NET Bible
"He left those nations simply because he wanted to teach the subsequent generations of Israelites, who had not experienced the earlier battles, how to conduct holy war."
— Judges 3:2, NET Bible
“Only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing thereof;”
“only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least such as beforetime knew nothing thereof: ”
“only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing of it:”
“That afterwards their children might learn to fight with their enemies, and to be trained up to war:”
“Only because of the generations of the children of Israel, for the purpose of teaching them war--only those who up till then had no experience of it;”
“Only that the generations of the children of Israel might know, to teach them war, at the least such as before knew nothing thereof;”
These were the nations the LORD permitted to remain so he could use them to test Israel– he wanted to test all those who had not experienced battle against the Canaanites.
He left those nations simply because he wanted to teach the subsequent generations of Israelites, who had not experienced the earlier battles, how to conduct holy war.
These were the nations: the five lords of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living in Mount Lebanon, from Mount Baal Hermon to Lebo Hamath.
They were left to test Israel, so the LORD would know if his people would obey the commands he gave their ancestors through Moses.
The Israelites lived among the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.