Judges 15:17

_AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHEN HE HAD MADE AN END OF SPEAKING, THAT HE CAST AWAY THE JAWBONE OUT OF HIS HAND, AND CALLED THAT PLACE RAMATHLEHI._ 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 15:17. _RAMATH-LEHI._] The _lifting up_ or _casting away of the_ _jaw-bone_. Lehi was the name of the place before, _Ramath_ was now added to it here; he _lifted up_ the jaw-bone against his enemies, and slew them....

RAMATH-LEHI - Either the “height or hill of Lehi,” or, “of the jaw-bone;” or, as in the margin, “the crestlag away of the jaw-bone,” with allusion to Samson casting it out of his hand, when he had finished his war-song....

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

AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHEN HE HAD MADE AN END OF SPEAKING,.... Of delivering out the above song, which very probably consisted of much more than what is here expressed: THAT HE CAST AWAY THE JAWBONE OUT OF HIS HAND; which he held in his hand had wrought by him through the means of it, and so served to animate him to praise and thankfulness; but having no further use for it, he threw it away: AND CALLED THE PLACE RAMATHLEHI; that is, the casting away the jawbone, so Kimchi; but Ben Gersom thinks it was an high place where it was thrown, and so signifies the elevation or lifting up of the "jawbone", as the Septuagint version renders it....

RAMATHLEHI The hill of the jawbone....

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....

BAMATH-LEHI. the uplifting of the jawbone....