Judges 14:19

_AND THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD CAME UPON HIM, AND HE WENT DOWN TO ASHKELON, AND SLEW THIRTY MEN OF THEM,_ _ AND TOOK THEIR SPOIL, AND GAVE CHANGE OF GARMENTS UNTO THEM WHICH EXPOUNDED THE RIDDLE. AND HIS ANGER WAS KINDLED, AND HE WENT UP TO HIS FATHER'S HOUSE._ Went down to Ashkelon, and slew thirty men. This town was about 24 miles west by southwest from Timnath; and his selection of this place, which was dictated by the Divine Spirit, was probably owing to its bitter hostility to Israel. TOOK THEIR SPOIL. The custom of stripping a slain enemy was not unknown in Hebrew warfare....

10-20 Samson's riddle literally meant no more than that he had got honey, for food and for pleasure, from the lion, which in its strength and fury was ready to devour him. But the victory of Christ over Satan, by means of his humiliation, agonies, and death, and the exaltation that followed to him, with the glory thence to the Father, and spiritual advantages to his people, seem directly alluded to. And even death, that devouring monster, being robbed of his sting, and stripped of his horror, forwards the soul to the realms of bliss. In these and other senses, out of the eater comes forth meat, and out of the strong, sweetness. Samson's companions obliged his wife to get the explanation from him. A worldly wife, or a worldly friend, is to a godly man as an enemy in the camp, who will watch every opportunity to betray him. No union can be comfortable or lasting, where secrets cannot be i...

Verse Judges 14:19. _THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD CAME UPON HIM_] "The spirit of fortitude from before the Lord."-_Targum_. He was inspired with unusual courage, and he felt strength proportioned to his wishes. _HE - SLEW THIRTY MEN - AND TOOK THEIR SPOILS_] He took their _hayks_, their _kumjas_, and _caftans_, and gave them to the thirty persons who, by unfair means, had solved his riddle; thus they had what our version calls _thirty sheets, and thirty changes of raiment_. Judges 1:14, :12....

EXPOSITION JUDGES 14:10 SO HIS FATHER WENT DOWN. It is not clear what is meant by this mention of his father alone; but it was probably some part of the wedding etiquette that the father should go to the bride first alone; perhaps, as Kimehi says, to give her notice of the bridegroom's approach, that she might get ready. Among the preparations may have been the selection of the thirty young men to be "the children of the bride-chamber'' (Matthew 9:15). As these were all Philistines, the inference is that they were selected by the bride, just as with us the bride has the privilege of choosing the minister who is to officiate at the marriage. Judges 14:11

AND THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD CAME UPON HIM,.... The Spirit of might from the Lord, as the Targum; which filled him with zeal and courage, animating him to the following undertaking, and increased his bodily strength to perform it: AND HE WENT DOWN TO ASHKELON; one of the five principal cities of the Philistines; it lay near the Mediterranean sea, and, according to Bunting r, was twenty four miles from Timnath; why he went so far, is not easy to say; some think there was some grand solemnity or festival observed there at this time, which he knew of, when persons put on their best suits of apparel, and such he wanted: and slew thirty men of them; in vindication of which, it may be observed, that Samson was now raised up of God to be judge of Israel; and that he acted now as such, and under the direction and impulse of the Spirit of God, and the persons he slew were the common enemies of Isr...

CHAPTER 14 THE FIRST DEEDS OF SAMSON _ 1. The woman in Timnath (Judges 14:1)_ 2. The killing of the young lion and the honey in the carcass (Judges 14:5) 3. The marriage feast and the riddle (Judges 14:10) 4. The riddle answered (Judges 14:15) 5. Thirty Philistines slain by Samson (Judges 14:19) Samson was called of God to be a true Nazarite, but in his life which was to manifest the Nazarite character he failed. “He went down to Timnath” is a foreboding beginning. It was a step in the wrong direction. He st

SAMSON'S MARRIAGE. As he could not take an unwelcomed bride to his father's house, Samson resolved to contract a marriage in which his wife would remain at her father's house (Judges 9:2 *). Judges 14:5 conveys the idea that his parents after all gave their consent, and even went down with him to the wedding. This in itself is improbable, and there is no indication of their presence at Timnath or of their returning home. Moore plausibly suggests that a later writer, taking offence at the story of an improper marriage, inserted and his father and his mother in order to regularise it. The same applies to Judges 14:10. Judges 14:6. _Cf._ D

MEN. Hebrew. _'ish._ App-14....

The sudden access of superhuman power seems to coincide with the outburst of natural passion, as in Judges 14:6; Judges 15:14. _Ashkelon_ Perhaps Khirbet -Asḳalûn, about 4 m. S. of Tibneh (Timnah), rather than the well-known Ashkelon on the sea-coast, 24 m. or 8 hours distant. The anger ought to precede rather than follow the exploit; but the writer probably did not trouble about logical sequence in his narrative of marvels. There is no need to regard the feat at Ashkelon as a later addition (Moore, Budde, Nowack) because it leads to nothing in the sequel. _their spoil_ lit. things _stripped off_a dead enemy, _exuviae_; only again 2 Samuel 2:21. _he went up_ without consummating the marriage

AND SLEW THIRTY MEN OF THEM— This action is prefaced by a declaration, that the _Spirit of the Lord came upon him,_ moving him to so extraordinary a deed, which no one has a right to imitate; for, 1st. The Philistines were considered as in a state of war with the Israelites; they were their tyrants and oppressors. 2nd. Samson was actually general of the Israelites, appointed by heaven to punish the Philistines. 3rdly. He was in this case no other than an instrument in the hand of God to punish offenders....