Judges15
New Living Translation
1Later on, during the wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat as a present to his wife. He said, “I’m going into my wife’s room to sleep with her,” but her father wouldn’t let him in.
2“I truly thought you must hate her,” her father explained, “so I gave her in marriage to your best man. But look, her younger sister is even more beautiful than she is. Marry her instead.”
3Samson said, “This time I cannot be blamed for everything I am going to do to you Philistines.”
4Then he went out and caught 300 foxes. He tied their tails together in pairs, and he fastened a torch to each pair of tails.
5Then he lit the torches and let the foxes run through the grain fields of the Philistines. He burned all their grain to the ground, including the sheaves and the uncut grain. He also destroyed their vineyards and olive groves.
6“Who did this?” the Philistines demanded. “Samson,” was the reply, “because his father-in-law from Timnah gave Samson’s wife to be married to his best man.” So the Philistines went and got the woman and her father and burned them to death.
7“Because you did this,” Samson vowed, “I won’t rest until I take my revenge on you!”
8So he attacked the Philistines with great fury and killed many of them. Then he went to live in a cave in the rock of Etam.
9The Philistines retaliated by setting up camp in Judah and spreading out near the town of Lehi.
10The men of Judah asked the Philistines, “Why are you attacking us?” The Philistines replied, “We’ve come to capture Samson. We’ve come to pay him back for what he did to us.”
11So 3,000 men of Judah went down to get Samson at the cave in the rock of Etam. They said to Samson, “Don’t you realize the Philistines rule over us? What are you doing to us?” But Samson replied, “I only did to them what they did to me.”
12But the men of Judah told him, “We have come to tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines.” “All right,” Samson said. “But promise that you won’t kill me yourselves.”
13“We will only tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines,” they replied. “We won’t kill you.” So they tied him up with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock.
14As Samson arrived at Lehi, the Philistines came shouting in triumph. But the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon Samson, and he snapped the ropes on his arms as if they were burnt strands of flax, and they fell from his wrists.
15Then he found the jawbone of a recently killed donkey. He picked it up and killed 1,000 Philistines with it.
16Then Samson said, “With the jawbone of a donkey, I’ve piled them in heaps! With the jawbone of a donkey, I’ve killed a thousand men!”
17When he finished his boasting, he threw away the jawbone; and the place was named Jawbone Hill.
18Samson was now very thirsty, and he cried out to the Lord, “You have accomplished this great victory by the strength of your servant. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of these pagans?”
19So God caused water to gush out of a hollow in the ground at Lehi, and Samson was revived as he drank. Then he named that place “The Spring of the One Who Cried Out,” and it is still in Lehi to this day.
20Samson judged Israel for twenty years during the period when the Philistines dominated the land.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Judges 15.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: Samson is denied his wife, He smites the Philistines. (1–8). Samson kills a thousand of the Philistines with a jaw-bone. (9–17). His distress from thirst. (18–20).
vv1-8
When there are differences between relations, let those be reckoned the wisest and best, who are most forward to forgive or forget, and most willing to stoop and yield for the sake of peace. In the means which Samson employed, we must look at the power of God supplying them, and making them successful, to mortify the pride and punish the wickedness of the Philistines. The Philistines threatened Samson's wife that they would burn her and her father's house. She, to save herself and oblige her countrymen, betrayed her husband; and the very thing that she feared, and by sin sought to avoid, came upon her! She, and her father's house, were burnt with fire, and by her countrymen, whom she thought to oblige by the wrong she did to her husband. The mischief we seek to escape by any unlawful practices, we often pull down upon our own heads.
vv9-17
Sin dispirits men, it hides from their eyes the things that belong to their peace. The Israelites blamed Samson for what he had done against the Philistines, as if he had done them a great injury. Thus our Lord Jesus did many good works, and for those the Jews were ready to stone him. When the Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson, his cords were loosed: where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty, and those are free indeed who are thus set free. Thus Christ triumphed over the powers of darkness that shouted against him, as if they had him in their power. Samson made great destruction among the Philistines. To take the bone of an ass for this, was to do wonders by the foolish things of the world, that the excellency of the power might be of God, not of man. This victory was not in the weapon, was not in the arm; but it was in the Spirit of God, which moved the weapon by the arm. We can do all things through Him that strengtheneth us. Seest thou a poor Christian, who is enabled to overcome a temptation by weak, feeble counsel, there is the Philistine vanquished by a sorry jaw-bone.
vv18-20
So little notice did the men of Judah take of their deliverer, that he was ready to perish for want of a draught of water. Thus are the greatest slights often put upon those who do the greatest services. Samson prayed to God in this distress. Those that forget to attend God their praises, may be compelled to attend him with their prayers. Past experiences of God's power and goodness, are excellent pleas in prayer for further mercy. He pleads his being exposed to God's enemies; our best pleas are taken from God's glory. The Lord sent him seasonable relief. The place of this action was, from the jaw-bone, called Lehi. And in the place thus called, God caused a fountain suddenly and seasonably to open, close by Samson. We should be more thankful for the mercy of water, did we consider how ill we can spare it. Israel submitted to him whom they had betrayed. God was with him; henceforward they were directed by him as their judge.
Key Words
יוֹם: a day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverb)
חִטָּה: wheat, whether the grain or the plant
קָצִיר: severed, i.e. harvest (as reaped), the crop, the time, the reaper, or figuratively; also a limb (of a tree, or simply foliage)
שִׁמְשׁוֹן: Shimshon, an Israelite
פָּקַד: to visit (with friendly or hostile intent); by analogy, to oversee, muster, charge, care for, miss, deposit, etc.
אִשָּׁה: a woman
גְּדִי: a young goat (from browsing)
עֵז: a she-goat (as strong), but masculine in plural (which also is used elliptically for goat's hair)
אָמַר: to say (used with great latitude)
בּוֹא: to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)
Cross References
Judges 15Explicitly identifies Samson's companion to whom his wife was given.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
The very threat of being burnt she sought to escape by betrayal eventually overtook her.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
Samson acts not merely in private revenge but as a divinely appointed judge seeking an occasion.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Verbal echo of the Spirit of the Lord coming mightily upon Samson as before.
Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB
God uses the weak and foolish things of the world (a jawbone) to confound the mighty.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Fulfills the promise that one man of Israel shall chase a thousand of their enemies.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Samson's exploits of faith and miraculous deliverance are commemorated in the New Testament.
Supported by JFB
Illustrates Israel's subjugation; they chose slavery under the Philistines over God's deliverance.
Supported by JFB
Connects Samson's miraculous slaughter of Philistines here to his final sacrificial victory.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Repeats the motif of cords snapping like burnt thread when Samson's strength is exerted.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Parallel phrase where drinking water causes an exhausted man's spirit to revive.
Supported by JFB
Confirms the duration and conclusion of Samson's twenty-year judgeship in Israel.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Fulfillment of Jacob's blessing that Dan (Samson's tribe) shall judge his people.
Supported by Matthew Henry