Judge 15
Overview
Judges 15 continues the saga of Samson, focusing on his acts of revenge against the Philistines and the subsequent cycle of violence. This chapter is characterized by Samson's extraordinary feats of strength and the escalating conflict between him and the Philistines. Key aspects include:
Samson’s Attempt to Reconcile with His Wife: Samson returns to Timnah with a young goat, hoping to reconcile with his wife, only to learn that she has been given to someone else. Her father offers her younger sister instead, which angers Samson.
Samson’s Act of Revenge: In retaliation, Samson catches 300 foxes, ties their tails together in pairs, fastens torches to them, and releases them in the Philistine fields, burning down their crops, vineyards, and olive groves.
Philistines’ Retaliation: The Philistines respond by burning Samson's wife and her father to death. Samson vows more revenge, attacking and slaughtering many Philistines.
Samson’s Capture Attempt by Judah: The Philistines threaten to attack Judah. In response, 3,000 men from Judah go to the cave in the rock of Etam, where Samson is hiding, and ask him to surrender. Samson allows himself to be bound with two new ropes and handed over to the Philistines.
Samson Defeats the Philistines: As the Philistines approach him, the Spirit of the LORD comes powerfully upon Samson. He breaks the ropes and finds a fresh jawbone of a donkey, using it to strike down a thousand Philistines.
Samson’s Cry for Water: After the battle, Samson is very thirsty and cries out to the LORD, who provides water from a hollow place in Lehi, reviving him. This place is then called En Hakkore.
Duration of Samson’s Leadership: The chapter concludes by noting that Samson led Israel for twenty years during the time of the Philistines.
Judges 15 illustrates the cycle of revenge and the personal vendetta between Samson and the Philistines. It showcases Samson’s physical strength and his impulsive nature, which often leads to violent outcomes. The chapter also reflects the LORD’s ongoing involvement in Samson's life, empowering him in moments of need despite his personal flaws and the complexity of his actions.
Samson’s Attempt to Reconcile with His Wife: Samson returns to Timnah with a young goat, hoping to reconcile with his wife, only to learn that she has been given to someone else. Her father offers her younger sister instead, which angers Samson.
Samson’s Act of Revenge: In retaliation, Samson catches 300 foxes, ties their tails together in pairs, fastens torches to them, and releases them in the Philistine fields, burning down their crops, vineyards, and olive groves.
Philistines’ Retaliation: The Philistines respond by burning Samson's wife and her father to death. Samson vows more revenge, attacking and slaughtering many Philistines.
Samson’s Capture Attempt by Judah: The Philistines threaten to attack Judah. In response, 3,000 men from Judah go to the cave in the rock of Etam, where Samson is hiding, and ask him to surrender. Samson allows himself to be bound with two new ropes and handed over to the Philistines.
Samson Defeats the Philistines: As the Philistines approach him, the Spirit of the LORD comes powerfully upon Samson. He breaks the ropes and finds a fresh jawbone of a donkey, using it to strike down a thousand Philistines.
Samson’s Cry for Water: After the battle, Samson is very thirsty and cries out to the LORD, who provides water from a hollow place in Lehi, reviving him. This place is then called En Hakkore.
Duration of Samson’s Leadership: The chapter concludes by noting that Samson led Israel for twenty years during the time of the Philistines.
Judges 15 illustrates the cycle of revenge and the personal vendetta between Samson and the Philistines. It showcases Samson’s physical strength and his impulsive nature, which often leads to violent outcomes. The chapter also reflects the LORD’s ongoing involvement in Samson's life, empowering him in moments of need despite his personal flaws and the complexity of his actions.
Judges 15
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.
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.
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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.
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.
🔑 Devotion
20 And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.
End of Judges 15
1 Year Plan: Apr 16 - Jdg 14, Jdg 15, Ps 44
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.
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.
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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.
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.
🔑 Devotion
20 And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.
End of Judges 15
1 Year Plan: Apr 16 - Jdg 14, Jdg 15, Ps 44
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