1. Judges 1:13 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

What function does the marriage of Othniel and Achsah serve in the narrative?

Judges 1:13 (ESV)

13 And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, captured it. And he gave him Achsah his daughter for a wife.

This marriage “served as a model of the covenantal purity that should be maintained in all Israelite families in accordance with Moses’ and Joshua’s instructions (Exodus 34:16; Deuteronomy 7:3–4; Joshua 23:12; contrast the situation described in Judges 3:6…). It also serves as a contrastive foil for the marriages by abduction described in the book’s final chapter."1