CHAPTER 15. SAMSON AT THE HEIGHT OF HIS SUCCESS. This chapter goes on to relate how Samson, being denied his wife, gained his revenge by burning the corn fields, vineyards, and olives of the Philistines, as a result of which they burned his wife and his father-in-law in return, and how, because of... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And her father said, “I genuinely thought that you utterly hated her, therefore I gave her to your companion. Is not her younger sister fairer than she? Take her, I pray you, in her place.” ' The father was not antagonistic to Samson, indeed was probably a little afraid of him, and pressed on him... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And Samson said to them, “This time will I be blameless with regard to the Philistines when I do them a mischief.” ' Samson now determined on revenge. Previously he had killed ‘innocent' men, although as Philistines occupying his country they were not blameless. Yet he had clearly felt a certain... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And Samson went and caught three hundred jackals, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand between each set of two tails.' Samson then caught three hundred jackals, which move in packs and are easier to catch than foxes (the word can mean either fox or jackal), and, tying... [ Continue Reading ]
‘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 the standing corn, and also the olive orchards.' Having prepared the jackals he then had them set loose strategically in different places for the greatest effect. The... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ Then the Philistines said, “Who has done this?” And they said, “Samson, the son in law of the Timnite, because he has taken away his wife, and given her to his companion.” And the Philistines came up, and burnt her and her father with fire.' When ‘the Philistines' (probably the Philistine inhabit... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And Samson said to them, “If you behave like this surely I will be avenged on you, and after that I will stop.” The incident had all the appearance of a bitter family feud rather than a political rebellion. Samson's strategy of connecting himself with the Philistines had given him the opportuniti... [ Continue Reading ]
Judges 15:8 a ‘And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter.' It is possible that Samson actually appeared while they were doing their foul deed and that when he saw them, having cried out his words above, he attacked them mercilessly. Or it may simply be that he sought them out later. ‘... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ Then the Philistines went up, and pitched in Judah, and spread themselves in Lehi.' The Philistines came to Judah and camped in some considerable force, spreading out in the region of Lehi in Judah. Lehi means ‘jawbone'. Its site is not known.... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And the men of Judah said, “Why have you come up against us?” And they replied, “We have come up to bind Samson, to do to him as he has done to us.” ' The leading men of Judah sent messages to the Philistine camp to ask the purpose of this invasion by such a force. As far as they were aware they... [ Continue Reading ]
Judges 15:11 a ‘Then three thousand of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam.' The onus was on the men of Judah to hand Samson over, but they were aware what a great task they had. So they sent three military units down from the hill country to arrest him, and even with that many they w... [ Continue Reading ]
Judges 15:12 a ‘And they said to him, “We have come down to bind you, so that we may deliver you into the hands of the Philistines.” ' The men of Judah approached the issue with Samson tentatively. They were apprehensive in the extreme. But they had a job to do that they dared not shirk. To arrest... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And they spoke to him, saying, “No, but we will bind you fast and hand you over into their hands. But certainly we will not kill you.” And they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock.' What they were offering seemed certain death for Samson, but at least it would not be at... [ Continue Reading ]
Judges 15:14 a ‘And when he came to Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they met him.' On seeing this ferocious man, who had killed so many of them, bound and helpless, the Philistines let out a shout of triumph and gloating. Now they could exact their revenge. He was theirs for the taking. Judges 1... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And Samson said, “With the jawbone of an ass, heap upon heap. With the jawbone of an ass have I smitten a large number (an eleph).”' Samson exulted in his victory with a war song. He was an educated man and enjoyed composing verses (Judges 14:14; Judges 14:18). ‘Heap upon heap' is literally ‘one... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And so it was that, when he had finished speaking, he cast away the jawbone out of his hand, and that place was called Ramath-lehi.' Ramath-lehi means ‘Jawbone Hill', but also ‘Tossed-away-jawbone', a play on two Hebrew words. The Israelites had a vivid sense of humour. The seizing of the jawbone... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And he was extremely thirsty, and called on Yahweh and said, “You have given this great deliverance by the hand of your servant, and now shall I die of thirst and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?” These pettish words summarise Samson's life. A dedicated man, a servant of Yahweh, and yet e... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And God clave the hollow place that was in Lehi and there came water from it, and when he had drunk his spirit returned and he revived. That is why the name of the place was called En-hakkore, which is in Lehi up to this day.' En-hakkore means ‘the spring of him who called'. From a hollow place i... [ Continue Reading ]
‘ And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.' This may indicate that he was seen as a deliverer of his people rather than that he actually exercised authority, for his final imprisonment is included in it (Judges 16:31), although he may well have exercised local authority ove... [ Continue Reading ]