CHAPTER XV _Samson, going to visit his wife, finds her bestowed on another_, 1, 2. _He is incensed, vows revenge, and burns the corn of the_ _Philistines_, 3-5. _They burn Samson's wife and her father_, 6. _He is still incensed, makes a great slaughter among them_, 7, 8. _The Philistines gath... [ Continue Reading ]
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.... [ Continue Reading ]
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 wi... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 15:6. _BURNT HER AND HER FATHER_] This was probably done to _appease_ Samson: as they saw he had been unjustly treated both by his wife and her father; therefore they destroyed them both, that they might cause his wrath to cease from them. And this indeed seems intimated in the followin... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 15:8. _HE SMOTE THEM HIP AND THIGH_] This also is variously understood; but the general meaning seems plain; he appears to have had no kind of defensive weapon, therefore he was obliged to grapple with them, and, according to the custom of _wrestlers, trip_ _up their feet_, and then bru... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 15:10. _TO BIND SAMSON ARE WE COME UP_] It seems they did not wish to come to an open rupture with the Israelites, provided they would deliver up him who was the cause of their disasters.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 15:11. _THREE THOUSAND MEN OF JUDAH WENT_] It appears evidently from this that Samson was strongly posted, and they thought that no less than _three thousand_ men were necessary to reduce him.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 15:12. _THAT YE WILL NOT FALL UPON ME YOURSELVES._] He could not bear the thought of contending with and slaying his own countrymen; for there is no doubt that he could have as easily rescued himself from their hands as from those of the Philistines.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 15:13. _THEY BOUND HIM WITH TWO NEW CORDS_] Probably his _hands_ with one and his _legs_ with the other.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 15:14. _WHEN HE CAME UNTO LEHI_] This was the name of the _place_ to which they brought him, either to put him to death, or keep him in perpetual confinement. _SHOUTED AGAINST HIM_] His capture was a matter of public rejoicing.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 15:15. _HE FOUND A NEW JAW-BONE OF AN ASS_] I rather think that the word טריה _teriyah_, which we translate _new_, and the margin _moist_, should be understood as signifying the _tabia_ or _putrid_ _state_ of the ass from which this jawbone was taken. He found there a dead ass in a stat... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 15:17. _RAMATH-LEHI._] The _lifting up_ or _casting away of the_ _jaw-bone_. Lehi was the name of the place before, _Ramath_ was now added to it here; he _lifted up_ the jaw-bone against his enemies, and slew them.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 15:18. _I DIE FOR THIRST_] The natural consequence of the excessive fatigue he had gone through in this encounter.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 15:19. _GOD CLAVE A HOLLOW PLACE THAT_ WAS _IN THE JAW_] אשר בלחי _asher ballechi, that was in Lehi_; that is, there was a _hollow_ place in this Lehi, and God caused a fountain to spring up in it. Because the place was _hollow_ it was capable of containing the water that rose up in it,... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Judges 15:20. _HE JUDGED ISRAEL-TWENTY YEARS._] In the margin it is said, _He seems to have judged southwest Israel during twenty years_ _of their servitude of the Philistines_, Judges 13:1. Instead of עשרים שנה _esrim shanah, twenty years_, the Jerusalem Talmud has ארבעים שנה _arbaim shanah,... [ Continue Reading ]