Now these [are] the nations which the Lord left to prove Israel by them,.... Which are later mentioned, Judges 3:3;
[even] as many [of Israel] as had not known all the wars of Canaan; those that Joshua, and the people of Israel under him, had with the Canaanites, when they first entered the land and subdued it; being then not born, or so young as not to have knowledge of them, at least not able to bear arms at that time.