The Book of Judges
Judges 15
Chapter XV · Vol. II, pp. 610–612
1 Samson is denied his wife. 3 He burneth the Philistines' corn with foxes and firebrands. 6 His wife and her father are burned by the Philistines. 7 Samson smiteth them hip and thigh. 9 He is bound by the men of Judah, and delivered to the Philistines. 14 He killeth a thousand of them with a jawbone. 18 God openeth a fountain in Lehi to relieve his thirst.
1 But it came to pass within a while after, in the time of wheat harvest, that Samson visited his wife with aa kid; and he said, I will bgo in to my wife into the chamber: but her father would not suffer him to go in.
2 And her father said, cI verily thought that thou hadst utterly hated her; therefore dI gave her to thy companion: is not her younger sister fairer than she? take her,1 I pray thee, instead of her.
3 And Samson said concerning them, eNow shall I be more blameless than the Philistines, though I do them a displeasure.
e Or, Now shall I be blameless from the Philistines, though, &c., ch.14.15.
4 And Samson went and caught fthree hundred foxes,2 and took fire-brands,3 and turned tail to tail, and put a fire-brand in the midst between two tails.
f Ca.2.15. Ps.63.10. La.5.18. Ne.4.3. The foxes were extremely plenty in some places of the lot of the Danites, and he might have assistants in catching them.
2 The Hebrew word signifies jackals, which are very numerous in Palestine. On one occasion I bivouacked in the mountains in the heart of Samson's country, and from the howling I calculated that there must have been hundreds of jackals around me.—P.
3 Torches.
5 And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines, and burnt up both the shocks, and also the standing corn, with the vineyards and olives.4
4 The destruction of grain, olive-trees, and vines will be easily understood by those who have seen the plain of Philistia, and know the mode of cultivation. There are no fences; the corn-fields extend for miles in one uninterrupted expanse. Grain is sown, and grows luxuriantly around the vines and beneath the branches of the olives. In a dry and sunny country like Palestine, the fire, when once kindled, would spread rapidly, and burn fiercely. Samson must have watched the success of his clever scheme of destruction from the heights of Zorah with rare delight.—P.
6 Then the Philistines said, Who hath done this? And they answered, Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he had taken his wife, and given her to his companion. And the Philistines came up and gburnt her and her father with fire.5
g ch.14.15. Pr.10.24; 22.8. Ho.8.7. 1 Th.4.6.
5 Such extemporaneous ebullitions of popular fury indicate both a rude state of society and a weak government; yet is it instructive to see how treachery (ch.14.17), in seeking to avoid threatened evil (ch.14.15), brings down upon its head the very punishment from which there can be no doubt the bravery of Samson would have defended his relatives.—C.
7 And Samson said unto them, hThough ye have done this, yet will I be avenged of you, and after that I will cease.
A.M. 2894 B.C. 1110
h ch.14.4,19. Ro.12.19.
8 And he smote them ihip and thigh5 with a great slaughter: and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam.
i De.28.35. Eze.9.5,6. Perhaps he killed them with his feet.
5 The interpretations of this phrase have been exceedingly numerous, as, 'horsemen resting on the hip—footmen on the thigh,' 'with his leg on their thigh,' 'shoulder upon thigh,' the slaughtered falling so close to each other, &c. &c. To these we venture to add another view, premising that, in Scripture, the thigh is the place of the sword, Ps.45.3, 'He smote them hip and thigh,' that is, those who fled and those who fought, smiting down the braver part, and pursuing and overtaking the cowardly.—C.
9 Then the Philistines went up, and pitched in Judah, and spread themselves in kLehi.
k The place of the jaw-bone, ver.17.
10 And the men of Judah said, Why are ye come up against us? And they answered, lTo bind Samson are we come up, to do to him as he hath done to us.
l So the Jews delivered Christ bound to Pilate, Mat.27.2.
11 Then three thousand men of Judah went6 to the top of the rock Etam, and said to Samson, Knowest7 thou not that the Philistines are rulersm over us? what is this that thou hast done unto us? And he said unto them, As they did unto me,8 so have I done unto them.
6 Heb. went down.
7 The people were at this time in a most degraded condition. Their words to Samson plainly declare that they were much more afraid of irritating their oppressors, than anxious to assert their independence.—J.
m ch.11.7; 13.1; 14.4. De.28.13,47,48.
8 They had burned his wife, to whom, weakly, though treacherous, he seems still to have been attached, ver.1.—C.
12 And they said unto him, We are come down to bind thee, that we may ndeliver thee into the hand of the Philistines. And Samson said unto them, Swear unto me, that ye will not ofall upon me yourselves.
n ch.8.6. Ac.7.25. Phi.2.21. Mat.26.46-50.
o Kill, ver.13; ch.8.21. 1 Ki.2.25,34.
13 And they spake unto him, saying, No; but we will pbind thee fast, and deliver thee into their hand: but surely we will not kill thee. And they bound him with two new cords, and brought him up from the rock.
p Mat.27.1.
14 And when he came unto Lehi, the qPhilistines shouted against him: and the rSpirit of the LORD came mightily upon him; and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed9 from off his hands.
q ch.5.30; 16.24. Ex.14.3,5.
r Zec.4.6. ch.3.10; 11.29; 14.6,19. 1 Sa.17.34. Ps.118.11. Phi.4.13.
9 Heb. melted.
15 And he found a new1 jaw-bone of an ass, and put forth his hand and took it, and sslew a thousand men therewith.
1 Heb. moist.
s ch.3.31. 1 Sa.17.49,50. 2 Sa.23.8,18. Zec.4.6. 1 Co.1.21,27.
16 And Samson said, With the jaw-bone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men.
17 And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking, that he cast away the jaw-bone out of his hand, and called that place 2Ramath-lehi.3
2 That is, the lifting up, or casting away of the jaw-bone.
3 Boothroyd interprets the word, 'the hill of the jaw-bone,' which appears preferable to the ordinary marginal reading. C.——The name of the place before the conflict was evidently Lehi, as appears from verses 9 and 14; perhaps so called from the peculiar shape of some hill or rock. After the slaughter of the Philistines, Samson, with a characteristic pun and play upon the word, makes it descriptive of his signal and singular victory. The site of Lehi is unknown.—P.
18 And he was tsore athirst, and called on the LORD, and said, uThou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of thy servant: and now xshall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?
t ch.8.5. 2 Co.4.8,9. Jn.19.28. Ps.22.14.
A.M. 2894 B.C. 1110
19 But God clave an hollow place that was in ythe jaw,4 and there came water thereout; and when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived: wherefore he called the name thereof zEn-hakkore, which is in Lehi unto this day.
y Lehi, ver.17. It is the name of the place.
4 This word should not have been translated jaw, but left as Lehi, the proper name of the place, as appears from the end of the verse. For as the well was still in being when the book was written, and known by the name of Enhakkore, it could not have originated in a hollow of the bone, but in a hollow of the earth, where it still continued to flow.—C.
z That is, the well of him that cried. As Ge.16.13; 22.14; 28.19; 35.15. Ps.34.6; 120.1.
Notes
[Ver. 4. Samson went and caught three hundred foxes. The species of fox here meant is admitted upon all hands to be the jackal, of which Volney, the enemy of all Scripture, admits from his own observation, that 'they are concealed by hundreds in the gardens, and among ruins and tombs.' There could therefore be little difficulty, by aid of a few friends and nets, in taking the three hundred which Samson employed. C.]
Ver. 5. [When he had set the brands on fire. We are neither informed what material Samson employed to fasten the foxes, nor its length, nor what species of combustible was used; objections arising from particular suppositions are therefore no more than suppositions. The question is, Was the matter practicable? And any one who considers that statement in the former note as to the multitudes of foxes, and the facilities of obtaining them—who considers the habits of the animals and the state of the country—and who would but exercise a little ingenuity—will find no difficulty in devising means for the execution of Samson's plan. It is specially to be remembered, that it is not said that Samson let them all loose from one point, or that it was all effected in one night. C.]
Reflections.—An alliance into profane and graceless families, or giving way to unreasonable jealousies, are sources of great unhappiness: but when we have done our duty to prevent a quarrel, we cannot be charged with the consequences of it. Passion is terrible to all around, but it is glorious when the offended party is the first in coveting reconciliation. God often makes use of his people's enemies to avenge their quarrel. And such as by sin seek to avoid suffering, only bring upon themselves more terrible destruction. The people of God indeed have need to expect but little repose in this world. One conflict closely succeeds to another: and those whom God raises up to be deliverers in church or state frequently receive the most base and treacherous abuse from their friends, for whose sake they spend their pains and risk their life. But if God be for us, no matter what or who may be against us, or how small our assistance be: for though humbling providences closely follow after the most exalting, that we may know that we are but flesh, frail flesh, and may be constrained to a constant dependence on God, and fervent supplication to him; yet will he supply all our wants and fill our mouths with his praise.