in the Book of Judges God fights for Israel multiple times delivering them victories over other people groups but in judges 1 19 it says the Lord was with Judah but the man of Judah cannot drive out the inhabitants of the plane because they had ironed chariots Skeptics often argue this shows the Lord cannot be omnipotent because he cannot deal with a few measly iron chariots but is this really what the text says in context or are we missing details within the chapter itself that suggests Israel had already violated the Commandments of God thus meaning he would not give their enemies into their hands judges 119 is often cited by Skeptics to argue the god of the Bible is not all-powerful there even used to be an atheist counter apologist Wiki named iron chariots that was based off this verse the verse States and the Lord was with Judah and he took possession of the Hill Country but he could not drive out the inhabitants of the plane because they had iron chariots the pronouns most likely refer to Judah In this passage but despite this it still says the Lord was with Judah if God was with the man of Judah why couldn't they drive out the inhabitants surely if God is all-powerful dealing with iron chariots from the start of the Iron Age should have been an easy task for him the problem with this argument is it is plucking one verse out of its context later within the Book of Judges God is no problem overcoming iron chariots nor does he have an issue with them at the Red Sea why would the author of Judges claim iron chariots were a problem in one place if they narrate they were not an issue later on the main theme in the Book of Judges is the downward moral spiral of the people of Israel throughout the book the Israelites given to sin and worship other gods and so God abandons them to be conquered by other people groups then he raises up a judge to save them and the Vicious Cycle continues the authors of Judges begin narrating this downward spiral in the very first chapter K Los and younger Junior says the narrator of Judges one has structured his account to emphasize this moral decline the chapter begins with the death of Joshua and then tells us the men of Judah went out to fight the Canaanites they captured the king of bezek Adonai bizek and tortured him by cutting off his thumbs and big toes that he received what he deserved because he performed the same torture on 70 Kings but Daniel blocked notes the fact that the men of Judah were willing to torture Adonai bazek in the same way he tortured others shows us they were already beginning to adopt Canaanite practices the author hereby declares obliquely that the newly arrived Israelites including the tribe of Judah have quickly adopted a Canaanite ethic apart from the issue of having spare demand who clearly came under the sentence of death with the rest of the people instead of looking to the Lord for ethical Guidance the Israelites used the Canaanites as models when deciding how to treat captives after this we read the Caleb makes a vow that whoever captures Deborah he will give his daughter as a bride Barry Webb notes it's reminiscent of the tragic Val jephthah we'll make later in the book but it also has a bad ending albeit not nearly as tragic as what will happen with jephthah auth Neil manages to capture the city and then precedes to marry his cousin this seems to be a direct violation of Leviticus 18 6 which forbids the marrying of close relatives thus showing disregard for the Torah of Moses after this we see a climax of disregard for the commands of God people called the kenites were allowed to settle with the Israelites and along with some of the people of Judah the text tells us they went and settled with the people who were in The negeb Daniel block says instead of destroying the city and its population they settle down among them thereby sowing the seeds of canonization that Sprout and flourish in the following chapters in other words they didn't drive out the inhabitants as God commanded but lived among them interestingly enough right after this we hear of judah's war with the people of the plain and how they were unable to drive out the inhabitants because of the iron chariots but if one had read the warnings in the pentateuch we should expect to see the people of Israel unable to drive out the inhabitants because God said they did not follow his Commandments he would allow the inhabitants to be a thorn in their side and that the Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies you shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them and you shall be a horror to all the kingdoms of the Earth God directly told Israel if they did not drive out the inhabitants he would allow the Canaanites to remain and defeat Israel moreover if we read in context the authors of Judges tell us this as well David M Howard and Michael a grisanti say regarding judges 119 we soon discover there is more here than meets the eye a few verses later the authors explained the people's failure was really due to spiritual compromise and idolatry judges 119 must reflect the people's Limited in war perspective not the author's own interpretation the author is toying with the audience here with tongue-in-cheek as it were he raises our curiosity by giving us a signal that something is wrong expecting us to object he prepares the way for the real explanation for Israel's partial success in other words the authors opened judges by narrating the moral degradation of the people of Judah giving us hints that Judah is falling in his sin which then leads to the shocking reveal that Judah could not drive out the inhabitants this Clues Us in that something is wrong then in the opening lines of chapter 2 the authors reveal the reasons why Judah was unsuccessful the people of Israel did not drive out the inhabitants as commanded the angel of the Lord references numbers 3355 and states I will not drive them out before you but they shall become thorns in your sides and their God shall be a snare to you at the end of the chapter we read so the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel and he said because this people have transgressed my Covenant that I commanded their fathers and have not obeyed my voice I will no longer drive out before them any of the Nations that Joshua elect when he died in order to test Israel by them whether they will take care to walk in the way of the Lord as their fathers did or not thus judges 119 in context does not suggest God could not handle iron chariots it is an expected result from disobedience in foreshadowing of God's announcement that he would not drive out the people from the land even though he was with Judah that doesn't necessarily mean he must bless them with victory a common misunderstanding is the idea that God being with someone means everything will go their way but this is never affirmed in the biblical texts for example Genesis 39 says the Lord was with Joseph but Joseph was still stuck in prison God being with someone doesn't mean they necessarily get everything they want in judges 2 God reaffirms he will not break his Covenant with Israel so he is still with them but because of their Disobedience he would not drive out the inhabitants before them God is with Judah but in Acts the curses for Disobedience which is explicitly affirmed later in chapter 2. so to hear that God is with someone it means they have a covenant with him and he is honoring the stipulations of it Kate Lawson younger Jr also reminds us judges one is not written in chronological order but with a geographical orientation and that it covers the actions of One Tribe before moving on to the next younger notes this type of arrangement is common in other animals from the ancient near East judges 1 and in a sense judges as a whole is a highly stylized geographically arranged account it arbitrarily begins with Judah and ends with Dan maintaining a South North orientation this while Judah is carrying out its own campaign the other tribes are enacting theirs but the authors of Judges 1 tell us the other tribes like Judah we're not driving out the inhabitants as they were commanded verse 28 even tells us they put many of the Canaanites into forced labor which also violated God's Commandments about harshly treating non-israelites thus we see widespread corruption in the land where Israel allows the Canaanites to remain we then see the climax in judges 2 1-5 where Israel did not remove the people and they fall into worshiping false gods additionally Lily and Ray Klein notes the next section is meant to parallel the opening section the first section narrates the point of view of the Israelites and the second narrates the point of view of God throughout the second section we see that while Israel was having some initial military success it is paralleled with simultaneous religious failure Not only was Israel failing to keep the Torah in the ways listed in chapter 1 they were also worshiping the gods of the Canaanites thus the second section concludes with God directly saying that despite that he was with them he would no longer drive out the Canaanites from the land thus judges 119 would only suggest God was not powerful enough to stop iron chariots if we take it out of context in context the verse indicates God was angry with the idolatry and sin of Israel and directly says because of this he will no longer Drive the Canaanites out of the land