_A.M. 2864. B.C. 1140._ From the treachery of his wife and her father, Samson takes occasion to burn their corn, Judges 15:1. He smites the Philistines with a great slaughter, Judges 15:6. He slays a thousand of them with the jaw-bone of an ass, Judges 15:9. He is distressed, and supplied with wate... [ Continue Reading ]
_In the time of the wheat harvest_ Which was the proper season for what follows. _With a kid_ As a token of reconciliation. _Into the chamber_ Into her chamber, which the women had separate from the men's.... [ Continue Reading ]
_That thou hadst utterly hated her_ Because thou didst desert her: but this was no sufficient cause; for he should have endeavoured to effect a reconciliation, and not have disposed of another man's wife without his consent. _Is not her younger sister fairer than she?_ The marrying of a sister while... [ Continue Reading ]
_Now shall I be more blameless than the Philistines_ Or rather, _blameless from the Philistines_, because they have first provoked me by an irreparable injury. It seems probable from this, that the people of the place, in general, had approved of, and perhaps advised, the giving of Samson's wife to... [ Continue Reading ]
_Samson went and caught three hundred foxes_ Foxes were extremely numerous in Canaan, and several places received their name from them, as _Hazar-shual_, or, the gate of the fox, in the tribe of Judah; and _Shaalbim_, or Shaalabbim, in the tribe of Dan, Joshua 19:42; Judges 1:35. They are accordingl... [ Continue Reading ]
_He let them go_, &c. Successively at several times, and in divers places, so that they might not hinder one another, nor all run into the same field; but, being dispersed in all parts, might spread the plague further. But it will be asked, Why did he not employ some of the Israelites to set their c... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Philistines came up and burned her_ For the mischief which she had occasioned them; thus she brought upon herself that mischief which she studied to avoid. The Philistines had threatened to _burn her and her father's house with fire._ To avoid this, she betrayed her husband. And now the very th... [ Continue Reading ]
_He smote them hip and thigh_ This seems to be merely a proverbial expression to denote a desperate attack and total overthrow. _And he went down_, or, rather, _went and dwelt_ For it is an idiom of the Hebrew language, to speak of _going up_, or _going down_, to a place without having any reference... [ Continue Reading ]
_What hast thou done unto us?_ Thou hast by these actions punished, not them only, but us, who are sure to smart for it. _We are come down to bind thee_ Why not rather to fight under thy banner? Because sin dispirits men, nay, infatuates them, and hides from their eyes the things that belong to thei... [ Continue Reading ]
_And they bound him_ Thus was he a type of Christ, who yielded himself to be bound, yea, and led _as a lamb to the slaughter._ Never were men so infatuated as these men _of Judah_, except those who thus treated our blessed Saviour. _Up from the rock_ That is, from the cave in the rock, in which he h... [ Continue Reading ]
_The Philistines shouted against him_ Because they had now, as they supposed, their enemy in their hands. _The cords became as flax,_ &c. As easily broken by him. _His bands loosed from off his hands_ Hebrew, _were melted;_ that is, were dissolved as things which are melted in the fire. “This,” says... [ Continue Reading ]
_He found a new jaw-bone of an ass_ New, and therefore more tough and strong; _and slew a thousand men therewith_ Some, to account partly for this wonderful achievement, have observed that these Philistines were, probably, unarmed, and that they were struck with a great panic, thinking that the thre... [ Continue Reading ]
_Heaps upon heaps_, &c. Hebrew, _a heap, two heaps._ As much as to say, I have not only slain enow to make one heap, but two or more. _I have slain a thousand men_ What could be too hard for him to do, on whom _the Spirit of the Lord came mightily?_ This seems like a short hymn or song of triumph, w... [ Continue Reading ]
_He called that place Ramath-lehi_ That is, _The lifting up_, or, _casting away of the jaw-bone._ He gave it this name in order to perpetuate the memory of this action. _And he was sore athirst_ A natural effect of the great labour he had used. And perhaps there was the hand of God therein, to chast... [ Continue Reading ]
_God clave a hollow place in the jaw_ Or rather, _a cavity that was in Lehi_, as he had just named the place, Judges 15:17, and as the same word is rendered in the latter part of this verse. “It is very evident,” says Dr. Dodd, “from what follows, that our translation” (namely, in the former part of... [ Continue Reading ]
_He judged Israel_ That is, he pleaded their cause, and avenged them against the Philistines. _In the days of the Philistines_ That is, while the Philistines had the power and dominion, from which he was not able fully to deliver, but only to _begin to deliver_ them. From this place it is manifest t... [ Continue Reading ]