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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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15

And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith.

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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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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.

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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?

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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 En–hakkore, which is in Lehi unto this day.

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And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.

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Judges 15

Samson's wife is given to his best man during the betrothal period (a cultural practice showing the precariousness of Samson's marriage and his outsider status), and in retaliation, Samson catches 300 foxes, ties their tails together with torches, and releases them into Philistine grain fields (15:4-5)—a bizarre act that demonstrates creative cruelty and the escalation of personal vendetta into economic warfare. The Philistines burn Samson's wife and father-in-law to death, and Samson retaliates with a slaughter ('hip and thigh,' a phrase meaning total annihilation, 15:8), continuing the cycle of vengeance and counter-vengeance that characterizes his relationships. When the men of Judah bind Samson and deliver him to the Philistines, Samson breaks the ropes, seizes a donkey's jawbone (ḥameḏôt), and kills 1,000 Philistines (15:15-16)—a victory yet a further descent into mere violence, lacking the spiritual depth or strategic purpose of earlier judges' victories. The phrase 'with the jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps; with the jawbone of a donkey, I have killed a thousand men' (15:16) is framed as a boastful chant rather than a prayerful affirmation, suggesting that Samson's power is increasingly separated from covenant purpose and becoming mere animal strength.

Judges 15:1

Samson returns to his wife after wheat harvest—a marital gesture masked by restlessness. The phrase "after some time" marks temporal break signaling instability. His "going in to his wife" echoes covenant language, yet passion controls him. The wheat harvest roots this in agricultural rhythms, making subsequent destruction an inversion of provision. His cyclical returns prefigure ultimate captivity and dependence on others.

Judges 15:2

Her father refuses, claiming he thought Samson hated her, yet casually gives her to another man. This transactional marriage reveals female commodification. The phrase "to one of the companions" suggests she belonged to a patronage network rather than to Samson. This redirection without consent exemplifies disorder. The father's offer treats women as interchangeable. Samson's response will transform this insult into divine judgment against Philistine exploitation.

Judges 15:3

Samson declares righteous grievance—"Now I will be blameless in harming the Philistines." The Hebrew reframes vindictiveness as moral rectitude, permitting personal injury to become tribal warfare. This internalizes victimhood into collective action. The phrase "when I do them harm" uses covenant-breaking language. Samson cloaks vendetta in divine retaliation's garments, obscuring that personal passion, not justice, drives his actions.

Judges 15:4

Samson captures three hundred foxes in a grotesque logistical feat suggesting folk legend. The foxes suggest cunning, yet Samson inverts their nature: spectacle replaces stealth. Binding torches to tails transforms creatures into destruction instruments. The sheer number overwhelms rational causality, signaling divine enablement. This scene establishes Samson as chaos-maker, whose supernatural strength licenses ecological devastation for personal vindication, not communal liberation.

Judges 15:5

Fire spreads progressively—growing grain to standing grain to vineyards—demolishing Philistine wealth systematically. The grain's harvest-readiness means destruction is precisely timed for maximum damage. Vineyards represent covenant blessing, so burning invokes curse-language. The destruction mirrors Egypt's locust plague, suggesting divine judgment through Samson. Yet agency remains ambiguous: is this human action or divine direction? The narrative never clarifies.

Judges 15:6

Philistines identify Samson correctly, then misdirect retribution: they burn Samson's wife and her father—the very woman who caused conflict. She becomes a mere object over which men exercise destructive power. This female sacrifice becomes the price of male honor disputes. Philistine logic collapses: Samson attacked them for taking his wife; they punish him by killing her. Violence perpetuates in spirals where women absorb cost.

Judges 15:7

Samson's vow—"I will be avenged upon you"—escalates conflict into sacred obligation. The Hebrew yiqqom uses roots meaning both "stand" and "avenge." His declaration follows Talion principle yet applies it collectively: Philistine collective punishment for individual female sacrifice. This fusion of legal language with unlimited retaliation exemplifies how Samson warps justice into vengeance without accountability.

Judges 15:8

Samson strikes "hip and thigh"—an expression of totality suggesting utter devastation. The loins (reproductive power's seat) imply emasculation. The Spirit rushing upon him suggests his body becomes a destructive-power conduit. Yet immediately after, he retreats to Etam's cave, exhausted. His strength operates in spasms rather than sustainably. This pattern reveals Samson as a figure of intermittent rather than reliable deliverance for Israel.

Judges 15:9

Philistines mobilize—going up against Judah and encamping at Lehi—representing organized response to asymmetric warfare. The massive response to a single man reveals Samson's disproportionate significance. Yet this occupation suggests Samson has not liberated Judah but provoked punitive occupation. His private vendetta becomes public catastrophe. This raises whether individual champions can substitute for collective deliverance in covenant community.

Judges 15:10

Judah asks Samson, "Do you not know the Philistines are rulers over us?" This rhetorical question exposes his recklessness. The phrase acknowledges Philistine hegemony as established fact. Yet their acquiescence becomes implicit collaboration when they prepare to hand him over. Judahites view Samson not as liberator but as troublemaker endangering stability. Israel's subjugation means they police themselves for oppressors.

Judges 15:11

Three thousand Judahite men descend to bind Samson—military force deployed against kinsman. Their reproach—"Do you not know the Philistines rule us?"—frames his actions as destabilizing. The binding by tribe represents self-induced captivity: he permits restraint to avoid endangering Judah. This voluntary submission differs from his later Philistine captivity, suggesting Samson retains moral capacity to subordinate personal will to collective welfare.

Judges 15:12

Samson negotiates surrender terms: "Swear you will not fall upon me yourselves." His demand guarantees against Judahite treachery suggests he fears his own people more than Philistines. The oath creates binding agreement. His condition—Philistine transfer rather than death—reveals he anticipates supernatural deliverance. The narrative frames his submission as faith, though Judahites understand it pragmatically.

Judges 15:13

Judahites bind Samson with two new ropes, emphasizing restraint and subordination to Philistine authority. The ropes (also meaning sorrows) bind through tribal bonds rather than Philistine fetters. Yet the ropes foreshadow inefficacy: Samson's strength severs them easily. Judah's attempt to maintain peace through submission provokes the very destruction it sought to prevent. Divine purpose works through and against human self-preservation.

Judges 15:14

At Lehi, Philistines shout in triumph, yet the Spirit of Yahweh rushes upon him explosively. The Hebrew uses tzlach, meaning to strip or come loose. The Spirit violently animates him; ropes become like burnt flax. This supernatural intervention transforms captivity into liberation. Yet Samson finds no weapon except a donkey's jawbone—crude instrument suggesting divine provision improvised from detritus, sanctifying the ordinary.

Judges 15:15

With the jawbone, Samson slaughters a thousand Philistines—staggering kill ratio exceeding plausibility. The weapon's baseness inverts military hierarchy: the lowly destroy the highly armed. The number may reference a military unit rather than literal count, yet serves theological purposes: human weapons prove insufficient against divinely empowered Samson. The act sanctifies improvisation. Yet immediately, exertion exhausts even his superhuman body.

Judges 15:16

Samson's victory song—"With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps"—employs celebratory parallelism mocking the weapon's baseness. The Hebrew chamor suggests both animal and load-bearing; with mere burdens he accomplishes divine work. The song echoes Miriam's victory song, connecting Samson to Israel's redemptive tradition. Yet unlike Miriam's celebration of Yahweh's deliverance, Samson celebrates Samson. Individual witness signals moral corruption.

Judges 15:17

Samson casts away the jawbone and names the place Ramath-lehi, creating geographic memory. This toponymy appropriates sacred geography like Joshua's memorial stones. Yet the act distances him from his deed: he names the place but builds no altar, offers no sacrifice, gives no explicit praise to Yahweh. The landscape remembers what his piety does not articulate.

Judges 15:18

Samson's exhaustion manifests physically; thirst becomes desperate. Yet "he called upon Yahweh" suggests ritual petition rather than spontaneous cry. His prayer acknowledges Yahweh gave the victory: "You have given this great deliverance." Yet immediately he voices fear: "Shall I die of thirst?" This fear reveals precariousness: superhuman strength does not ensure survival. Thirst becomes a trial testing faith.

Judges 15:19

Yahweh opens a spring from the jawbone; Samson drinks and revives—a miracle answering prayer. The verb baqaʿ (split/cleave) echoes Reed Sea crossing, connecting to Israel's founding. The spring emerges from the weapon itself, transforming war into sustenance. Yet the naming—"En-hakkore, spring of the caller"—redirects focus from Yahweh's agency to Samson's petition. Ambiguous agency mirrors earlier moments.

Judges 15:20

Samson judged Israel twenty years during Philistine days—a formulaic conclusion raising questions about his tenure. The phrase "in the days of the Philistines" suggests ongoing dominance rather than liberation. His judgeship operates within occupation, not against it. Unlike previous judges rallying military victory, Samson conducts raids and vendettas. His tenure ends abruptly with no narrative resolution.