Judges 15:2

_AND HER FATHER SAID, I VERILY THOUGHT THAT THOU HADST UTTERLY HATED HER; THEREFORE I GAVE HER TO THY COMPANION: IS NOT HER YOUNGER SISTER FAIRER THAN SHE? TAKE HER, I PRAY THEE, INSTEAD OF HER._ I verily thought that thou hadst utterly hated her. This allegation was a mere sham-a flimsy pretext to excuse his refusal of admittance. The proposal he made of a marriage with her younger sister was but an insult to Samson, and one which it was unlawful for an Israelite to accept (Leviticus 18:18)....

1-8 When there are differences between relations, let those be reckoned the wisest and best, who are most forward to forgive or forget, and most willing to stoop and yield for the sake of peace. In the means which Samson employed, we must look at the power of God supplying them, and making them successful, to mortify the pride and punish the wickedness of the Philistines. The Philistines threatened Samson's wife that they would burn her and her father's house. She, to save herself and oblige her countrymen, betrayed her husband; and the very thing that she feared, and by sin sought to avoid, came upon her! She, and her father's house, were burnt with fire, and by her countrymen, whom she thought to oblige by the wrong she did to her husband. The mischief we seek to escape by any unlawful practices, we often pull down upon our own heads....

Verse Judges 15:2. _THOU HADST UTTERLY HATED HER_] As he was conscious she had given him great cause so to do. _HER YOUNGER SISTER_] The father appears to have been perfectly sincere in this offer....

I GAVE HER - In marriage. Samson had probably not heard of this before. Samson’s father had paid the dowry for the older sister; her father therefore offers her sister in her room. The fear of Samson probably also influenced him....

EXPOSTION JUDGES 15:1 WITHIN A WHILE—the same expression as that in Judges 14:8, rendered "after a time," and in Judges 11:4, rendered "in_ _process of time." IN THE TIME OF WHEAT HARVEST—about the month of May. The harvest, as appears from Judges 11:5, had begun, some corn being already cut, and in shocks; the rest still standing, and, being ready to be cut, of course extremely dry and inflammable. WITH A KID, as a present, intended no doubt to make peace (Genesis 38:17).

AND HER FATHER SAID, I VERILY THOUGHT THAT THOU HADST UTTERLY HATED HER,.... Not only thought so, but said so, and had said it over and over again; for the words are, "saying I said" t, affirmed it confidently and constantly, that "in hating thou hast hated her" u, with an implacable hatred, that there was no hope of any reconciliation: THEREFORE I GAVE HER TO THY COMPANION; this he said to excuse his daughter, and soften his resentment, that it was not his daughter's doing, but his, and that he had disposed of her not to anybody, but to a companion of Samson's; and what follows seems to be said with the same view, for he might be in some fear of Samson, knowing him to be a man of spirit and strength: IS NOT HER YOUNGER SISTER FAIRER THAN SHE? TAKE HER, I PRAY THEE, INSTEAD OF HER; that is, to wife; and two things he observes to recommend her, her youth and beauty, in which she was pre...

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....

SAMSON SLAUGHTERS THE PHILISTINES Samson, being denied his wife, burns the corn of the Philistines. He is delivered up to them by the men of Judah, but bursts his bonds, and slaughters many of the Philistines. 1, 2. Samson is denied his wife....

LIFE WITHOUT LAW JUDGES _PHILIP SMITH_ CHAPTER 15 V1 Later, at the time when people were harvesting corn, Samson went to visit his wife. He took a young goat as a present. He said, ‘I am going to visit my wife in her bedroom.’ Her father would not let him go in. V2 He spoke to Samson. ‘I really thought that you hated her. So I gave her to your best man (the friend that helped Samson at the wedding). Her younger sister is more attractive. Marry her instead.’ V3 Samson said, ‘Now I have a complete right to punish the *Philistines. I will really hurt them.’ V4 He caught 300 foxes and he tied their tails together two by two. He fixed a *torch to every pair V5 and he lit the *torches. Then he freed them in the *Philistines’ fields where their corn was. He burned up the corn that