Judges 15:4

_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._ Went and caught three hundred foxes - rather х_ SHUW`AALIYM_ (H7776)], jackals-an animal between a wolf and a fox (Canis aureus), which, unlike our fox, a solitary creature, are gregarious, prowl in large packs or herds, and abound in the mountains of Palestine. The collection of so great a number would require both time and assistance. They were probably snared into traps, or caught in pitfalls; and as these creatures are exceedingly numerous about Gaza and the southern parts of Philistia (Hasselquist: cf. Joshua 19:3; 1 Samuel 13:17), Samson could have had no difficulty, with the aid of servant

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 15:4. _WENT AND CAUGHT THREE HUNDRED FOXES_] There has been much controversy concerning the meaning of the term שועלים _shualim_, some supposing it to mean _foxes_ or _jackals_, and others _handfuls_ or _sheaves of corn_. Much of the force of the objections against the common version will be diminished by the following considerations: - 1. Foxes, or jackals, are common and gregarious in that country. 2. It is not hinted that Samson collected them _alone_; he might have employed several hands in this work. 3. It is not said he collected them all in _one day_; he might have employed several days, as well as many persons, to furnish him with these means of vengeance. 4. In other countries, where ferocious beasts were less numerous, great multitudes have been exhibited at once....

FOXES - Rather, “jackals,” which are still very common in Palestine, especially about Joppa and Gaza. 1 Samuel 13:17 and Joshua 15:28; Joshua 19:3, are indications of the abundance of foxes or jackals giving names to places, especially in the country of the Phililstines. It belongs to Samson’s character, and agrees with the incident about the lion, that he should be an expert hunter. Ovid relates a very curious custom at Rome of letting loose foxes with lighted torches fastened to their tails in the circus at the Cerealia, in commemoration of the damage once done to the standing grain by a fox which a rustic had wrapped in hay and straw and set on fire, and which, running away, put the grain-fie

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 SAMSON WENT AND CAUGHT THREE HUNDRED FOXES,.... Nor should this be thought at all incredible, since Canaan and Palestine abounded with foxes; hence several places therein had their names of Shual, which signifies a fox, Joshua 15:28. A traveller w in those parts says that foxes swarm there, and that there are very great numbers of them in the hedges, and ruins of buildings: and these creatures were very pernicious to vines, and so may reasonably be thought to be about Timnath in great numbers, because of the vineyards there, Judges 14:5, besides, there is no necessity of supposing that Samson took all these himself, he might employ others in catching them for him, nor that he took them at the same time, on one and the same day; he might be many days and weeks about it, and keep them up until he had got his n

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....

FOXES. jackals These go in packs, foxes go alone. FIREBRANDS. torches....

_three hundred foxes_ The fox is a solitary animal, and to catch 300 would be impossible for any one but Samson. It seems a pity to lessen the marvel in the interests of prosaic probability by translating _jackals_, animals which roam in packs, though the word can mean this, Psalms 63:10; Nehemiah 4:3 RVm. etc. The grotesque trick was thoroughly relished by the story-tellers. Curious parallels to it are quoted from different quarters. Among the heathen Arabs in time of drought cattle, with lighted torches tied to their tails, were driven to the mountains in the hope of bringing down rain (Wellhausen, _Reste Arab. Heidentums_2, 167). At Rome foxes, treated in the same way, were let loose into the Circus during the Cerealia (April 12 19), the intention being to represent symbolically, and by substitute,