Asher did not dispossess the inhabitants of Accho, nor the inhabitants of Zidon, nor Ahlab, nor Achzib, nor Helbah, nor Aphik, nor Rehob;
Judges 1 works down the tribe list, and with each name comes a report of ground left in enemy hands. Asher's entry names seven towns on the northern coast, and it ends with a line that reverses who is at home in the land.
These towns were not minor losses at the edge of the map. They cost Asher the whole western side of its inheritance.
The meaning of the name, as given in the margin, is "happy." ... Their west border was surely meant to be the Great Sea. But we read that they did not drive out the inhabitants of Acco, Sidon, Ahlab, Achzib, Helbah, Aphik and Rehob. Instead the Asherites lived among the Canaanites (Judges 1:31-32). This left a stretch of land on the sea coast that Asher never occupied.
One of those unconquered towns troubled Israel for centuries. Sidon was left standing, and Israel paid for it long afterwards.
Israel's troubles throughout Ahab's reign came mainly from Sidon. This is all the more striking when we go back in Scripture. Sidon — called "great Sidon" — was part of the promise to Abraham. At Joshua's conquest it was given to Asher. But Asher never had enough faith and energy to root out the evils centred there and take the city. Judges 1 is a miserable chapter of slackness and indifference... Let us not miss the lesson of Asher's failure. If we do not master the evils within us by faith, they will gain terrible influence over us as the years pass.
Earlier in the chapter the Canaanites stay on among the tribes. In this verse the wording turns around.
Asher... follows with a long list of cities. Here we find, for the first time, a phrase that reveals at once a still lower state of things. It says, "The Asherites lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land." It does not say the Canaanites lived among the Asherites, which would be bad enough. This is easy to understand. The Phoenician sea coast lay in Asher's inheritance, and Israel never brought those rich trading cities even partly under its rule — not even in the days of David and Solomon.
One writer traces the slide through the tribes on either side of Asher.
Ephraim and Zebulun allowed the Canaanites to live among them (v. 29, 30). From then on, the world formed part of the people of God. Asher and Naphtali (v. 31-33) went a step further: they lived among the Canaanites. Israel is swallowed up by them.
Why would a tribe settle for second place in its own land? One writer finds the answer in the wealth of those trading ports.
The Canaanites here were dominant. This tells us that material gain was dominant over spiritual prosperity, a sad fact too often repeated in church history, and glaringly so in the boast of the Laodicean church, "I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing" (Rev. 3:17).
One writer works from the meanings of the last four names on Asher's list.
Achzib, "a flow indeed," has already been taken as applying to the Spirit. With it Helbah, "fatness," Aphik, "a channel," and Rehob, "room," are easily associated... Together, the loss of these cities means much spiritual loss to the failing Asherite. He loses the experience of the Spirit's energy and the "fatness" that speaks of plentiful nourishment. He also loses the ability to pass on to others the blessing we have received, and last, liberty and enlargement of heart. How necessary these things are to true Christian happiness hardly needs stating.
The tribe's name means "happy." One writer turns that into questions for the reader.
Has Asher failed in your case to drive out the inhabitants of the land? Are the cities that ought to belong to Christian joy still owned by the enemy? What thief is stealing your happiness? What little foxes are spoiling the tender grapes of your vine?
The next chapter shows what God did about all this unfinished conquest.
Israel promised Joshua they would drive out the Canaanites, and they meant it. But the book of Judges shows that they failed in their own responsibility to do it (see Judg. 1:27–36). So God had to withdraw His promise to drive them out. The angel of the Lord came to Bochim and solemnly declared: "I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you" (Judg. 2:3).
- Ground. The sea was meant to be Asher's western border. Seven named towns stayed Canaanite, and the tribe never took that stretch of coast.
- Reversal. For the first time the text says the tribe lived among the Canaanites, not the other way round. The Canaanites were dominant.
- Reason. These were rich trading ports. Material gain won out over spiritual prosperity, as it did later in Laodicea's boast.
- Cost. One writer turns the unconquered names into a list of losses: the Spirit's energy, nourishment, the power to pass blessing on, and freedom of heart.
- Result. The tribe named "happy" let the enemy hold its joy. God then left those nations as thorns and their gods as a snare.
and the Asherites dwelt among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land; for they did not dispossess them.
Asher's land ran along the northern coast. Seven of its cities stayed in enemy hands, and the verse's wording leaves Israel the smaller party. Commentators read it as a new low in the chapter.
Earlier verses say the Canaanites lived among the tribes. Here it is the other way round. One writer explains why that could happen in Asher's land.
Asher comes next, with a long list of cities. Here, for the first time, we find wording that shows an even lower state of things. It says the Asherites "lived among the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land" — not the Canaanites among the Asherites, bad as that would have been. This is easy to understand. The Phoenician coast lay inside Asher's inheritance, and those rich trading cities were never brought under Israel's control, even in part, even in the days of David and Solomon.
One writer traces the drop tribe by tribe through the chapter.
Ephraim and Zebulon allowed the Canaanites to dwell among them (v. 29, 30). From then on, the world formed part of the people of God. Asher and Naphtali (v. 31-33) went a step farther: they dwelt among the Canaanites. Israel is engulfed by them.
One writer names what Asher put ahead of spiritual prosperity, and hears the same note much later in church history.
Seven cities are listed whose people Asher failed to drive out (v. 31). Here it does not say that the Canaanites lived among Asher, but that the Asherites lived among the Canaanites! So the Canaanites were the dominant ones. This tells us that material gain mattered more to them than spiritual prosperity. That sad fact has been repeated far too often in Church history. It shows most openly in the boast of the church at Laodicea: "I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing" (Rev. 3:17)... This enemy stands for the policy of using spiritual things for material gain, and Israel has been afflicted by this evil for centuries. The Church has sadly followed the same path.
Asher's name means "happy." The tribe named for joy is the tribe that let the enemy keep the ground. One writer turns that into a question for the reader.
Then we have Asher, whose name significantly means the happy one... Tell me, what is the sorrow or the dullness in your own heart? What is that lack of joy that so many of us have, sadly, to confess to God? Is it not the failure of Asher, the happy one?... Has Asher failed in your case to drive out the inhabitants of the land? Are the cities which ought to belong to Christian joy still owned by the enemy? What thief is it that is stealing your happiness?
The verse gives no reason for the failure. It only says they did not drive them out. One writer puts the cause inside Israel, and then applies the enemies to the believer.
Zebulun, Asher and Naphtali all failed to drive out the enemies God had commanded them to destroy completely... Unbelief, a lack of confidence in the Lord, was the cause of it all. These enemies stand for the flesh and its desires in the believer. And these desires, the old sinful nature, must be put and kept in the place of death.
The cities left standing did not stay neutral. One writer follows the story from Joshua's promise to the warning that followed.
He assured the Israelites that God would drive them out before them. Israel only had to obey all that God had said. The book of Judges shows what followed. Despite their best intentions, and despite their promises to Joshua, Israel failed in their own responsibility to drive out the Canaanites (see Judg. 1:27–36). So God had to withdraw His promise to drive them out. The angel of the Lord came to Bochim and solemnly declared: "I will not drive them out before you, but they shall become thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare to you" (Judg. 2:3).
- Unbelief starts it. The verse gives no reason for leaving the seven cities. One writer traces the failure to unbelief and lack of confidence in God, not to the strength of the enemy.
- Compromise follows. Leaving the Canaanites in place meant living beside them. Israel never brought the rich coastal trading cities under its control.
- The balance tips. The verse does not say the Canaanites lived among Asher. It says Asher lived among them — the enemy is now the dominant party, and Israel is engulfed.
- Joy is the loss. Asher means "happy." Yet this tribe let the enemy keep its cities. One writer asks what thief is stealing the reader's own joy.
- The leftovers turn hostile. What Israel tolerated God then left in place, as thorns in their sides and a snare through the Canaanites' gods. Half a conquest is no conquest.