Samson Versus the Philistines
15:1 Sometime later, during the wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat as a gift and went to visit his bride. He said to her father, “I want to have sex with my bride in her bedroom!” But her father would not let him enter.
Samson came to visit his wife sometime later during the wheat harvest, which would be around May or June. The wheat harvest was crucial to agricultural societies. Samson brought a young kid as a gift for his bride. This may have been a gift of reconciliation. Another possibility is that this was the gift of a visiting husband in a sadika marriage. In a sadika marriage, the woman becomes a mistress in her own home. Her husband visits her occasionally with gifts. The father refused to allow Samson to enter the home.
15:2 Her father said, “I really thought you absolutely despised her, so I gave her to your best man. Her younger sister is more attractive than she is. Take her instead!”
Like most men, the father treasured outward appearances over inward qualities.
15:3 Samson said to them, “This time I am justified in doing the Philistines harm!”
Samson was ready to take revenge upon the Philistines.
15:4 Samson went and captured three hundred jackals and got some torches. He tied the jackals in pairs by their tails and then tied a torch to each pair.
The Hebrew word for “jackals” is שׁוּעָלִ֑ים (shualim), meaning either jackals or foxes. Foxes travel alone. Jackals travel in packs. The jackals would have been an easier catch.
15:5 He lit the torches and set the jackals loose in the Philistines’ standing grain. He burned up the grain heaps and the standing grain, as well as the vineyards and olive groves.
Samson threatened the agricultural survival of the entire Philistine economy.
15:6 The Philistines asked, “Who did this?” They were told, “Samson, the Timnite’s son-in-law, because the Timnite took Samson’s bride and gave her to his best man.” So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father.
The irony was that Samson’s wife attempted to avoid this burning by revealing the riddle. However, she was burned anyway. This event showed the cruel mindset of the Philistines.
15:7 Samson said to them, “Because you did this, I will get revenge against you before I quit fighting.”
The Philistines murdered Samson’s wife and family. Therefore, Samson became the Avenger of Blood. He would take blood revenge upon these Philistine murderers. After Samson took his revenge, then he promised to leave the rest of the Philistines alone.
15:8 He struck them down and defeated them. Then he went down and lived for a time in the cave in the cliff of Etam.
Samson slaughtered these Philistines who murdered his wife. He then went to the cave in the cliff of Etam to retire from his revenge.
15:9 The Philistines went up and invaded Judah. They arrayed themselves for battle in Lehi.
Samson was from the tribe of Dan. He was not from the tribe of Judah. However the cave of Etam was in Judah territory. The Philistines responded to Samson’s mass murder by invading Judah. Judah was the most powerful Israelite tribe. This was the tribe from where the Messiah would be born.
15:10 The men of Judah said, “Why are you attacking us?” The Philistines said, “We have come up to take Samson prisoner so we can do to him what he has done to us.”
The purpose of attacking Judah was to flush out Samson.
15:11 Three thousand men of Judah went down to the cave in the cliff of Etam and said to Samson, “Do you not know that the Philistines rule over us? Why have you done this to us?” He said to them, “I have only done to them what they have done to me.”
Instead of sending out a 3000-man army to fight the Philistines, Judah sent out a 3000-man army against Samson. They greatly respected his strength.
15:12 They said to him, “We have come down to take you prisoner so we can hand you over to the Philistines.” Samson said to them, “Promise me you will not kill me.”
Samson did not want to have to defend himself and kill Jewish blood.
15:13 They said to him, “We promise! We will only take you prisoner and hand you over to them. We promise not to kill you.” They tied him up with two brand new ropes and led him up from the cliff.
The two new ropes were at full strength and would not break.
15:14 When he arrived in Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they approached him. But the Lord’s spirit empowered him. The ropes around his arms were like flax dissolving in fire, and they melted away from his hands.
The Philistines shouted with joy. Samson was bound and brought to his execution by his own people. However, the Holy Spirit empowered Samson. He broke off the new ropes easily.
15:15 He happened to see a solid jawbone of a donkey. He grabbed it and struck down a thousand men.
Samson violated the Nazarite vow by touching a dead animal bone. The jawbone was fresh, meaning that it was still solid. It was not weak and brittle. Samson killed an entire army of 1000 Philistines by himself. Some rabbis claim that this was the jawbone of Balaam’s donkey, but this is rabbinic superstition. Balaam’s donkey had been dead for centuries.
15:16 Samson then said, “With the jawbone of a donkey I have left them in heaps; with the jawbone of a donkey I have struck down a thousand men!”
Samson sang a song of his conquest, He killed the Philistines and stacked their bodies in heaps. This may have been several encounters instead of just one large battle.
15:17 When he finished speaking, he threw the jawbone down and named that place Ramath Lehi.
Samson completed his song. Samson named the location Ramath Lehi, meaning “the hill of the jawbone.”
15:18 He was very thirsty, so he cried out to the Lord and said, “You have given your servant this great victory. But now must I die of thirst and fall into hands of the Philistines?”
Samson called himself Jehovah’s “servant," meaning that he did understand his calling. He was thirsty, because he had just killed 1000 Philistines in the heat of the wheat harvest. Samson recognized that God gave him the victory. He was dependent upon God to bring him water.
It is important for the believer to remember that it is God who provides one with oxygen ood, water, clothing, and shelter. Without God, Samson could do nothing. Without God, the believer can do nothing. The atheist and the agnostic could not even criticize God, unless God gave them the air to breath, the health to live, the mind to think, and the lips to speak.
The end of verse 18 begins Samson's prayer. The prayer ends in verse 20. This prayer was a cry of humility. Without God, Samson would die of thirst and his dead body would fall into the hands of the Philistines. The Philistines would most likely desecrate Samson's physical body. The desecrated body of Samson would glorify Dagon and disgrace Jehovah. The Philistines would celebrate that their god Dagon was more powerful than Jehovahm the God of the Israelites.
Every experience in a believer's life is a gift from God. God should be glorified for the gifts that he gives to every believer. The power of God has been manifested in the life of believers many times. God should be praised for these divine actions.
In this prayer, Samson sees God as the master and himself as the servant. This is the relationship that the believer is to have with the Lord Jesus Christ. The believer will not be happy in this life unless he gives up his freedom and enslaves himself to the Lord Jesus Christ. A slave to Christ is much more happier than the most powerful king on earth.
During the Renaissance, the liberals returned to the hedonism and Roman and Greek thinking. They made man the center of all things. The mature believer makes the Lord Jesus Christ the center of his life. He becomes a slave to the Master whom he loves. If one does not enslave himself to Master Lord Jesus, then he is not fulfilling the purpose for which he was created. Everyone was created by God and for God. The secret to happiness is slavery to King Jesus.
Paul suffered maybe more than any man, but he was also possibly the happiest man in history. Paul made himself a bond-servant to King Jesus, meaning that he would serve Jesus forever. Paul asked all believers to do the same. He asked all believers to make themselves a bond servant to the Lord Jesus Christ.
15:19 So God split open the basin at Lehi and water flowed out from it. When he took a drink, his strength was restored and he revived. For this reason he named the spring En Hakkore. It remains in Lehi to this very day.
God heard the prayer of Samson and answered it. The pagan idols of ancient nations could not hear prayers, because they were nothing but metal, stone and wood.
It was God, not Samson, who split open the basin and quenched Samson’s thirst. The supernatural strength of Samson returned to him. Samson named the spring En-Hakkore, meaning “The Spring of Him that Calls." This spring was still in Israel at the time of this authorship.
Whenever a believer is living in spiritual or physical weakness, then the believer needs revival. The believer receives revival by studying the entire counsel of the Word of God.
15:20 Samson led Israel for twenty years during the days of Philistine prominence.
This weakness of Samson brought humility. Humility brought prayer. Prayer brought change. Samson was a changed man. He was a ready to serve God in his obedience and actions.
Samson’s judgeship covered the period from 1080 to 1060 B.C. Israel was at peace for 20 years. Samson did not judge “over” Israel, but “during Philistine prominence." The Lion of Judah, the tribe that was predicted to birth the Messiah, was under the domination of uncircumcised Philistines.
Samson made many mistakes in his life. However, when he humbled himself, then God used him. The stubborn believer needs to be careful. One must humble himself to be used by God. If one needs revival, then the study and application of the entire counsel to he Word of God will lead to a victorious life.