INTRODUCTION TO JUDGES 15 This chapter relates, that Samson being denied his wife, did by a strange stratagem burn the corn fields, vineyards, and olives of the Philistines, Judges 15:1, and that because of their burning her and her father, he made a great slaughter of them, Judges 15:6, which brou... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT IT CAME TO PASS WITHIN A WHILE AFTER,.... Or "after days", a year after, the same phrase as in Judges 14:8 in the time of wheat harvest; which began at Pentecost, as barley harvest did at the passover; this circumstance is mentioned for the sake of the following piece of history: THAT SAMSON VI... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HER FATHER SAID, I VERILY THOUGHT THAT THOU HADST UTTERLY HATED HER,.... Not only thought so, but said so, and had said it over and over again; for the words are, "saying I said" t, affirmed it confidently and constantly, that "in hating thou hast hated her" u, with an implacable hatred, that th... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SAMSON SAID CONCERNING THEM,.... His wife's father, and other relations, and the citizens of Timnath; this, which is what follows, he said either within himself respecting them, or he said it to them openly and publicly before them all: NOW SHALL I BE MORE BLAMELESS THAN THE PHILISTINES, THOUGH... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SAMSON WENT AND CAUGHT THREE HUNDRED FOXES,.... Nor should this be thought at all incredible, since Canaan and Palestine abounded with foxes; hence several places therein had their names of Shual, which signifies a fox, Joshua 15:28. A traveller w in those parts says that foxes swarm there, and... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN HE HAD SET THE BRANDS ON FIRE,.... Disposed as before related; and foxes being naturally fearful of, and frightened with fire, and especially so near them as at their tails, would run into the first place they could for shelter: HE LET THEM GO INTO THE STANDING CORN OF THE PHILISTINES; whi... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN THE PHILISTINES SAID, WHO HATH DONE THIS?.... They asked and inquired one of another, who they thought could be the author of such mischief: AND THEY ANSWERED, SAMSON, THE SON IN LAW OF THE TIMNITE; this they said either by conjecture, which might be the case of some; and others more confident... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SAMSON SAID UNTO THEM,.... After they had burnt his wife and her father in their dwelling house, by which they thought to appease him, being afraid of him: THOUGH YE HAVE DONE THIS, YET WILL I BE AVENGED OF YOU; not for burning his wife and father-in-law; his sense is, that though they had done... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SMOTE THEM HIP AND THIGH WITH A GREAT SLAUGHTER,.... Either smote them on their hips and thighs with his hands (for it does not appear he had any weapon of war), so that they were sadly bruised, and maimed, and lamed, that they could not stir, and of which blows and bruises multitudes died: o... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN THE PHILISTINES WENT UP,.... From Palestine, which lay low on the shore of the Mediterranean sea: AND PITCHED IN JUDAH; in the laud of Judea, which lay higher, particularly in the tribe of Judah, whither they came with an army, and encamped there: AND SPREAD THEMSELVES IN LEHI; their forces w... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE MEN OF JUDAH SAID,.... To the Philistines, very probably by a deputation, which they sent unto them, to know the reason of this formidable appearance: WHY ARE YE COME UP AGAINST US? in this hostile manner, with such a number of forces, since they were not conscious to themselves that they h... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN THREE THOUSAND OF JUDAH WENT UP TO THE TOP OF THE ROCK OF ETAM,.... Or "went down" g; that is, into the cave of the rock of Etam, as the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions; and so it is taken by David de Pomis h for a cave dug in the rock: this was a large number that went to take one man; t... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY SAID UNTO HIM, WE ARE COME DOWN TO BIND THEE,.... That is, they were come down into the cave where he was; otherwise more properly they were come up to the top of the rock: THAT WE MAY DELIVER THEE INTO THE HANDS OF THE PHILISTINES; they own what was their intention in binding him, and wha... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THEY SPAKE UNTO HIM, SAYING, NO,.... They declared they would not fall upon him themselves and slay him; nor would the Jews put Christ to death themselves, though they were virtually his betrayers and murderers, John 18:31 BUT WE WILL BIND THEE FAST AND DELIVER THEE INTO THEIR HANDS; as the Jew... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN HE CAME UNTO LEHI,.... The place which was afterwards so called, from what happened there at this time, and where the Philistines were spread, Judges 15:9 this, according to Bunting k, was six miles from Etam: THE PHILISTINES SHOUTED AGAINST HIM: for joy that they had got him into their ha... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE FOUND A NEW JAWBONE OF AN ASS,.... That is, the jawbone of an ass lately killed, which perhaps had some of the flesh upon it, the blood or purulent matter on it; for Jarchi says, he had read in the books of physicians, that the word here used signifies the sanies or purulent matter of a wound... [ Continue Reading ]
AND SAMSON SAID,.... In a kind of triumphant song: WITH THE JAWBONE OF AN ASS, HEAPS UPON HEAPS; that is, with such an instrument he had slain heaps of men, who lay dead in heaps upon one another; in the words for an "ass", and for an "heap", is an elegant "paronomosia", not easy to be expressed in... [ Continue Reading ]
AND IT CAME TO PASS, WHEN HE HAD MADE AN END OF SPEAKING,.... Of delivering out the above song, which very probably consisted of much more than what is here expressed: THAT HE CAST AWAY THE JAWBONE OUT OF HIS HAND; which he held in his hand had wrought by him through the means of it, and so served... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE WAS SORE ATHIRST,.... Which Josephus n thinks came upon him as a rebuke unto him, for ascribing the victory he had obtained to his own strength, and not to the Lord, whereby he was shown his own weakness, and how easily his strength could be reduced; but for this there seems to be no foundati... [ Continue Reading ]
AND GOD CLAVE AN HOLLOW PLACE THAT WAS IN THE JAW, AND THERE CAME WATER THEREOUT,.... A socket in which was fastened one of the teeth, and was in the form of a mortar; so Jarchi and Ben Melech, as the word for an hollow place signifies; one of the grinders was knocked out, and so the place where it... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE JUDGED ISRAEL IN THE DAYS OF THE PHILISTINES TWENTY YEARS. While they had the power over the Israelites, who were not entirely delivered out of their hands by Samson, he only began to deliver them, but did not completely do it; though he got many advantages over them, and wrought many salvati... [ Continue Reading ]