The study deals with a key passage within the composition of the historical books of the Old Testament and proposes a new solution to the problems of Judg 1. Using detailed literary critical analyses together with the context of historical editorial considerations beyond the limits of the book itself, the author proves that the peculiar report of the occupation of land in Judg 1 never existed independently - in the sense of a "negative inventory" - but from its inception was written as a pro-Judaic programmatic text for its literary context. Thus Judg 1 cannot be used as a source for the early history of Israel.