INTRODUCTION TO JUDGES 14
This chapter treats of Samson's courtship, and marriage of a
Philistine woman, Judges 14:1 of his meeting with a young lion as he
went courting, and of his slaying it, and afterwards finding honey in
it, Judges 14:6, of a riddle which be framed out of this incident, and
pu... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SAMSON WENT DOWN TO TIMNATH,.... A city which by lot fell to the
tribe of Judah, but was afterwards given to the tribe of Dan, and now
in the hands of the Philistines,
Joshua 15:57. Judah is said to go up to it, because the place where he
lived lay below it, Genesis 38:13, but Samson is said to... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE CAME UP, AND TOLD HIS FATHER AND HIS MOTHER,.... Of his passion
of love, being desirous of having their approbation and consent, in
which he acted a dutiful part, and what became him; and may be an
example to children to advise with their parents, and have their
opinion and consent before the... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN HIS FATHER AND HIS MOTHER SAID UNTO HIM,.... What he might
expect, and doubtless did expect:
IS THERE NEVER A WOMAN AMONG THE DAUGHTERS OF THY BRETHREN, OR AMONG
ALL MY PEOPLE, THAT THOU GOEST TO TAKE A WIFE OF THE UNCIRCUMCISED
PHILISTINES? none in their own family, nor in the tribe of Dan, n... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HIS FATHER AND MOTHER KNEW NOT THAT IT WAS OF THE LORD,.... That
he should marry this uncircumcised Philistine; Samson knew it was, and
that his desire of having her in marriage did not arise from carnal
affection to her merely, being captivated with her beauty and external
form, for she was not... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN WENT SAMSON DOWN, AND HIS FATHER AND HIS MOTHER, TO TIMNATH,....
They were prevailed upon to go with him, either because they perceived
his affections were so strongly set upon a wife, that they thought it
advisable to agree to it, lest it should be of bad consequence to him,
or because he let... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD CAME MIGHTILY UPON HIM,.... The Spirit of
might from the Lord, as the Targum, inspiring him with courage and
intrepidity of mind, and increasing his bodily strength:
AND HE RENT HIM AS HE WOULD REND A KID; as he came up to him to seize
him, he laid hold on him and strangl... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE WENT DOWN, AND TALKED WITH THE WOMAN,.... Entered into a
conversation with her, that he might the better judge of her other
qualifications, besides that of outward form and beauty, whether she
would be a suitable yoke fellow for him; and he talked with her about
marriage, and proposed it to h... [ Continue Reading ]
AND AFTER A TIME HE RETURNED TO TAKE HER,.... Matters being agreed on,
and settled on both sides, and the espousals made, he and his parents
returned, and, at the proper usual time for the consummation of the
marriage, he went again to Timnath for that purpose. It is in the
Hebrew text, "after days... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE TOOK THEREOF IN HIS HANDS, AND WENT ON EATING,.... Josephus k
says he took three honeycombs, he means three pieces of the honeycomb,
and ate the honey as he went along to Timnath; which he might do
without touching the carcass of the lion, and defiling himself
thereby, which, as a Nazarite, h... [ Continue Reading ]
SO HIS FATHER WENT DOWN UNTO THE WOMAN,.... At Timnath, whom Samson
had espoused; the Targum is,
"about the business of the woman;''
about the consummation of the marriage with her; they all three went,
the father, the mother, and the son, as appears from the preceding
verse:
FOR SAMSON MADE A FE... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT CAME TO PASS; WHEN THEY SAW HIM,.... That is, the Philistines,
the citizens of Timnath, when they saw that he was come to consummate
his marriage:
THAT THEY BROUGHT THIRTY COMPANIONS TO BE WITH HIM; to be the
bridegroom's men, or children of the bridechamber, as they are called,
Matthew 9:15... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SAMSON SAID UNTO THEM,.... His thirty companions, very likely on
the first day of the feast:
I WILL NOW PUT FORTH A RIDDLE TO YOU: a secret, hidden, abstruse
thing, not easy to be understood; a dark saying, wrapped up in
figurative terms; and this he proposed as an amusement to them, to
exercis... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT IF YE CANNOT DECLARE IT UNTO ME,.... Explain the riddle in the
space of time allowed:
THEN SHALL YE GIVE ME THIRTY SHEETS, AND THIRTY CHANGE OF GARMENTS; so
many shirts and suits of apparel:
AND THEY SAID UNTO HIM, PUT FORTH THY RIDDLE THAT WE MAY HEAR IT; not
thereby to judge whether they wou... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SAID UNTO THEM, OUT OF THE EATER CAME FORTH MEAT,.... Out of a
devouring eater, such as the lion is, came forth honey, or that was
taken out of it, which Samson, and his father and mother, ate of, and
which was the common food of some persons, as of John the Baptist:
AND OUT OF THE STRONG CA... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT CAME TO PASS ON THE SEVENTH DAY,.... Not on the seventh day of
the feast, for some time before that they applied to his wife, and she
pressed him hard to disclose it; but on the sabbath day, as Kimchi,
and so Jarchi says, on the seventh day of the week, not on the seventh
day of the feast, fo... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SAMSON'S WIFE WEPT BEFORE HIM,.... When she came to him to get out
of him the explanation of the riddle, thinking that her tears would
move him to it:
AND SAID, THOU DOST BUT HATE ME, AND LOVEST ME NOT: another artifice
she used, well knowing he could not bear to have his affection called
in qu... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SHE WEPT BEFORE HIM THE SEVEN DAYS, WHILE THE FEAST LASTED,....
Those that remained of the seven days, from the fourth to this time,
as Kimchi seems rightly to interpret it; though some think she began
to beseech him with tears, on the first day of the feast, to impart
the secret to her for her... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE MEN OF THE CITY SAID UNTO HIM, ON THE SEVENTH DAY, BEFORE THE
SUN WENT DOWN,.... And so soon, enough to free them from the
obligation they otherwise would have been under, to have given him the
sheets and changes of raiment agreed unto:
WHAT IS SWEETER THAN HONEY? nothing, at least that was... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD CAME UPON HIM,.... The Spirit of might from
the Lord, as the Targum; which filled him with zeal and courage,
animating him to the following undertaking, and increased his bodily
strength to perform it:
AND HE WENT DOWN TO ASHKELON; one of the five principal cities of the... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT SAMSON'S WIFE WAS GIVEN TO HIS COMPANION,.... By her father, and
with her consent, both being affronted and provoked by Samson leaving
her, who judged her not only to be injured, but hereby discharged from
him, and free to marry another:
AND WHOM HE HAD USED AS HIS FRIEND; though there were thi... [ Continue Reading ]