FRAMEWORKS:
Judges 15: Samson's Triumph & Rule
v.1-5
Samson's Vengeance on the Philistines
v.6-8
Further conflict so Samson kills more Philistines
v.9-14
His own people go to hand him over to the Philistines
v.15-17
Samson kills a large number of Philistines
v.18-20
The Lord provides water of Samson
v.1-5
Samson's Vengeance on the Philistines
v.1
Later
on, at the time of wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat and
went to visit his wife. He said, “I'm going to my wife's room.”
But her father would not let him go in.
v.2
“I
was so sure you hated her,” he said, “that I gave her to your
companion. Isn't her younger sister more attractive? Take her
instead.”
v.3
Samson
said to them, “This time I have a right to get even with the Philistines;
I will really harm them.”
v.4
So
he went out and caught three hundred foxes and tied them tail
to tail in pairs. He then fastened a torch to every pair of tails,
v.5
lit
the torches and let the foxes loose in the standing grain of the
Philistines. He burned up the shocks and standing grain, together
with the vineyards and olive groves.
[Notes:
It becomes apparent that because of what has happened Samson is
not living with his wife, and when he goes to visit her eventually
he finds she has been given to another man. In revenge for this
he torches a large area of the Philistines' crops.]
v.6-8
Further conflict so Samson kills more Philistines
v.6
When
the Philistines asked, “Who did this?” they were told, “Samson,
the Timnite's son-in-law, because his wife was given to his companion.”
So
the Philistines went up and burned her and her father to death.
v.7
Samson
said to them, “Since you've acted like this, I swear that I won't
stop until I get my revenge on you.”
v.8
He
attacked them viciously and slaughtered many of them. Then he
went down and stayed in a cave in the rock of Etam.
[Notes:
Somewhat naturally, when the Philistines found out it was Samson,
they burn his wife and father-in-law. In retaliation he kills
many more of them. His second time of killing Philistines.]
v.9-14
His own people go to hand him over to the Philistines
v.9
The
Philistines went up and camped in Judah, spreading out near Lehi.
v.10
The
people of Judah asked, “Why have you come to fight us?”
“We
have come to take Samson prisoner,” they answered, “to do to him
as he did to us.”
v.11
Then
three thousand men from Judah went down to the cave in the rock
of Etam and said to Samson, “Don't you realize that the Philistines
are rulers over us? What have you done to us?”
He
answered, “I merely did to them what they did to me.”
v.
12
They
said to him, “We've come to tie you up and hand you over to the
Philistines.”
Samson
said, “Swear to me that you won't kill me yourselves.”
v.13
“Agreed,”
they answered. “We will only tie you up and hand you over to them.
We will not kill you.” So they bound him with two new ropes and
led him up from the rock.
v.14
As
he approached Lehi, the Philistines came toward him shouting.
The Spirit of the Lord
came powerfully upon him. [third
time] The ropes on his arms
became like charred flax, and the bindings dropped from his hands.
[Notes:
The Philistines invade Judah to get Samson but the men of Judah
step in and say they will get him. They tie him up and when the
Philistines come for him, the power of the Lord comes on him [for
a third time] and he burst free.]
v.15-17
Samson kills a large number of Philistines
v.15
Finding
a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck down a thousand
men.
v.16
Then
Samson said,
“With
a donkey's jawbone
I have made donkeys of them.
With a donkey's jawbone
I have killed a thousand men.”
v.17
When
he finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone; and the place
was called Ramath Lehi.
[Notes:
He then proceeds to kill a large number of them. His third time
of killing them.]
v.18-20
The Lord provides water of Samson
v.18
Because
he was very thirsty, he cried out to the Lord
, “You have
given your servant this great victory. Must I now die of thirst
and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?”
v.19
Then
God opened up the hollow place in Lehi, and water came out of
it. When Samson drank, his strength returned and he revived. So
the spring was called En Hakkore, and it is still there in Lehi.
v.20
Samson
led Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines.
[Notes:
Samson acknowledges the Lord as he cries out to Him for water
and the Lord provides it for him.]