When Israel became stronger
This phrase marks a significant moment in the history of Israel, reflecting a period when the Israelites gained sufficient strength and stability in the Promised Land. The Hebrew root for "became stronger" is "chazaq," which implies not just physical strength but also courage and determination. Historically, this strength was not merely military but also spiritual, as the Israelites were called to rely on God’s promises and guidance. This moment is a reminder of the importance of spiritual fortitude and reliance on God’s strength in overcoming challenges.

they pressed the Canaanites into forced labor
The phrase "pressed... into forced labor" indicates a shift in the Israelites' approach to the Canaanites. Instead of completely driving them out as God had commanded, they chose to subjugate them. The Hebrew word "mas" refers to a levy or tribute, often implying a form of servitude or taxation. This decision reflects a compromise that would later lead to spiritual and moral challenges for Israel, as the presence of the Canaanites and their practices would become a snare. It serves as a cautionary tale about the dangers of partial obedience and the temptation to prioritize economic or pragmatic benefits over complete faithfulness to God’s commands.

but they never drove them out completely
This phrase highlights a critical failure in Israel's conquest of the land. The Hebrew word "yarash" means to possess or inherit, and the failure to "drive them out completely" signifies a lack of full possession of the land as God intended. This incomplete obedience had long-term consequences, as the remaining Canaanites influenced Israel with their idolatrous practices. It underscores the importance of wholehearted obedience to God’s instructions and the dangers of allowing even a small foothold for sin or compromise in our lives. The historical context reveals that this failure set the stage for recurring cycles of sin and repentance throughout Israel's history, emphasizing the need for vigilance and commitment in our spiritual journey.

(28) Did not utterly drive them out.--This is mentioned by way of blame, as the cause of their future sins and disasters (Judges 2:2; Josh. 16:16, Joshua 17:13). As to the morality of these exterminating wars, we must bear in mind that men and nations must alike be judged by the moral standard of their own day, not by the advanced morality of later ages. We learn from unanimous testimony that the nations of Canaan had sunk to the lowest and vilest depths of moral degeneracy. When nations have fallen thus low, the cup of their iniquity is full; they are practically irreclaimable. To mingle with them would inevitably be to learn their works, for their worst abominations would find an ally in the natural weakness and corruption of the human heart. The Israelites therefore believed that it was their positive duty to destroy them, and the impulse which led them to do so was one which sprang from their best and not from their worst instincts. It must not be forgotten that the teaching of Christ has absolutely changed the moral conceptions of the world. It intensified, to a degree which we can hardly estimate, our sense of the inalienable rights of humanity and of the individual man. In these days there is scarcely any amount of evidence which would convince us that we were bidden to exterminate a whole population, and involve women and children in one indistinguishable massacre. But neither the Israelites nor any other ancient nations, at this early stage of their moral development, had any conception corresponding to those which would in our minds rightly excite horror, were we to receive a command like that given by Moses, that "thou shalt save nothing alive that breatheth" (Deuteronomy 22:16), or by Samuel, "Slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass" (1Samuel 15:3). We should instantly declare it to be impossible that God--as Christ has revealed to us the character of our Father in heaven--should give us commands which would militate against our sense of justice no less than against our sense of compassion. To quote such commands as an excuse for, or an incentive to, such horrible acts of wickedness as the Sack of Beziers, or the Massacre of St. Bartholomew, is ignorantly and recklessly to obliterate the whole results of God's progressive moral education of our race. It is to ignore the fact that we are living under a wholly different dispensation, and to disavow every blessing which has accrued to humanity from the broadening light and divine revelation of three thousand years. But the ancient Israelites, living as they did in the "days of ignorance" which God "winked at" (Acts 17:30), had never attained to that idea of human individuality--that sense of the independence and infinite worth of each human life--which would have shown them that they knew not what manner of spirit they were of (Luke 9:56). The wild and passionate sense of severe justice, the comparative indifference to human life, the familiarity with pain and death which blunted the keen edge of pity, "the deficient sense of individuality, the exaggerated sense of the solidarity which united a criminal with all his surroundings and possessions," prevented them from regarding the execution of their ban on guilty nations, cities, or families in any other light than that of the zeal for righteousness by which it was impelled. Their deeds must be estimated by the elements of nobleness which mingled with them, and not indiscriminately condemned by standards of judgment of which neither they nor the age in which they lived had any conception. They firmly believed that in exterminating Canaan they were acting under Divine commands; and there was nothing in such commands which would in that day have shocked the moral sense of the world. "They did not look unnatural to the ancient Jew; they were not foreign to his standard; they excited no surprise or perplexity; they appealed to a genuine but rough idea of justice which existed, when the longing for retribution upon crime in the human mind was not checked by the strict sense of human individuality" (Mozley, Lectures on the Old Test., p. 103). . . . Verse 28. - Put the Canaanites to tribute, or made them tributaries, as in vers. 30, 33, i.e. imposed forced labour upon them, as the Gibeonites were made hewers of wood and drawers of water (Joshua 9:21, 27; see 1 Kings 9:21).

Parallel Commentaries ...


When
כִּֽי־ (kî-)
Conjunction
Strong's 3588: A relative conjunction

Israel
יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל (yiś·rā·’êl)
Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3478: Israel -- 'God strives', another name of Jacob and his desc

became stronger,
חָזַ֣ק (ḥā·zaq)
Verb - Qal - Perfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 2388: To fasten upon, to seize, be strong, obstinate, to bind, restrain, conquer

they pressed
וַיָּ֥שֶׂם (way·yā·śem)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 7760: Put -- to put, place, set

the Canaanites
הַֽכְּנַעֲנִ֖י (hak·kə·na·‘ă·nî)
Article | Noun - proper - masculine singular
Strong's 3669: Canaanite -- inhabitant of Canaan

into forced labor,
לָמַ֑ס (lā·mas)
Preposition-l | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 4522: Body of forced laborers, forced service, taskworkers, taskwork, serfdom

but they never
לֹ֥א (lō)
Adverb - Negative particle
Strong's 3808: Not, no

drove them out
וְהוֹרֵ֖ישׁ (wə·hō·w·rêš)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hifil - Infinitive absolute
Strong's 3423: To occupy, to seize, to rob, to inherit, to expel, to impoverish, to ruin

completely.
הוֹרִישֽׁוֹ׃ (hō·w·rî·šōw)
Verb - Hifil - Perfect - third person masculine singular | third person masculine singular
Strong's 3423: To occupy, to seize, to rob, to inherit, to expel, to impoverish, to ruin


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OT History: Judges 1:28 It happened when Israel had grown strong (Jd Judg. Jdg)