anoth, and Eltekon—a total of six cities and their towns. 60 Kiriath Baal (that is, Kiriath Jearim) and Rabbah—a total of two cities and their towns. 61 These cities were in the wilderness: Beth Arabah, Middin, Secacah, 62 Nibshan, the City of Salt, and En Gedi—a total of six cities and their towns. 63 The men of Judah were unable to conquer the Jebusites living in Jerusalem. The Jebusites live with the people of Judah in Jerusalem to this very day.
Judges 1:21
Hebrew Bible
20 Caleb received Hebron, just as Moses had promised. He drove out the three Anakites. 21 The men of Benjamin, however, did not conquer the Jebusites living in Jerusalem. The Jebusites live with the people of Benjamin in Jerusalem to this very day. 22 When the men of Joseph attacked Bethel, the Lord was with them. 23 When the men of Joseph spied out Bethel (it used to be called Luz), 24 the spies spotted a man leaving the city. They said to him, “If you show us a secret entrance into the city, we will reward you.”
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Notes and References
... In most cases it is likely that in the noted parallels Judges is dependent on Joshua (Na’aman 2005, 358–359). Precisely where Judges 1 differs from Joshua, it concerns the obvious attempt to put Judah in a more favorable light than it appears in the book of Joshua (this “pro-Judah bias is challenged by Wong 2005, but then again defended by Frolov 2007). This is what has happened in 1:21, where compared to the parallel in Joshua 15:63 the name of the Judahites is replaced by the name of the Benjaminites as the ones who must be blamed for not driving out the Jebusites from Jerusalem. In 1:8 it is told that the Judahites conquered Jerusalem. Because there is no reference in 1:8 of the Jebusites, we can assume that in the eyes of the author it does not contradict 1:21. Conquering and burning a city is one thing, definitively driving away the inhabitants is something else. ...
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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