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Judges 15

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Samson's Wife Given to Another 1–3

1
But it came to pass within a while after, in the time of wheat harvest, that Samson visited his wife with a kid; and he said, I will go in to my wife into the chamber. But her father would not suffer him to go in. ​
2
And her father said, I verily thought that thou hadst utterly hated her; therefore I gave her to thy companion: is not her younger sister fairer than she? take her, I pray thee, instead of her. ​
3
And Samson said concerning them, Now shall I be more blameless than the Philistines, though I do them a displeasure. ​

Samson Burns the Philistine Harvest 4–8

4
And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails. ​
5
And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines, and burnt up both the shocks, and also the standing corn, with the vineyards and olives.
6
Then the Philistines said, Who hath done this? And they answered, Samson, the son in law of the Timnite, because he had taken his wife, and given her to his companion. And the Philistines came up, and burnt her and her father with fire. ​
7
And Samson said unto them, Though ye have done this, yet will I be avenged of you, and after that I will cease.
8
And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam. ​

Judah Delivers Samson to the Philistines 9–13

9
Then the Philistines went up, and pitched in Judah, and spread themselves in Lehi. ​
10
And the men of Judah said, Why are ye come up against us? And they answered, To bind Samson are we come up, to do to him as he hath done to us. ​
11
Then three thousand men of Judah went to the top of the rock Etam, and said to Samson, Knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us? what is this that thou hast done unto us? And he said unto them, As they did unto me, so have I done unto them. ​
12
And they said unto him, We are come down to bind thee, that we may deliver thee into the hand of the Philistines. And Samson said unto them, Swear unto me, that ye will not fall upon me yourselves. ​
13
And they spake unto him, saying, No; but we will bind thee fast, and deliver thee into their hand: but surely we will not kill thee. And they bound him with two new cords, and brought him up from the rock.

Samson's Victory at Lehi 14–17

14
And when he came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him: and the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands. ​
15
And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith. ​
16
And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men. ​
17
And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking, that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand, and called that place Ramathlehi.

God Provides Water for Samson 18–20

18
And he was sore athirst, and called on the LORD, and said, Thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of thy servant: and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised? ​
19
But God clave an hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water thereout; and when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived: wherefore he called the name thereof Enhakkore, which is in Lehi unto this day. ​
20
And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Judges 15

Verse 1

the time of wheat harvest — The wheat harvest is the season of the Feast of Weeks, 'the firstfruits of wheat harvest' (Ex 34:22). The season matters for what follows, since the fields hold 'shocks' and 'standing corn' when Samson sets the foxes loose (v.5). He comes with a kid as his gift. Her father 'would not suffer', literally would not give, him to go in.

Verse 2

thou hadst utterly hated her — Literally 'hating thou hast hated her' (sane, repeated). It answers his daughter's charge in 14:16, 'Thou dost but hate me, and lovest me not'. The wife was given 'to thy companion' (mere'a), the word of 14:20. The father's offer of the younger sister rests on her being 'fairer' (tov), good or fair.

Verse 3

more blameless than the Philistines — Naqah is to be clear of guilt, as when a man who struck another is 'quit' (Ex 21:19). 'Now' is pa'am, 'this time'. After the Philistines' dealing with his wife, Samson says the guilt would be theirs for what he is about to do. The LORD's purpose in the whole affair is given in 14:4.

Verse 4

three hundred foxes — Shual is the word for the foxes of Ps 63:10, where those who fall by the sword are 'a portion for foxes', and of Lam 5:18, where 'the foxes walk' on desolate Zion. 'Firebrands' (lappid) is the word for the 'lamps' that Gideon's three hundred held in the pitchers (7:16, 20).

Verse 6

burnt her and her father with fire — The Philistines reason that Samson acted 'because he had taken his wife, and given her to his companion', meaning the Timnite, and they punish her and her father. This is the fire threatened to her in 14:15, 'lest we burn thee'. Samson answers in v.7, 'yet will I be avenged of you'.

Verse 8

hip and thigh — Literally 'leg upon thigh' (shoq, yarek), a phrase that occurs only here in the KJV, for a thorough blow. Etam is a town of Judah that Rehoboam later built (2 Chr 11:6). Samson goes down to dwell in the rock of Etam, which is where Judah's men find him in v.11.

Verse 9

spread themselves in Lehi — The Philistines come into Judah to find Samson, who is at the rock Etam. Lechi, the word for 'jaw', is the name of the place, and it is also the word for the jawbone Samson takes up in v.15. He names the place Ramathlehi (v.17), and En-hakkore is 'in Lehi unto this day' (v.19).

Verse 10

To bind Samson are we come up — Both sides state their action as repayment. The Philistines say 'to do to him as he hath done to us', and Samson says 'As they did unto me, so have I done unto them' (v.11). The verb 'bind' (asar) runs through vv.10–13, and ends with the cords burnt like flax in v.14.

Verse 11

the Philistines are rulers over us — 'Rulers' is mashal, the verb of 14:4, 'the Philistines had dominion over Israel'. Three thousand men of Judah come down to Samson, not to the Philistines, and ask what he has done to them. Deut 28:47–48 names this servitude: 'shalt thou serve thine enemies which the LORD shall send against thee'.

Verse 12

fall upon me yourselves — 'Fall upon' is paga, to strike down. It is Benaiah who 'fell upon' Adonijah, 'that he died' (1 Kgs 2:25), and Zebah and Zalmunna who asked Gideon to 'fall upon us' (8:21). Samson asks Judah to swear they will not kill him, and in v.13 they promise, 'surely we will not kill thee'.

Verse 14

the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him — The words are those of 14:6 and 19 (tsalach). As at the lion, which 'roared against him' (14:5), something comes 'against' him, literally 'to meet' him, here the Philistines' shout, and then the Spirit comes. The new cords of v.13 become 'as flax that was burnt with fire'.

Verse 15

a new jawbone of an ass — Chadash is new or fresh. The weapon is as unlikely as Shamgar's ox goad, with which he slew six hundred Philistines (3:31). Joshua reminds Israel that 'one man of you shall chase a thousand: for the LORD your God, he it is that fighteth for you' (Josh 23:10), and Samson slays a thousand men.

Verse 16

heaps upon heaps — The Hebrew plays on sound: 'ass' (chamor) and 'heap' (chamorah) are near-alike, so the line has the ring of a saying. Samson's riddle in 14:14 is likewise in matched lines. The count of 'a thousand men' repeats v.15, and 'jaw' (lechi) is also the name of the place.

Verse 18

this great deliverance — Teshuah is 'salvation', the word of 'the LORD wrought a great salvation for all Israel' (1 Sam 19:5). Samson calls himself the LORD's 'servant' and calls the Philistines 'the uncircumcised', the word of 14:3. This is the first of his two recorded prayers; the other is in 16:28.

Verse 19

his spirit came again, and he revived — His spirit 'revived' as Jacob's did on hearing that Joseph lived (Gen 45:27), and 'came again' as the Egyptian's did after food and water (1 Sam 30:12). Water is given in answer to a call, and the spring is named En-hakkore, 'the spring of the one who called'. It was still there 'unto this day'. The giver is named as 'God' (Elohim).

Verse 20

twenty years — A similar sentence closes Samson's life in 16:31, so the events of chapter 16 fall within these twenty years. 'In the days of the Philistines' echoes the forty years of 13:1. He was to 'begin' to deliver Israel (13:5), and the Philistines are subdued in Samuel's day (1 Sam 7:13). Heb 11:32 names Samson among those of faith.