Bible Commentaries

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Judges 15

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Introduction

1  Samson is denied his wife.
3  He burns the Philistines' corn with foxes and firebrands.
6  His wife and her father are burnt by the Philistines.
7  Samson smites them hip and thigh.
9  He is bound by the men of Judah, and delivered to the Philistines.
14  He kills them with a jawbone.
18  God makes the fountain En-hakkore for him in Lehi.
Verse 1

But it came to pass within a while after, in the time of wheat harvest, that Samson visited his wife with a kid; and he said, I will go in to my wife into the chamber. But her father would not suffer him to go in.
a kid
Genesis 38:17, Luke 15:29
I will go
Genesis 6:4, 29:21
Verse 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
14:16,20, Acts 26:9
I gave
14:20, Genesis 38:14
take her
Heb. let her be thine.
Verse 3

And Samson said concerning them, Now shall I be more blameless than the Philistines, though I do them a displeasure.
Now shall, etc
or, Now shall I be blameless from the Philistines, though, etc.
14:15
Verse 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.
caught three
Dr. Kennicott and others contend, that for shüâlim, "foxes," we should read shöâlim, "handfuls," or sheaves of corn. But, 1. The word lachad, rendered caught, never signifies simply to get or take but always to catch, seize, or take by assault or stratagem. 2. Though the proposed alteration is sanctioned by seven MSS., yet all the versions are on the other side. 3. Admitting this alteration, it will be difficult to prove that the word shöâl means either a sheaf or a handful of corn in the ear, and straw. It occurs but thrice in Scriptures (1 Ki 20:10. Isa 40:12. Eze 13:9): where it evidently means as much as can be contained in the hollow of the hand; but when handfuls of grain in the shock, or sheaves are intended, very different words are used. See Ru 2.15, 16, etc. 4. It is not hinted that Samson collected them alone, or in one day; he might have employed many hands and several days in the work. 5. The word shüâl properly denotes the jackal, which travellers describe as an animal in size between the wolf and fox, gregarious, as many as 200 having been seen together, and the most numerous of any in eastern countries; so that Samson might have caught many of them together in nets.
Psalms 63:10, Song of Solomon 2:15, Lamentations 5:18
firebrands
or, torches.
Verse 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.
he let them go
Exodus 22:6, 2 Samuel 14:30
Verse 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.
and burnt
12:1, 14:15, Proverbs 22:8, 1 Thessalonians 4:6
Verse 7

And Samson said unto them, Though ye have done this, yet will I be avenged of you, and after that I will cease.
Though
14:4,19, Romans 12:19
Verse 8

And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam.
Isaiah 25:10, 63:3,6
Verse 9

Then the Philistines went up, and pitched in Judah, and spread themselves in Lehi.
Lehi
17,19
Verse 11

Then three thousand men of Judah went to the top of the rock Etam, and said to Samson, Knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us? what is this that thou hast done unto us? And he said unto them, As they did unto me, so have I done unto them.
went
Heb. went down. the rock Etam. Probably near the town Etam, mentioned in 1 Ch 4:32.
Philistines
13:1, 14:4, Deuteronomy 28:13,47,48, Psalms 106:41
Verse 12

And they said unto him, We are come down to bind thee, that we may deliver thee into the hand of the Philistines. And Samson said unto them, Swear unto me, that ye will not fall upon me yourselves.
to bind thee
Matthew 27:2, Acts 7:25
fall
8:21, 1 Kings 2:25,34
Verse 14

And when he came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him: and the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands.
the Philistines
5:30, 16:24, Exodus 14:3,5, 1 Samuel 4:5, Job 20:5, Micah 7:8
the Spirit
3:10, 14:6,19, Zechariah 4:6
the cords
16:9,12, 1 Samuel 17:35, Psalms 18:34, 118:11, Philippians 4:3
loosed
Heb. were melted.
Verse 15

And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith.
new jaw-bone
Heb. moist. slew.
3:31, 4:21, 7:16, Leviticus 26:8, Joshua 23:10, 1 Samuel 14:6,14, 17:49,50, 1 Corinthians 1:27,28
a thousand
Some would render the words aileph ish, "a chief;" but it is alluph, and not aileph, which signifies a chief; besides which, the Hebrew idiom would, even in that case, require it to be ish alluph, "a man, a chief," and not alluph ish, "a chief, a man." Add to which, that every version renders it "a thousand men."
Verse 16

And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men.
with the jaw-bone
There is here a fine paronomasia upon the word chamor, "an ass," which also signifies "a heap;" bilchee hachamor, chamor chamorathayim, "With the jaw-bone of an ass, a heap upon two heaps."
heaps upon heaps
Heb. an heap, two heaps.
Verse 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.
Ramath-lehi
that is, the lifting up of the jaw-bone, or, the casting away of the jaw-bone.
Verse 18

And he was sore athirst, and called on the LORD, and said, Thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of thy servant: and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?
he was sore
8:4, Psalms 22:14,15, John 19:28, 2 Corinthians 4:8,9
Thou hast given
Psalms 3:7,8, 18:31-40
shall
Genesis 32:31, 2 Corinthians 12:7,8
and fall
Genesis 12:12,13, 20:11, 1 Samuel 27:1, 2 Corinthians 1:8,9, Hebrews 11:32
the uncircumcised
1 Samuel 17:26,36, 2 Samuel 1:20
Verse 19

But God clave an hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water thereout; and when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived: wherefore he called the name thereof Enhakkore, which is in Lehi unto this day.
the jaw
or, Lehi. This reading is certainly preferable: it was in the place called Lehi where a spring was supernaturally opened.
there came
Isaiah 44:3
his spirit
Genesis 45:27, 1 Samuel 30:12, Isaiah 40:26
En-hakkore
Samson gave this expressive name to the miraculously springing water, to be as a memorial of the goodness of God to him. En-hakkore, the well of him that cried, which kept him in remembrance both of his own distress which caused him to cry, and the favour of Jehovah to him in answer to his cry. Many a spring of comfort God opens to his people, which may fitly be called by the name En-hakkore: and this instance of Samson's relief should encourage us to trust in God, for when he pleases he can open rivers in high places.
Isaiah 41:17,18; Samson at first gave the name of Ramath-lehi (the lifting up of the jaw-bone) which denoted him great and triumphant: but now he gives it another name, En-hakkore, which denotes him wanting and dependent.; Genesis 16:13,, 28:19, 30:30, Exodus 17:15, Psalms 34:6, 120:1
Verse 20

And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.
13:1,5, 16:31; "He seems to have judged South-west Israel during twenty years of their servitude of the Philistines."

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