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Judges Chapter
Fifteen
Judges 15
Outlines
New King James Version (NKJV)
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
brought the Philistines against the men of Judah, who took Samson and bound
him, to deliver him to the Philistines, when he, loosing himself, slew a
thousand of them with the jaw bone of an ass, Judges 15:9 and
being athirst, God in a wonderful manner supplied him with water, Judges 15:18.
Judges 15:1 After
a while, in the time of wheat harvest, it happened that Samson visited his wife
with a young goat. And he said, “Let me go in to my wife, into her
room.” But her father would not permit him to go in.
YLT
1And it cometh to pass,
after [some] days, in the days of wheat-harvest, that Samson looketh after his
wife, with a kid of the goats, and saith, `I go in unto my wife, to the inner
chamber;' and her father hath not permitted him to go in,
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 visited his wife with a kid; by this time
his passion of anger subsided, and he "remembered" his wife, as the
Targum expresses it, and thought proper to return to her, and attempt a
reconciliation with her; and for that purpose took a kid with him to eat a meal
with her in her own apartment, which in those days was reckoned an elegant
entertainment, and was a present to a king, 1 Samuel 16:20.
IsidoreF19Origin. l. 12. c. 1. p. 101. derives the Latin word for a
kid, "ab edendo", from eating, as if it was food by way of eminency,
as it is both savoury and wholesome:
and he said, I will go with my wife into the chamber; where she
was, as women had their chambers and apartments by themselves; this he said
within himself, or resolved in his own mind, and perhaps expressed it in her
father's hearing, or however moved that way, which plainly indicated his
design:
but her father would not suffer him to go in; placed himself
perhaps between him and the door, and parleyed with him, and declared he should
not go into his daughter's chamber; Samson, through his superior strength,
could easily have pushed him away, and broke open the door, but he did not
choose to use such violent methods, and patiently heard what he had to say, and
submitted.
Judges 15:2 2 Her father said, “I really
thought that you thoroughly hated her; therefore I gave her to your companion. Is
not her younger sister better than she? Please, take her instead.”
YLT
2and her father saith, I
certainly said, that thou didst certainly hate her, and I give her to thy
companion; is not her sister -- the young one -- better than she? Let her be, I
pray thee, to thee, instead of her.'
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"F20אמר אמרתי "dicendo
dixi", Pagninus, Montanus, Piscator. , affirmed it confidently and
constantly, that "in hating thou hast hated her"F21שנא שנאתה "odiendo odires
eam", Pagninus, Montanus; so Piscator. , with an implacable hatred, that
there was no hope of any reconciliation:
therefore I gave her to thy companion; this he said
to excuse his daughter, and soften his resentment, that it was not his
daughter's doing, but his, and that he had disposed of her not to anybody, but
to a companion of Samson's; and what follows seems to be said with the same
view, for he might be in some fear of Samson, knowing him to be a man of spirit
and strength:
is not her younger sister fairer than she? take her, I pray thee,
instead of her; that is, to wife; and two things he observes to recommend her,
her youth and beauty, in which she was preferable to her sister. Such
incestuous marriages were common with the old Canaanites, and it seems still
continued; but were condemned by the law of God, and not allowed an Israelite, which
Samson knew full well, and therefore listened not to the proposal; see Leviticus 18:3.
Judges 15:3 3 And Samson said to them,
“This time I shall be blameless regarding the Philistines if I harm them!”
YLT
3And Samson saith of them,
`I am more innocent this time than the Philistines, though I am doing with them
evil.'
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 I do
them a displeasure; signifying, that if he did them an ill thing, or what might be
reckoned an injury to their persons or properties, and which would be
disagreeable and displeasing to them, they could not justly blame him for it,
since they had given him such a provocation as to dispose of his wife to
another man; though Samson did not mean to act, nor did he act in the following
instances as a private person taking private revenge, but as a public person,
and judge of Israel; and took occasion, from the private injuries done him, to
avenge the public ones of the children of Israel upon the Philistines; and they
might thank themselves for giving the opportunity, which they could not justly
condemn him for taking.
Judges 15:4 4 Then Samson went and
caught three hundred foxes; and he took torches, turned the foxes tail
to tail, and put a torch between each pair of tails.
YLT
4And Samson goeth and
catcheth three hundred foxes, and taketh torches, and turneth tail unto tail,
and putteth a torch between the two tails, in the midst,
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
travellerF23Morrison's Voyage, l. 2. c. 31. apud Calmet in the word
"Fox". in those parts says that foxes swarm there, and that there are
very great numbers of them in the hedges, and ruins of buildings: and these
creatures were very pernicious to vines, and so may reasonably be thought to be
about Timnath in great numbers, because of the vineyards there, Judges 14:5,
besides, there is no necessity of supposing that Samson took all these himself,
he might employ others in catching them for him, nor that he took them at the
same time, on one and the same day; he might be many days and weeks about it,
and keep them up until he had got his number: to which may be added, there was
a creature in those parts very much like a fox, called Thoes, which, as
BelloniusF24L. 2. c. 11. apud Scheuchzer. Physic. Sacr. vol. 3. p.
476. says, were about Caesarea and Palestina, and go two hundred in company;
and so making use of proper means, which Samson was not unacquainted with,
great numbers might be taken together; but, above all, it may be observed, that
as this was under the direction of the divine Providence, God could easily
cause such a number of creatures to be gathered together, and taken, as he
ordered all the living creatures, as by an instinct, to come into the ark to
Noah:
and he took fire brands; or rather torches, made
of oily and resinous matter, which were not easily extinguished:
and turned tail to tail; took two foxes, and tied
their tails together with a cord, giving them room enough to run about, as such
creatures do, not forward, but in a crooked, flexuous manner, here and there:
and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails: which torch
seems to have been fastened to the cord with which the tails were tied; he did
not put a firebrand or torch to the tail of every single fox, which then would
have made its way to its own den, but between two, which could not enter into
one hole, and would draw different ways, and stop each other, and so do greater
damage to the fields and vineyards into which they came.
Judges 15:5 5 When he had set the
torches on fire, he let the foxes go into the standing grain of the
Philistines, and burned up both the shocks and the standing grain, as well as
the vineyards and olive groves.
YLT
5and kindleth fire in the
torches, and sendeth [them] out into the standing corn of the Philistines, and
burneth [it] from heap even unto standing corn, even unto vineyard --
olive-yard.
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; which being
ripe, as it was now wheat harvest, would soon take fire; and taking fire, this
would in course cause the foxes to run still further to other parts of standing
corn, and set fire to them also; besides, it is reasonable to suppose that
Samson did not let them go all at once on one spot, but disposed of them, some
here, and some there, to do the greater and more speedy execution:
and burnt up both the shocks, and also the standing corn, with the
vineyards and olives; for as it was in the time of harvest, in some places the corn
was standing, and in other places it was cut down, and put into shocks or
heaps; and to these the foxes would naturally run to shelter themselves, and so
set fire to them, as well as they would make their way to the vineyards or
oliveyards, either for shelter also, or for the sake of the grapes and olives,
to satisfy their hunger, after having been detained long for this purpose; and
thus by one means or another they destroyed the corn, the vines, and olives of
the Philistines in those parts. Some would have it, in order to shun the
difficulties objected by the enemies of revelation, that the word for
"foxes" should be rendered "sheaves" or shocks of corn, set
end to endF25Observ. Halens. apud Stockium in voc. שעל, p. 1126. & Hardtius apud Marck. Dissertat.
Philolog. Exercitat. 5. sect. 7. p. 196. , which the word for "tail"
is said to signify; and firebrands or torches being set on fire, communicated
it to standing corn, shocks of corn, vineyards, and oliveyards; but there is no
need to put such a sense upon the words, as already observed; nor is the word
translated "foxes" ever used in Scripture in any form for
"sheaves" or shocks of corn, but always others; nor in any Jewish
writings, nor in the sister dialects, Arabic, Chaldee, or Ethiopic; and in any
place of Scripture where it is translated "fox" or "foxes",
should the word "sheaves" or "shocks" be put, the sense
would appear most ridiculous; nor is the word for "tail" ever used in
Scripture, in a literal sense, but for the tail of a living creature; nor is
the word for "took" or "caught" ever used of taking
anything in common, but either of taking men or cities by force, or of
creatures in nets, traps, and snares: and the sense which such a version of the
words would give is not only contrary to the Hebrew text, and to the Chaldee
paraphrase, but to all the ancient versions, Arabic, Syriac, Septuagint, and
Vulgate Latin, and to Josephus. The memory of this great event was kept up, or
a custom borrowed from it, as some learned men have observed in the Vulpinaria
of the Romans, mentioned by OvidF26Fasti, l. 4. Vid. Alex. ab Alex.
Genial. Dier. l. 5. c. 26. , and others, which bore a great resemblance to
this, and which was observed at the same time of the year, about the middle of
April, or calends of May; which exactly agrees with the time of wheat harvest
in Palestine; when in the Circus they used to send out foxes with burning
torches fixed to their backs. Nor need this affair of Samson's seem more
strange or incredible than the great number of creatures brought into the
Circus at Rome, to be seen there together. Sylla first introduced one hundred
lions, after him Pompey the great three hundred, and Julius Caesar, when he was
dictator, four hundred, as PlinyF1Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 16. relates.
ProbusF2Vopiscus in Vita Probi. sent into the amphitheatre at one
time, which he made like a wood full of trees, 1000 ostriches, a like number of
harts, does, boars, and other creatures each; and at another time one hundred lions,
as many lionesses and leopards each, and three hundred bears; HeliogabalusF3Ib.
in "Vita ejus". got together 1000 weasels, 10,000 mice, 10,000 weight
of spiders and flies.
Judges 15:6 6 Then the Philistines said,
“Who has done this?” And they answered, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite,
because he has taken his wife and given her to his companion.” So the
Philistines came up and burned her and her father with fire.
YLT
6And the Philistines say,
`Who hath done this?' And they say, `Samson, son-in-law of the Timnite, because
he hath taken away his wife, and giveth her to his companion;' and the
Philistines go up, and burn her and her father with fire.
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
confidently asserted it, having heard what he said, Judges 15:3 and
they assign a very good reason for it:
because he had already taken away his wife, and given her to his
companion, which had provoked him to do such an action as this; and perhaps
the very same persons that were very well pleased before that Samson was so
served, yet now were full of wrath and indignation at the Timnite, having
suffered so much in their property on his account:
and the Philistines came up, and burnt her and her father with
fire; JosephusF4Antiqu. l. 5. c. 8. sect. 7. says, her and
her relations; they set fire to her father's house, where she was, and burnt
them both in it, whereby that evil came upon her she thought to avoid by
getting the secret of the riddle out of Samson, and telling it to his
companion, Judges 14:15 and
suffered the proper punishment for her adultery; the people that did this were
those that lived in the towns adjacent, from whence they came up to Timnath,
whose fields, vineyards, and oliveyards, had been destroyed by the foxes with
their firebrands.
Judges 15:7 7 Samson said to them,
“Since you would do a thing like this, I will surely take revenge on you, and
after that I will cease.”
YLT
7And Samson saith to them,
`Though ye do thus, nevertheless I am avenged on you, and afterwards I cease!'
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
this, in order to ingratiate themselves with him, yet he should not stop on
this account, but be avenged on them, not for private injuries done to him, or
any that had been in connection with him, but for public injuries done to
Israel, and their oppression of them:
and after that I will cease; when he had taken full
vengeance on them, and not before.
Judges 15:8 8 So he attacked them hip
and thigh with a great slaughter; then he went down and dwelt in the cleft of
the rock of Etam.
YLT
8And he smiteth them hip and
thigh -- a great smiting, and goeth down and dwelleth in the cleft of the rock
Etam.
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: or he
smote them with his legs on their thighs, kicked them about at pleasure, which
kicks numbers of them never got over; or the meaning of the proverbial
expression is, he laid on them at a great rate, and smote them here and there,
and any where, which issued in the death of many of them: the Targum
is,"he smote them horse and foot,'their cavalry and infantry, destroyed
them both; but it does not appear that they came out in an hostile manner unto
him, and much less in the form of a regular army:
and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam. Josephus saysF5Ibid.
(Antiqu. l. 5. c. 8.) sect. 8. , that Samson having slain many in the fields of
the Philistines, went and dwelt at Etam, a strong rock in the tribe of Judah;
and which agrees with 2 Chronicles 11:6,
where mention is made of the city Etam, along with Bethlehem and Tekoah, cities
in that tribe, which had its name either from this rock, or the rock from that.
The Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions read,"in a cave of the rock of
Etam;'and the Syriac and Arabic versions, in Sahaph, which is on the rock of
Etam, as if Sahaph was the name of a city there; hither Samson went, not
through fear, or for safety, but to wait for another opportunity of further
avenging the injuries of Israel on the Philistines.
Judges 15:9 9 Now the Philistines went
up, encamped in Judah, and deployed themselves against Lehi.
YLT
9And the Philistines go up,
and encamp in Judah, and are spread out in Lehi,
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 were so
many, that they extended a considerable way, and particularly reached to Lehi,
that is, which was afterwards so called; for it has its name by anticipation
from the jaw bone, which it signifies, with which Samson slew many in this
place, as after related.
Judges 15:10 10 And the men of Judah said,
“Why have you come up against us?” So they answered, “We have come up to arrest
Samson, to do to him as he has done to us.”
YLT
10and the men of Judah say,
`Why have ye come up against us?' and they say, `To bind Samson we have come
up, to do to him as he hath done to us.'
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 had done anything to offend them; they had not attempted to cast off their
yoke, they quietly submitted to their government, and had paid their whole
tribute, as JosephusF6Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 8. sect. 8.)
represents them saying; they could not imagine what should be the meaning of
all this:
and they answered, to bind Samson are we come up; that is, to
oblige them to bind him, and deliver him into their hands:
to do to him as he hath done to us: to put him to death, as
he had slain many of their people in the last rencounter with them.
Judges 15:11 11 Then three thousand men of
Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and said to Samson, “Do you
not know that the Philistines rule over us? What is this you have done
to us?” And he said to them, “As they did to me, so I have done to them.”
YLT
11And three thousand men of
Judah go down unto the cleft of the rock Etam, and say to Samson, `Hast thou
now known that the Philistines are rulers over us? and what [is] this thou hast
done to us?' And he saith to them, `As they did to me, so I did to them.'
Then three thousand of Judah went up to the top of the rock of
Etam,.... Or "went down"F7וירדו,
"et descenderunt", Pagninus, Montanus; "descenderunt ergo",
V. L. Tigurine version. ; 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 PomisF8Tzemach
David, fol. 112. 3. for a cave dug in the rock: this was a large number that
went to take one man; the reason is, they knew his great strength:
and said to Samson, knowest thou not that the Philistines are
rulers over us? and therefore it must be a very unwise thing to disoblige and
provoke them, when it lay in their power to oppress them yet more and more, to
increase their tribute, and make their burdens heavier, and even take away
their lives:
what is this that thou hast done unto us? they ask not
what he had done to them, but unto us; though they mean that, but express
themselves thus, because what he had done to the Philistines was the occasion
of their coming up against them, and so eventually it was doing them ill:
and he said unto them, as they did unto me, so have I done to them; they had done
him ill, and therefore he did ill to them; they had burnt his wife and her
father with fire, and he had slain many of them; at least this was what he
thought fit to say in his own vindication; otherwise what he did was not in a
way of private revenge, but on account of the injury done to the people of
Israel, he taking what was done to them as done to himself, the chief
magistrate and judge of Israel.
Judges 15:12 12 But they said to him, “We
have come down to arrest you, that we may deliver you into the hand of the
Philistines.” Then Samson said to them, “Swear to me that you will not kill me
yourselves.”
YLT
12And they say to him, `To
bind thee we have come down -- to give thee into the hand of the Philistines.'
And Samson saith to them, `Swear to me, lest ye fall upon me yourselves.'
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 what put them upon it was not ill will
to him, but fear of the Philistines:
and Samson said unto them, swear unto me that ye will not fall
upon me yourselves; which shows he did not fear them, though they were 3000; and
that if they attempted to take away his life, he should defend himself, but he
chose not to shed the blood of any of them; and rather than they should come
into any distress through the Philistines, consented to be bound by them, and
delivered into their hands; which he was a type of Christ, who was betrayed by
the Jews, and delivered by them into the hands of the Romans; and though he
could have delivered himself by his great strength, would not, but suffered
himself to be taken and bound, and given into the hands of his enemies, that
his own people might go free; see John 18:4.
Judges 15:13 13 So they spoke to him,
saying, “No, but we will tie you securely and deliver you into their hand; but
we will surely not kill you.” And they bound him with two new ropes and brought
him up from the rock.
YLT
13And they speak to him,
saying, No, but we certainly bind thee, and have given thee into their hand,
and we certainly do not put thee to death;' and they bind him with two thick
bands, new ones, and bring him up from the rock.
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 Jews
did Christ, and not only delivered him bound to the high priest, but also to
the Roman governor, Matthew 27:2.
but surely we will not kill thee: not with their own
hands, but then they proposed to deliver him into the hands of the Philistines,
from whence nothing but death could be expected; so that had they put him to
death, they would have been accessory to it, as the Jews were to the death of
Christ by delivering him to the Gentiles, and are charged with it, Acts 2:23.
and they bound him with two new cords; not with one
only, lest it should not be sufficient to hold him, knowing his strength, but
with two, and these not old worn out ones, but new ones just made, and very
strong; and, as Joseph Kimchi, noted by Ben Melech, were trebled, or made of
three cords or thongs, for greater security; and of flax, as the following
verse intimates, and such are most firm and strongest to hold anything; hence
nets were made of flax to hold creatures in, fish, fowl, or beastsF9Vid.
Plin Nat. Hist. l. 19. 1. :
and brought him up from the rock; the place, as Kimchi
says, where the men of Judah dwelt, being higher than the rock; though rather
the true sense is, they brought him up out of the cave in the rock.
Judges 15:14 14 When he came to Lehi, the
Philistines came shouting against him. Then the Spirit of the Lord came mightily
upon him; and the ropes that were on his arms became like flax that is
burned with fire, and his bonds broke loose from his hands.
YLT
14He hath come unto Lehi --
and the Philistines have shouted at meeting him -- and the Spirit of Jehovah
prospereth over him, and the thick bands which [are] on his arms are as flax
which they burn with fire, and his bands are wasted from off his hands,
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 BuntingF11Travels, p. 116. , was six miles from Etam:
the Philistines shouted against him: for joy that they had
got him into their hands, and in the circumstances he was, being bound, so that
they had nothing to fear from him:
and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him: as it at
times did, and had done before; the Targum is,"the Spirit of might from
the Lord,'which gave him courage and resolution of mind, and great strength of
body, even while he was speaking, as a token of the wonders God more than he
had at other times:
and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was
burnt with fire; as easily parted as the flax when fire takes it, which is
consumed at once:
and his bonds loosed off from his hands; by which it
appears that both arms and hands were bound with the cords; his arms were
pinioned close to his body, as well as his hands were tied together; and these,
as in the original, "melted away"F12ימסו
"diffuxerunt", Tigurine version; "liquefacta sunt",
Piscator. , like wax before the fire, or snow before the sun, so easily were
these bands separated from him; this may be an emblem of Christ's loosing
himself from the cords of death, Acts 2:24.
Judges 15:15 15 He found a fresh jawbone of
a donkey, reached out his hand and took it, and killed a thousand men with it.
YLT
15and he findeth a fresh
jaw-bone of an ass, and putteth forth his hand and taketh it, and smiteth with
it -- a thousand men.
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; however, it was moist, and fresh, and so tough and strong,
and would bear to strike with, and give hard blows with, when an old jawbone
would have been dry and brittle; and perhaps the asses of those countries were
larger than ours, and so their jawbones bigger and stronger:
and put forth his hand and took it; it lay near him, being
so disposed by the providence of God at the time and place where his cords were
loosed from him, and he reached and took it up:
and slew one thousand men therewith, such was his great
strength, that every blow he gave in all probability killed a man; there have
been wonderful things done by mighty warriors, but none like this; they have by
the use of warlike weapons destroyed many, as with the sword or spear, but not
with such an instrument. One of David's worthies slew three hundred men at one
time with his spear, 1 Chronicles 11:11
and Scanderbeg with his sword slew great numbers of the Turks with his own hand
at different times; what comes nearest to this is Shamgar's killing six hundred
Philistines with an ox goad, Judges 3:31, this
may be an emblem of the weak and contemptible means of the Gospel, the
foolishness of preaching, by which Christ has conquered and subdued multitudes
to himself.
Judges 15:16 16 Then Samson said: “With
the jawbone of a donkey, Heaps upon heaps, With the jawbone of a donkey I have
slain a thousand men!”
YLT
16And Samson saith, `With a
jaw-bone of the ass -- an ass upon asses -- with a jaw-bone of the ass I have
smitten a thousand men.'
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 our language:
with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men: this he said
not in a proud and haughty manner, ascribing it to himself, as Josephus
suggestsF13Antiqu. l. 5. c. 8. sect. 9. , since he takes notice of
the mean instrument he used; which showed that he was sensible it was not done
by his own power, but by the power of God, which enabled him by such weak means
to do such wonderful things.
Judges 15:17 17 And so it was, when he had
finished speaking, that he threw the jawbone from his hand, and called that place
Ramath Lehi.[a]
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 to
animate him to praise and thankfulness; but having no further use for it, he
threw it away:
and called the place Ramathlehi; that is, the casting
away the jawbone, so Kimchi; but Ben Gersom thinks it was an high place where
it was thrown, and so signifies the elevation or lifting up of the
"jawbone", as the Septuagint version renders it.
Judges 15:18 18 Then he became very
thirsty; so he cried out to the Lord and said, “You have given
this great deliverance by the hand of Your servant; and now shall I die of
thirst and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?”
YLT
18and he thirsteth
exceedingly, and calleth unto Jehovah, and saith, `Thou -- Thou hast given by
the hand of Thy servant this great salvation; and now, I die with thirst, and
have fallen into the hand of the uncircumcised.'
And he was sore athirst,.... Which JosephusF14Antiqu.
l. 5. c. 8. sect. 9. 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 foundation; it is not to wondered at, in a
natural way, that he should be athirst after he had been bound with cords,
after he had so exerted himself, and slain 1000 men with his own hand, and
after he had celebrated this victory with a triumphant song; and it may also be
observed, that it was so ordered in Providence, that he might in this be a type
of the Messiah, who on the cross, as he was spoiling principalities and powers,
and triumphing over them in it, said, "I thirst", John 19:28.
and called on the Lord, and said; in prayer to him:
thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of thy
servant; he owns the deliverance to be great, as indeed, it was, and that
it was of the Lord, and he only his servant and instrument in it:
and now shall I die for thirst; when my life has been
saved in so wonderful a manner, and so great a salvation has been wrought by my
hands, as an instrument:
and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised? which would
be matter of joy and triumph to them, and mar the glory of the deliverance
wrought.
Judges 15:19 19 So God split the hollow
place that is in Lehi,[b] and water
came out, and he drank; and his spirit returned, and he revived. Therefore he
called its name En Hakkore,[c] which is
in Lehi to this day.
YLT
19And God cleaveth the hollow
place which [is] in Lehi, and waters come out of it, and he drinketh, and his
spirit cometh back, and he reviveth; therefore hath [one] called its name `The
fountain of him who is calling,' which [is] in Lehi unto this day.
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 had
been was left hollow, and out of that sprung a stream or flow of water; which
was very wonderful, since out of such a place rather blood, or purulent matter,
would naturally have issued; the Targum is,"the Lord clave the rock which
was in the jaw;'which Kimchi interprets thus, the rock was under the jaw and
the rock was made as a hollow place, and therefore they call it
"mactes", a mortar: the sense seems to be this, that the place on
which Samson cast the jawbone was a rock, and there God clave an hollow place,
out of which water sprung, and which perhaps was under the jawbone, and sprung
under it, and through it; and so Josephus saysF15Ibid. (Antiqu. l.
5. c. 8. sect. 9.) , that God at his prayer brought a sweet and large fountain
out of a certain rock; and the words of the text will bear to be rendered,
"and God clave, an hollow place, which is in Lehi"; that is, in the
place called Lehi, Judges 15:9 and not
in the jawbone itself:
and when he had drank, his spirit came again, and he revived; his spirit
was sunk and gone, as it were, but upon drinking a draught of this water he was
refreshed and cheered, recovered his spirits, and became brisk and lively:
wherefore he called the name thereof Enhakkore; that
is,"the fountain of him that was calling;'of Samson that called upon God
in prayer, and was heard, in memory of which he gave it this name; so the
Targum,"therefore its name was called the fountain that was given through
the prayer of Samson:"
which is in Lehi unto this day; or in the jawbone: not
that the jawbone continued unto the time of the writer of this book, but the
name of the place where this miracle was wrought, which was in Lehi, continued
to be called Enhakkore unto that time, and it may be the fountain itself
continued also; nay, GiycasF16Annal. par. 2. p. 164. apud Reland.
Palestin. Illustrat. p. 872. says, who lived but about six hundred years ago,
that the fountain continued unto his time, and was to be seen in the suburbs of
Eleutheropolis, and was called the fountain of the jawbone.
Judges 15:20 20 And he judged Israel
twenty years in the days of the Philistines.
YLT
20And he judgeth Israel in
the days of the Philistines twenty years.
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 salvations and
deliverances, yet was not the author of perfect salvation, see Judges 13:5
however, he was a check upon the Philistines, and protected the Israelites from
heavier oppressions, which otherwise they would have come under; and no doubt
administered justice and judgment among them, and was an instrument of their
reformation, and of preserving them from idolatry; for in such things the work
of a judge chiefly lay: some from hence observe, that this shows the years of
servitude and bondage are included in the years of the judges.
──《John Gill’s
Exposition of the Bible》
New King James
Version (NKJV)