Judges 15:3-13

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 them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam.
9 Then the Philistines went up, and pitched in Judah, and spread themselves in Lehi.
10 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.
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.
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.
13 And they spake unto him, saying, No; but we will bind thee fast, and deliver thee into their hand: but surely we will not kill thee. And they bound him with two new cords, and brought him up from the rock.

3.

What did Samson mean by a displeasure? Judges 15:3

Samson had in mind the bringing of injury or calamity upon the Philistines. The word is sometimes translated as an evil. He certainly had in mind the afflicting of many casualties in Philistia. He regarded the treatment which he had received from his father-in-law as but one more instance of the attitude of the Philistines towards the Israelites. He was determined to avenge the wrong which he had received from one member of the Philistines upon the entire nation, or at least upon the whole city of Timnath.

4.

Were foxes plentiful in Philistia? Judges 15:4

The word translated foxes in the Hebrew is shualim. On some occasions it might be translated as jackals. These are animals which resemble foxes and are frequently classed with the foxes even among the Arabs of the present day. The animals are still found in great quantities around Joppa, Gaza, and in Galilee. They run together and may be rather easily caught.

5.

What kind of grain was destroyed? Judges 15:5

The authorized version has the word corn, but the reference is to shocks of wheat which were mentioned in verse five. Some of the grain was still standing in the field; some of it had been cut and gathered into bundles. Bundles had been placed in shocks, and the people were eagerly anticipating the storing of the grain from the harvest. Samson's act of vengeance brought great hardship upon them. The fires raged so heavily that destruction was even brought to the vineyards and the olive groves.

6.

Did the Philistines kill Samson's wife? Judges 15:6

The Philistines found out what had happened. They knew Samson had done them this displeasure on account of the treatment which he had received at the hands of his father-in-law, the Timnite. As a result, the Philistine people vented their wrath upon the Timnite and Samson's former wife. It is not clear whether they actually burned them, but it is suggested by Keil and Delitzsch that they burned his house to the ground with the occupants inside it.

7.

What is the meaning of the expression, hip and thigh? Judges 15:8

Such an expression is proverbial for a cruel, merciless slaughter. The German people are known for cutting arm and leg in two. Commentaries make reference to the Arabic war in thigh fashion. Samson's great strength enabled him to run in hot pursuit of his adversaries. When he caught them, he would be able to stand his ground in hand-to-hand combat. Today, athletes are greatly concerned about their legs. When strength goes from their legs, they are no longer able to perform as in former days. It is easy to see how Samson was described as having smitten the Philistines hip and thigh.

8.

Where was Etam? Judges 15:11

Two places by the name of Etam are mentioned in the Scripture. One, mentioned in 2 Chronicles 11:6, lies between Bethlehem and Tekoa. This spot was fortified by King Rehoboam and stood south of Jerusalem in the hill country of Judah. The other is mentioned in 1 Chronicles 4:32, along with Ain, Rimmon, and other Simeonite towns. Since Samson went down to Etam, the latter place fits very well. He would have had to go up if he were to go to the aforementioned Etam.

9.

Where was Lehi? Judges 15:9

The Philistines advanced with their armies to avenge themselves for the defeat they had sustained at the hands of Samson. They came into the territory belonging to the tribe of Judah and spread themselves out in Lehi. This spot is probably mentioned again in 2 Samuel 23:11. It cannot be traced with any certainty, but the consensus of opinion among Biblical geographers is for placing it in the southwestern approach to the mountains of Judah near Beersheba.

10.

Why were the men of Judah alarmed? Judges 15:10

By fleeing to a place in the south part of the Promised Land, Samson had led the Philistines to come up into the territory belonging to the tribe of Judah. The presence of the armies of the oppressors would cause great concern to the men of Judah. They evidently did not recognize Samson as a deliverer whom the Lord had raised up for them. They did not crowd around him in order to smite the oppressors with his help and drive them out of the land. They had been so degraded by the Philistine oppression that they cast reproach upon Samson.

11.

Why did the men of Judah rebuke Samson? Judges 15:11

The men of Judah rebuked Samson for coming into their territory to hide from the Philistines. Furthermore, they chided him for having smitten the Philistines in the first place. They asked him if he did not know that the Philistines ruled over the Israelites. If he were aware of this, the men of Judah felt it was foolish to offend their oppressors. As a result, they had come in great numbers to deliver Samson to the Philistines.

12.

Why did Samson allow the men of Judah to bind him? Judges 15:12

Samson did not want to fight with members of one of the tribes of Israel. Consequently, Samson asked the men of Judah only to deliver him to the Philistines without their harming him themselves. He had no fear of the enemies of the people of the Lord, but he was concerned lest his own people turn against him. Such a circumstance as revealed here indicates Israel was one people, even though all did not rally to support Samson.