JUDGES 1:19 CAN GOD BE DEFEATED?

 Here is another biblical criticism that must have taken some time to devise. Matthew 19:26 says that God can accomplish all things, but He is apparently defeated by some chariots in Judges 1:19.

The first thing to note is that “he” in the Judges passage refers to Judah, not God. 

Next, the Matthew reference does not guarantee that God will do all things just because He can. 

Also, even though presence of chariots is given as a reason for the failure of Judah's army, there is obviously more to it that that considering that God has no trouble whatsoever defeating an army of chariots three chapters later in Judges 4-5. One of the Jewish targums (commentaries) added the explanatory phrase “after they had sinned” to Judges 1:19. 

The fourth thing to consider is that chapter and verse divisions in our modern Bible were not in the original and didn't get added until the Middle Ages. Therefore they not only are not inspired, but are sometimes quite misleading, as in this case where not only the chapter division but also the verse division is probably in error. So another answer to this so-called contradiction is found by considering the literary structure of the first part of Judges.

Literary Structure of Judges 1:1-2:5

A. God will be with Judah (1:1-2)

    B. Judah-Simeon Alliance (1:3)

        C. Successful Military Campaigns (1:4-16)

    B'. Judah-Simeon Alliance (1:17)

A'. God was with Judah (1:18-19a)

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A. Judah was unsuccessful (after sinning) (1:19b)

    B. Other tribes are partially successful (1:20-36)

A'. Because of her sin, God will not drive out the Canaanites (2:1-5)

                                                        Adapted from Barry G. Webb, The Book of Judges

So the first part of verse 19 belongs with the events when God was with Judah while the second part belongs to the later time period after they had sinned.