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Judges

Judgeschapter 15

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Samson Destroys the Philistines with an Ass' Jawbone — Gustave Doré, Doré's English Bible (1866), public domain

A.Three hundred foxes in the standing grainvv. 1-8

1 Later on, at the time of the wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat and went to visit his wife. “I want to go to my wife in her room,” he said. But her father would not let him enter. 2 “I was sure that you thoroughly hated her,” said her father, “so I gave her to one of the men who accompanied you. Is not her younger sister more beautiful than she? Please take her instead.” 3 Samson said to them, “This time I will be blameless in doing harm to the Philistines.” 4 Then Samson went out and caught three hundred foxes. And he took torches, turned the foxes tail-to-tail, and fastened a torch between each pair of tails. 5 Then he lit the torches and released the foxes into the standing grain of the Philistines, burning up the piles of grain and the standing grain, as well as the vineyards and olive groves. 6 “Who did this?” the Philistines demanded. “It was Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite,” they were told. “For his wife was given to his companion.” So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father to death. 7 And Samson told them, “Because you have done this, I will not rest until I have taken vengeance upon you.” 8 And he struck them ruthlessly with a great slaughter, and then went down and stayed in the cave at the rock of Etam.

B.A jawbone, a thousand men, and water split from Lehivv. 9-20

9 Then the Philistines went up, camped in Judah, and deployed themselves near the town of Lehi. 10 “Why have you attacked us?” said the men of Judah. The Philistines replied, “We have come to arrest Samson and pay him back for what he has done to us.” 11 In response, three thousand men of Judah went to the cave at the rock of Etam, and they asked Samson, “Do you not realize that the Philistines rule over us? What have you done to us?” “I have done to them what they did to me,” he replied. 12 But they said to him, “We have come down to arrest you and hand you over to the Philistines.” Samson replied, “Swear to me that you will not kill me yourselves.” 13 “No,” they answered, “we will not kill you, but we will tie you up securely and hand you over to them.” So they bound him with two new ropes and led him up from the rock. 14 When Samson arrived in Lehi, the Philistines came out shouting against him. And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him. The ropes on his arms became like burnt flax, and the bonds broke loose from his hands. 15 He found the fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached out his hand and took it, and struck down a thousand men. 16 Then Samson said: “With the jawbone of a donkey I have piled them into heaps. With the jawbone of a donkey I have slain a thousand men.” 17 And when Samson had finished speaking, he cast the jawbone from his hand; and he named that place Ramath-lehi. 18 And being very thirsty, Samson cried out to the LORD, “You have accomplished this great deliverance through Your servant. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” 19 So God opened up the hollow place in Lehi, and water came out of it. When Samson drank, his strength returned, and he was revived. That is why he named it En-hakkore, and it remains in Lehi to this day. 20 And Samson judged Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.

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Chapter summary

The feud escalates by stages.

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The feud escalates by stages. Finding his wife given to another, Samson catches three hundred foxes, ties them tail to tail with torches between, and burns the Philistines' standing grain, vineyards, and oliveyards; they burn the woman and her father; he smites them hip and thigh and goes down to the cleft of the rock of Etam. Three thousand men of Judah come, not to fight the Philistines but to hand over their own deliverer bound with two new ropes, and the cords on his arms become as flax burnt with fire. With the jawbone of an ass he slays a thousand men at Ramath-lehi. Then he is simply thirsty, and God splits the hollow place for him: En-hakkore.

Drawn from Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory, Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary and John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament.

Context

History · Samuel — Judges overview

  • A. 1–8 Three hundred foxes in the standing grain
  • B. 9–20 A jawbone, a thousand men, and water split from Lehi
Top cross-references8 chapters ▾
  • Judges 145 verses
    • Judges 14:4(Now his father and mother did not know this was from the LORD, who was seeking an occasion to move against the Philistines; for at that time the Philistines were ruling over Israel.)
    • Judges 14:15So on the fourth day they said to Samson’s wife, “Entice your husband to explain the riddle to us, or we will burn you and your father’s household to death. Did you invite us here to rob us?”
    • Judges 14:16Then Samson’s wife came to him, weeping, and said, “You hate me! You do not really love me! You have posed to my people a riddle, but have not explained it to me.” “Look,” he said, “I have not even explained it to my father or mother, so why should I explain it to you?”
    • Judges 14:19Then the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, killed thirty of their men, took their apparel, and gave their clothes to those who had solved the riddle. And burning with anger, Samson returned to his father’s house,
    • Judges 14:20and his wife was given to one of the men who had accompanied him.
    • Read Judges 14 →
  • Judges 153 verses
    • Judges 15:14When Samson arrived in Lehi, the Philistines came out shouting against him. And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him. The ropes on his arms became like burnt flax, and the bonds broke loose from his hands.
    • Judges 15:17And when Samson had finished speaking, he cast the jawbone from his hand; and he named that place Ramath-lehi.
    • Judges 15:19So God opened up the hollow place in Lehi, and water came out of it. When Samson drank, his strength returned, and he was revived. That is why he named it En-hakkore, and it remains in Lehi to this day.
    • Read Judges 15 →
  • Judges 132 verses
    • Judges 13:1Again the Israelites did evil in the sight of the LORD, so He delivered them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.
    • Judges 13:5For behold, you will conceive and give birth to a son. And no razor shall come over his head, because the boy will be a Nazirite to God from the womb, and he will begin the deliverance of Israel from the hand of the Philistines.”
    • Read Judges 13 →
  • Genesis 382 verses
    • Genesis 38:14she removed her widow’s garments, covered her face with a veil to disguise herself, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the way to Timnah. For she saw that although Shelah had grown up, she had not been given to him as a wife.
    • Genesis 38:17“I will send you a young goat from my flock,” Judah answered. But she replied, “Only if you leave me something as a pledge until you send it.”
    • Read Genesis 38 →
4 more chapters this one speaks with
  • Isaiah 632 verses
    • Isaiah 63:3“I have trodden the winepress alone, and no one from the nations was with Me. I trampled them in My anger and trod them down in My fury; their blood spattered My garments, and all My clothes were stained.
    • Isaiah 63:6I trampled the nations in My anger; in My wrath I made them drunk and poured out their blood on the ground.”
    • Read Isaiah 63 →
  • Genesis 291 verse
  • Luke 151 verse
    • Luke 15:29But he answered his father, ‘Look, all these years I have served you and never disobeyed a commandment of yours. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.
    • Read Luke 15 →
  • Lamentations 51 verse

Cross-references from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge and OpenBible.info.