Judges 15:11

_AND THE MEN OF JUDAH SAID, WHY ARE YE COME UP AGAINST US? AND THEY ANSWERED, TO BIND SAMSON ARE WE COME UP, TO DO TO HIM AS HE HATH DONE TO US._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

9-17 Sin dispirits men, it hides from their eyes the things that belong to their peace. The Israelites blamed Samson for what he had done against the Philistines, as if he had done them a great injury. Thus our Lord Jesus did many good works, and for those the Jews were ready to stone him. When the Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson, his cords were loosed: where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty, and those are free indeed who are thus set free. Thus Christ triumphed over the powers of darkness that shouted against him, as if they had him in their power. Samson made great destruction among the Philistines. To take the bone of an ass for this, was to do wonders by the foolish things of the world, that the excellency of the power might be of God, not of man. This victory was not in the weapon, was not in the arm; but it was in the Spirit of God, which moved the weapon by the arm...

Verse Judges 15:11. _THREE THOUSAND MEN OF JUDAH WENT_] It appears evidently from this that Samson was strongly posted, and they thought that no less than _three thousand_ men were necessary to reduce him....

The dispirited men of Judah were prepared to give up their champion, in order to conciliate their masters. This shows how hard was the task of the Judge, whose office it was to restore his countrymen to freedom and independence....

EXPOSITION JUDGES 15:9 WENT UP, _i.e._ from their own country in the Shephelah to the hill country of Judah. As Samson had avenged his wrongs on the whole Philistine people, so they now came up to Judah to take vengeance for Samson's injuries. IN LEHI, or, rather, _hal-Lehi_,_ the Lehi_,_ _the place afterwards so called, as related in Judges 15:17 and Judges 15:20 (see Judges 7:25, note). Lehi has been identified by some with _Tell-el-Lekhiyeh_,_ _four miles above Beer-sheba; and by others with _Beit-Likiyeh_,_ in _the Wa

THEN THREE THOUSAND OF JUDAH WENT UP TO THE TOP OF THE ROCK OF ETAM,.... Or "went down" g; that is, into the cave of the rock of Etam, as the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions; and so it is taken by David de Pomis h for a cave dug in the rock: this was a large number that went to take one man; the reason is, they knew his great strength: AND SAID TO SAMSON, KNOWEST THOU NOT THAT THE PHILISTINES ARE RULERS OVER US? and therefore it must be a very unwise thing to disoblige and provoke them, when it lay in their power to oppress them yet more and more, to increase their tribute, and make their burdens heavier, and even take away their lives: WHAT IS THIS THAT THOU HAST DONE UNTO US? they ask not what he had done to them, but unto us; though they mean that, but express themselves thus, because what he had done to the Philistines was the occasion of their coming up against them, and so...

CHAPTER 15 THE CONFLICT WITH THE PHILISTINES: BOUND YET FREE _ 1. The damage done to the Philistines (Judges 15:1)_ 2. Bound by his own brethren (Judges 15:9) 3. The deed with the jawbone (Judges 15:14) 4. His prayer and the answer (Judges 15:18) He discovered next the true character of the Philistines. His wife has been given to another. Nothing came of his alliance with the Philistines but trouble and unpleasantness for himself. Was it of the Lord when he took the 300 foxes (literally, jackals; it would have been hard work to catch 300 foxes, for they go alone, but jackals go in packs) and the fire

JUDGES 15. SAMSON AGAINST THE PHILISTINES. His anger having cooled, Samson went down to appease his betrothed and complete the marriage. When he learned how things stood, he was angrier than ever, and determined to wreak his revenge upon the Philistines. The stories of the burning of their corn and the slaughter of a thousand of them with an ass's jawbone are good examples of Heb. folklore. [For parallels, especially to a Roman ceremony at the _Cerealia,_ to the story of the foxes, see ICC and CB, also Frazer, _Spirits of the Corn and of the Wild,_ i., pp. 296 f. The corn-spirit is sometimes thought to assume the shape of a fox, but this has probably no bearing on this story. A. S. P.] Judges 15:4. Instead of foxes (which do not roam in packs) read jackals. The feud between Samson and the Philistines now became deadly....

_Local traditions_ Provoked by Samson's violence, the Philistines made a raid upon Lehi in Judah for the purpose of capturing their enemy. The name of the place was suggestive, and tradition attached to it the story of S."s feat with the -fresh jawbone (_lěḥî_) of an ass." Popular etymology explained Ramath-lehi, -the height of Lehi" (from _rûm_), as the place where S. -threw away" (_râmâh_) the jawbone; a hollow basin in the hill side, which held the water of the -Partridge Spring" (- _ên haḳḳôrç_"), became the spring which God granted when S. -called" (_ḳârâ"_) for help in his exhaustion. It is noteworthy that the exploit of Shammah, one of David's heroes, also took place at Lehi, 2 Samuel 23:11 (reading _unto Lehi_for _into a troop_); cf. also the story of Shamgar, Jud

_Samson Burns the Philistines-' Corn Judges 15:3-13_ 3 And Samson said concerning them, Now shall I be more blameless than the Philistines, though I do them a displeasure. 4 And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails. 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. 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 burnt her and her father with fire. 7 And Samson said unto them, Though ye have done this, yet will I be avenged of you, and after that I will cease. 8 And he smote the