J
U D G E S
CHAP. XV.
Samson,
when he courted an alliance with the Philistines, did but seek an occasion
against them, ch. xiv. 4. Now here we have a further account of the
occasions he took to weaken them, and to avenge, not his own, but Israel's
quarrels, upon them. Everything here is surprising; if any thing be thought
incredible, because impossible, it must be remembered that with God nothing is
impossible, and it was by the Spirit of the Lord coming upon him that he was
both directed to and strengthened for those unusual ways of making war. I.
From the perfidiousness of his wife and her father, he took occasion to burn
their corn, ver. 1-5. II. From the Philistines' barbarous cruelty to his wife
and her father, he took occasion to smite them with a great slaughter, ver.
6-8. III. From the treachery of his countrymen, who delivered him bound to the
Philistines, he took occasion to kill 1000 of them with the jaw-bone of an
ass, ver. 9-17. IV. From the distress he was then in for want of water, God
took occasion to show him favour in a seasonable supply, ver. 18-20.
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Samson's
Firebrands.
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B.
C. 1141.
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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. 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.
Here is, I. Samson's return to his wife, whom he had left in displeasure; not
hearing perhaps that she was given to another, when time had a little cooled
his resentments, he came back to her, visited her with a kid, v.
1. The value of the present was inconsiderable, but it was intended as a token
of reconciliation, and perhaps was then so used, when those that had been at
variance were brought together again; he sent this, that he might sup with her
in her apartments, and she with him, on his provision, and so they might be
friends again. It was generously done of Samson, though he was the party
offended and the superior relation, to whom therefore she was bound in duty to
sue for peace and to make the first motion of reconciliation. When differences
happen between near relations, let hose be ever reckoned the wisest and the
best that are most forward to forgive and forget injuries and most willing to
stoop and yield for peace' sake.
II. The repulse he met with. Her father forbade him to come near her; for
truly he had married her to another, v. 2. He endeavours, 1. To justify
himself in this wrong: I verily thought that thou hadst utterly hated her.
A very ill opinion he had of Samson, measuring that Nazarite by the common
temper of the Philistines; could he think worse of him than to suspect that,
because he was justly angry with his wife, he utterly hated her, and, because
he had seen cause to return to his father's house for a while, therefore he
had abandoned her for ever? Yet this is all he had to say in excuse of this
injury. Thus he made the worst of jealousies to patronize the worst of
robberies. But it will never bear us out in doing ill to say, "We thought
others designed ill." 2. He endeavours to pacify Samson by offering him
his younger daughter, whom, because the handsomer, he thought Samson might
accept, in full recompence for the wrong. See what confusions those did admit
and bring their families to that were not governed by the fear and law of God,
marrying a daughter this week to one and next week to another, giving a man
one daughter first and then another. Samson scorned his proposal; he knew
better things than to take a wife to her sister, Lev. xviii. 18.
III. The revenge Samson took upon the Philistines for this abuse. Had he
designed herein only to plead his own cause he would have challenged his
rival, and would have chastised him and his father-in-law only. But he looks
upon himself as a public person, and the affront as done to the whole nation
of Israel, for probably they put this slight upon him because he was of that
nation, and pleased themselves with it, that they had put such an abuse upon
an Israelite; and therefore he resolves to do the Philistines a displeasure,
and does not doubt but this treatment which he had met with among them would
justify him in it (v. 3): Now shall I be more blameless than the
Philistines. He had done what became him in offering to be reconciled to
his wife, but, she having rendered it impracticable, now they could not blame
him if he showed his just resentment. Note, When differences arise we ought to
do our duty in order to the ending of them, and then, whatever the ill
consequences of them may be, we shall be blameless. Now the way Samson took to
be revenged on them was by setting their corn-fields on fire, which would be a
great weakening and impoverishing to the country, v. 4, 5. 1. The
method he took to do it was very strange. He sent 150 couple of foxes, tied
tail to tail, into the corn-fields; every couple had a stick of fire between
their tails, with which, being terrified, they ran into the corn for shelter,
and so set fire to it; thus the fire would break out in many places at the
same time, and therefore could not be conquered, especially if this was done,
as it is probable it was, in the night. He might have employed men to do it,
but perhaps he could not find Israelites enough that had courage to do it, and
he himself could do it but in one place at a time, which would not effect his
purpose. We never find Samson, in any of his exploits, making use of any
person whatsoever, either servant or soldier, therefore, in this project, he
chose to make use of foxes as his incendiaries. They had injured Samson by
their subtlety and malice, and now Samson returns the injury by subtle foxes
and mischievous fire-brands. By the meanness and weakness of the animals he
employed, he designed to put contempt upon the enemies he fought against. This
stratagem is often alluded to to show how the church's adversaries, that are
of different interests and designs among themselves, that look and draw
contrary ways in other things, yet have often united in a fire-brand, some
cursed project or other, to waste the church of God, and particularly to
kindle the fire of division in it. 2. The mischief he hereby did to the
Philistines was very great. It was in the time of wheat harvest (v. 1),
so that the straw being dry it soon burnt the shocks of corn that were cut,
and the standing corn, and the vineyards and olives. This was a waste
of the good creatures, but where other acts of hostility are lawful destroying
the forage is justly reckoned to be so: if he might take away their lives, he
might take away their livelihood. And God was righteous in it: the corn,
and the wine, and the oil, which they had prepared for Dagon, to be a
meat-offering to him, were thus, in the season thereof, made a burnt-offering
to God's justice.
IV. The Philistines' outrage against Samson's treacherous wife and her father.
Understanding that they had provoked Samson to do this mischief to the
country, the rabble set upon them and burnt them with fire, perhaps in their
own house, v. 6. Samson himself they durst not attack, and therefore,
with more justice than perhaps they themselves designed in it, they wreak
their vengeance upon those who, they could not but own, had given him cause to
be angry. Instead of taking vengeance upon Samson, they took vengeance for
him, when he, out of respect to the relation he had stood in to them, was not
willing to do it for himself. See his hand in it to whom vengeance belongs.
Those that deal treacherously shall be spoiled and dealt treacherously with;
and the Lord is known by these judgments which he executes, especially
when, as here, he makes use of his people's enemies as instruments for
revenging one upon another his people's quarrels. When a barbarous Philistine
sets fire to a treacherous one, the righteous may rejoice to see the
vengeance, Ps. lviii. 10, 11. Thus shall the wrath of man praise God,
Ps. lxxvi. 10. The Philistines had threatened Samson's wife, that, if she
would not get the riddle out of him, they would burn her and her father's
house with fire, ch. xiv. 15. She, to save herself and oblige her
countrymen, betrayed her husband; and what came of it? The very thing that she
feared, and sought by sin to avoid, came upon her; she and her father's house
were burnt with fire, and her countrymen, whom she sought to oblige by the
wrong she did to her husband, brought this evil upon her. The mischief we seek
to escape by any unlawful practices we often pull upon our own heads. He
that will thus save his life shall lose it.
V. The occasion Samson took hence to do them a yet greater mischief, which
touched their bone and their flesh, v. 7, 8. "Though you have
done this to them, and thereby shown what you would do to me if you could,
yet that shall not deter me from being further vexatious to you." Or,
"Though you think, by doing this, you have made me satisfaction for the
affront I received among you, yet I have Israel's cause to plead as a public
person, and for the wrongs done to them I will be avenged on you, and,
if you will then forbear your insults, I will cease, aiming at no more than
the deliverance of Israel." So he smote them hip and thigh with a
great stroke, so the word is. We suppose the wounds he gave them to have
been mortal, as wounds in the hip or thigh often prove, and therefore
translate it, with a great slaughter. Some think he only lamed them,
disabled them for service, as horses were houghed or ham-strung. It seems to
be a phrase used to express a desperate attack; he killed them pell-mell, or
routed them horse and foot. He smote them with his hip upon thigh, that is,
with the strength he had, not in his arms and hands, but in his hips and
thighs, for he kicked and spurned at them, and so mortified them, trod them
in his anger, and trampled them in his fury, Isa. lxiii. 3. And,
when he had done, he retired to a natural fortress in the top of the rock Etam,
where he waited to see whether the Philistines would be tamed by the
correction he had given them.
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Samson
Bound by the Men of Judah.
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B.
C. 1140.
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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. 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
Ramath-lehi.
Here is, I. Samson violently pursued by the Philistine. They went up in a
body, a more formidable force than they had together when Samson smote them
hip and thigh; and they pitched in Judah, and spread themselves up and down
the country, to find out Samson, who they heard had come this way, v.
9. When the men of Judah, who had tamely submitted to their yoke, pleaded that
they had paid their tribute, and that none of their tribe had given them any
offence, they freely own they designed nothing in this invasion but to seize
Samson; they would fight neither against small nor great, but only that
judge of Israel (v. 10), to do to him as he has done to us, that
is, to smite his hip and thigh, as he did ours--an eye for an eye. Here
was an army sent against one man, for indeed he was himself an army. Thus a
whole band of men was sent to seize our Lord Jesus, that blessed Samson,
though a tenth part would have served now that his hour had come, and ten
times as many would have done nothing if he had not yielded.
II. Samson basely betrayed and delivered up by the men of Judah, v. 11.
Of Judah were they? Degenerate branches of that valiant tribe! Utterly
unworthy to carry in their standard the lion of the tribe of Judah.
Perhaps they were disaffected to Samson because he was not of their tribe. Out
of a foolish fondness for their forfeited precedency, they would rather be
oppressed by Philistines than rescued by a Danite. Often has the church's
deliverance been obstructed by such jealousies and pretended points of honour.
Rather it was because they stood in awe of the Philistines, and were willing,
at any rate, to get them out of their country. If their spirits had not been
perfectly cowed and broken by their sins and troubles, and they had not been
given up to a spirit of slumber, they would have taken this fair opportunity
to shake off the Philistine's yoke. If they had had the least spark of
ingenuousness and courage remaining in them, having so brave a man as Samson
was to head them, they would now have made one bold struggle for the recovery
of their liberty; but no marvel if those that had debased themselves to hell
in the worship of their dung-hill gods (Isa. lvii. 9) thus debased themselves
to the dust, in submission to their insulting oppressors. Sin dispirits men,
nay, it infatuates them, and hides from their eyes the things that belong to
their peace. Probably Samson went into the border of that country to offer his
service, supposing his brethren would have understood how that God by his
hand would deliver them, as Moses did, Acts vii. 25. But they thrust him
from them, and very disingenuously, 1. Blamed him for what he had done against
the Philistines, as if he had done them a great injury. Such ungrateful
returns have those often received that have done the best service imaginable
to their country. Thus our Lord Jesus did many good works, and for these they
were ready to stone him. 2. They begged of him that he would suffer them to
bind him, and deliver him up to the Philistines. Cowardly unthankful wretches!
Fond of their fetters and in love with servitude! Thus the Jews delivered up
our Saviour, under pretence of a fear lest the Romans should come and take
away their place and nation. With what a sordid servile spirit do they argue, Knowest
thou not that the Philistines rule over us? And whose fault was that? They
knew they had no right to rule over them, nor would they have been sold into
their hands if they had not first sold themselves to work wickedness.
III. Samson tamely yielding to be bound by his countrymen, and delivered into
the hands of his enraged enemies, v. 12, 13. Now easily could he have
beaten them off, and kept the top of his rock against these 3000 men, and none
of them all could, or durst, have laid hands on him; but he patiently
submitted, 1. That he might give an example of great meekness, mixed with
great strength and courage; as one that had rule over his own spirit, he knew
how to yield as well as how to conquer. 2. That, by being delivered up to the
Philistine, he might have an opportunity of making a slaughter among them. 3.
That he might be a type of Christ, who, when he had shown what he could do, in
striking those down that came to seize him, yielded to be bound and led as a lamb
to the slaughter. Samson justified himself in what he had done against the
Philistines: "As they did to me, so I did to them; it was a piece
of necessary justice, and they ought not to retaliate it upon me, for they
began." He covenants with the men of Judah that, if he put himself into
their hands, they should not fall upon him themselves, because then he should
be tempted to fall upon them, which he was very loth to do. This they promised
him (v. 13), and then he surrendered. The men of Judah, being his
betrayers, were in effect his murderers; they would not kill him themselves,
but they did that which was worse, they delivered him into the hands of the
uncircumcised Philistines, who they knew would do worse than kill him, would
abuse and torment him to death. Perhaps they thought, as some think Judas did
when he betrayed Christ, that he would by his great strength deliver himself
out of their hands; but no thanks to them if he had delivered himself, and, if
they thought he would do so, they might of themselves have thought this again,
that he could and would deliver them too if they would adhere to him and make
him their head. Justly is their misery prolonged who, to oblige their worst
enemies, thus abuse their best friend. Never were men so infatuated except
those who thus treated our blessed Saviour.
IV. Samson making his part good against the Philistines, even when he was
delivered into their hands, fast pinioned with two new cords. The Philistines,
when they had him among them, shouted against him (v. 14), so
triumphing in their success, and insulting over him. If God had not tied their
hands faster than the men of Judah had tied his, they would have shot at him
(as their archers did at Saul) to dispatch him immediately, rather than have
shouted at him, and given him time to help himself. But their security and joy
were a presage of their ruin. When they shouted against him as a man run down,
confident that all was their own, then the Spirit of the Lord came upon
him, came mightily upon him, inspired him with more than ordinary strength
and resolution. Thus fired, 1. He presently got clear of his bonds. The two
new cords, upon the first struggle he gave, broke, and were melted (as
the original word is) from off his hands, no doubt to the great amazement and
terror of those that shouted against him, whose shouts were hereby turned into
shrieks. Observe, When the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, his cords were
loosed. Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty, and those are
free indeed who are thus freed. This typified the resurrection of Christ by
the power of the Spirit of holiness. In it he loosed the bands of death, and
its cords, the grave-clothes, fell from his hands without being loosed, as
Lazarus's were, because it was impossible that the mighty Saviour should be
holden of them; and thus he triumphed over the powers of darkness that shouted
against him, as if they had him sure. 2. He made a great destruction among the
Philistines, who all gathered about him to make sport with him, v. 15.
See how poorly he was armed: he had no better weapon than the jaw-bone of an
ass, and yet what execution he did with it! he never laid it out of his hand
till he had with it laid 1000 Philistines dead upon the spot; and thus that
promise was more than accomplished. One of you shall chase a thousand,
Josh. xxiii. 10. A jaw-bone was an inconvenient thing to grasp, and, one would
think, might easily be wrested out of his hand, and a few such blows as he
gave with it might have crushed and broken it, and yet it held good to the
last. Had it been the jaw-bone of a lion, especially that which he himself had
slain, it might have helped to heighten his fancy and to make him think
himself the more formidable; but to take the bone of that despicable animal
was to do wonders by the foolish things of the world, that the excellency
of the power might be of God and not of man. One of David's worthies slew
300 Philistines at once, but it was with a spear, 1 Chron. xi. 11.
Another slew of them till his hand was weary and stuck to his sword, 2 Sam.
xxiii. 10. But they all came short of Samson. What could be thought too hard,
too much, for him to do, on whom the Spirit of the Lord came mightily! Through
God we shall do valiantly. It was strange the men of Judah did not now
come in to his aid: cowards can strike a falling enemy. But he was to be a
type of him that trod the wine-press alone.
V. Samson celebrating his own victory, since the men of Judah would not do
even that for him. He composed a short song, which he sang to himself, for the
daughters of Israel did not meet him, as afterwards they did Saul, to sing,
with more reason, Samson hath slain his thousands. The burden of this
song was, With the jaw-bone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, have I slain a
thousand men, v. 16. The same word in Hebrew (chamor)
signifies both an ass and a heap, so that this is an elegant
paronomasia, and represents the Philistines falling as tamely as asses. He
also gave a name to the place, to perpetuate the Philistines' disgrace, v.
17. Ramath-lehi, the lifting up of the jaw-bone. Yet he did not
vain-gloriously carry the bone about with him for a show, but threw it away
when he had done with it. So little were relics valued then.
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Samson's
Thirst Relieved.
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B.
C. 1140.
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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 a 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 En-hakkore, which is
in Lehi unto this day. 20 And he judged Israel in the days of the
Philistines twenty years.
Here is, I. The distress which Samson was in after this great performance (v.
18): He was sore athirst. It was a natural effect of the great heat he
had been in, and the great pains he had taken; his zeal consumed him, ate him
up, and made him forget himself, till, when he had time to pause a little, he
found himself reduced to the last extremity for want of water and ready to
faint. Perhaps there was a special hand of God in it, as there was in the
whole transaction; and God would hereby keep him from being proud of his great
strength and great achievements, and let him know that he was but a man, and
liable to the calamities that are common to men. And Josephus says, It was
designed to chastise him for not making mention of God and his hand in his
memorial of the victory he had obtained, but taking all the praise to himself:
I have slain a thousand men; now that he is ready to die for thirst he
is under a sensible conviction that his own arm could not have saved him,
without God's right hand and arm. Samson had drunk largely of the blood of the
Philistines, but blood will never quench any man's thirst. Providence so
ordered it that there was no water near him, and he was so fatigued that he
could not go far to seek it; the men of Judah, one would think, should have
met him, now that he had come off a conqueror, with bread and wine, as
Melchizedek did Abram, to atone for the injury they had done him; but so
little notice did they 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
that do the greatest services. Christ on the cross, said, I thirst.
II. His prayer to God in this distress. Those that forget to attend God with
their praises may perhaps be compelled to attend him with their prayers.
Afflictions are often sent to bring unthankful people to God. Two things he
pleads with God in this prayer, 1. His having experienced the power and
goodness of God in his late success: Thou hast given this great deliverance
into the hand of thy servant. He owns himself God's servant in what he had
been doing: "Lord, wilt thou not own a poor servant of thine, that has
spent himself in thy service? I am thine, save me." He calls his
victory a deliverance, a great deliverance; for, if God had not
helped him, he had not only not conquered the Philistines, but had been
swallowed up by them. He owns it to come from God, and now corrects his former
error in assuming it too much to himself; and this he pleads in his present
strait. Note, Past experiences of God's power and goodness are excellent pleas
in prayer for further mercy. "Lord, thou hast delivered often, wilt thou
not deliver still? 2 Cor. i. 10. Thou hast begun, wilt thou not finish? Thou
hast done the greater, wilt thou not do the less?" Ps. lvi. 13. 2. His
being now exposed to his enemies: "Lest I fall into the hands of the
uncircumcised, and then they will triumph, will tell it in Gath, and in
the streets of Ashkelon; and will it not redound to God's dishonour of his
champion become so easy a prey to the uncircumcised?" The best pleas are
those taken from God's glory.
III. The seasonable relief God sent him. God heard his prayer, and sent him
water, either out of the bone or out of the earth through the bone, v.
19. That bone which he had made an instrument of God's service God, to
recompense him, made an instrument of his supply. But I rather incline to our
marginal reading: God clave a hollow place that was in Lehi: the place
of this action was, from the jaw-bone, called Lehi; even before the
action we find it so called, v. 9, 14. And there, in that field, or
hill, or plain, or whatever it was, that was so called, God caused a fountain
suddenly and seasonably to open just by him, and water to spring up out of it
in abundance, which continued a well ever after. Of this fair water he drank,
and his spirits revived. We should be more thankful for the mercy of water did
we consider how ill we can spare it. And this instance of Samson's relief
should encourage us to trust in God, and seek to him, for, when he pleases, he
can open rivers in high places. See Isa. xli. 17, 18.
IV. The memorial of this, in the name Samson gave to this upstart fountain, En-hakkore,
the well of him that cried, thereby keeping in remembrance both his own
distress, which occasioned him to cry, and God's favour to him, in answer to
his cry. Many a spring of comfort God opens to his people, which may fitly be
called by this name; it is the well of him that cried. Samson had given
a name to the place which denoted him great and triumphant--Ramath-lehi,
the lifting up of the jaw-bone; but here he gives it another name,
which denotes him needy and dependent.
V. The continuance of Samson's government after these achievements, v.
20. At length Israel submitted to him whom they had betrayed. Now it was past
dispute that God was with him, so that henceforward they all owned him and
were directed by him as their judge. The stone which the builders refused
became the head-stone. It intimates the low condition of Israel that the
government was dated by the days of the Philistines; yet it was a mercy
to Israel that, though they were oppressed by a foreign enemy, yet they had a
judge that preserved order and kept them from ruining one another. Twenty
years his government continued, according to the usages of the judges'
administration; but of the particulars we have no account, save of the
beginning of his government in this chapter and the end of it in the next.
Contents
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