<ALIGN="CENTER" John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.
<ALIGN="CENTER"John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.
Judges 12:1
INTRODUCTION TO JUDGES 12
This chapter relates a quarrel between Jephthah and the Ephraimites, which was fatal to the latter, Jud 12:1, the time of Jephthah judging Israel, his death and burial, Jud 12:7 and it briefly makes mention of three more judges of Israel, Ibzan, Elon, and Abdon,
Jud 11:8.
Ver. 1. And the men of Ephraim gathered themselves together,.... Or "cried" {r}; got together by a cry or proclamation made: in the Hebrew text it is, "a man of Ephraim"; not a single man, but a body of men, who met together and joined as one man. It is highly probable that there were no less than 50,000 of them; for 42,000 of them were slain, Jud 12:6
and went northward; or, "went over northward {s}"; that is, over the river Jordan, which lay between Gilead and Ephraim; and when they had crossed the river, they turned northward; for Mizpeh, where Jephthah lived, was in the north of the land, near Hermon and Lebanon, Jos 11:3
and said unto Jephthah, wherefore passedst thou over to fight against the children of Ammon? not over Jordan, but over that part of the land of Israel from the plain where Jephthah dwelt, to the country of the children of Ammon:
and didst not call us to go with thee? they quarrel with him just in the same manner as they did with Gideon: these Ephraimites were a proud and turbulent people, and especially were very jealous of the tribe of Manasseh, of which both Gideon and Jephthah were; the one of the half tribe on this side Jordan, and the other of the half that was on the other side; and they were jealous of both, lest any honour and glory should accrue thereunto, and they should get any superiority in any respect over them, since Jacob their father had given the preference to Ephraim; and this seems to lie at the bottom of all their proceedings:
we will burn thine house upon thee with fire; that is, burn him and his house, burn his house and him in it; which shows that they were in great wrath and fury, and argued not only the height of pride and envy, but wretched ingratitude, and a cruel disposition; who, instead of congratulating him as Israel's deliverer, and condoling him with respect to the case of his only child, threaten him in this brutish manner.
{r} qeuy ebohsen, Sept. "clamatus", i.e. "clamando convocatus", Piscator. "mnellius", Pimcator. {s} rbey "transivit", Pagninus, Montanus; "transiverunt", Junius et Tremellius, Piscator.
Judges 12:2
Ver. 2. And Jephthah said unto them, I and my people were at a great strife with the children of Ammon,.... As to the cause of the war, or the reason of his going over to fight the children of Ammon, it was a strife or contention between the Gileadites and them, concerning their country; which the children of Ammon claimed as theirs, and the Gileadites insisted on it they had a just right to it; by which it appeared that this was not a personal contention between Jephthah and them; and therefore the Ephraimites had no reason to fall so furiously upon him particularly; and it was a contention which chiefly concerned the two tribes and a half, and not the rest; and so could not be blamed for defending themselves alone if they could, without interesting others in the quarrel: but this is not all he has to say, he adds,
and when I called you, ye delivered me not out of their hands; it seems he had called them to assist in driving the enemy out of their boarders when there, and they refused to help him; though it is not elsewhere said, and it is not denied by them, so that it was false what they alleged; or however, since they declined giving him any assistance, when the children of Ammon were in his country, he could not expect they would join him in an expedition into theirs.
Judges 12:3
Ver. 3. And when I saw that ye delivered me not,.... Gave him no assistance against their common enemy, did not attempt to save him and his people out of their hands, but left them to defend themselves:
I put my life in my hands; ready to deliver it up in the defence of his country; the meaning is, that he exposed himself to the utmost danger, hazarded his life in going with a few troops into an enemy's country to fight him, and so liable to lose his life; which was in as much danger, as some observe, as any brittle thing contained in the hand is in danger of falling, or of being snatched out of it:
and passed over against the children of Ammon: took a long and fatiguing march over the land of Gilead into that of the children of Ammon, to fight with them:
and the Lord delivered them into my hand; gave him victory over them, which showed that his cause was just, and his call to engage in it clear:
wherefore then are ye come up unto me this day to fight against me? who rather should have come with thanks to him for the service he had done, not only for the Gileadites, but for all Israel; for had he not fought against the children of Ammon, and conquered them, they would have soon not only overrun and oppressed Gilead, but would have come over Jordan, and dispossessed the other tribes, and particularly Ephraim, as they had done already, Jud 10:9 so that it was base ingratitude in these people to come to fight against Jephthah, who had fought for them, and wrought salvation for them.
Judges 12:4
Ver. 4. Then Jephthah gathered together all the men of Gilead, and fought with Ephraim,.... The Ephraimites not being pacified with the account Jephthah gave of the war between him and the children of Ammon, but continuing in their tumultuous outrage; he, being a man of spirit and courage, got as many of the Gileadites together as he could, and gave them battle:
and the men of Gilead smote Ephraim; had the advantage of them, worsted them, killed many of them, and put the rest to flight:
because they said, ye Gileadites are fugitives of Ephraim among the Ephraimites, and among the Manassites; what provoked them to fall upon them with the greater fury, and use them the more severely when, they had the better of them, was their reproachful language to them, insulting the Gileadites, who perhaps were chiefly, if not all, of the half tribe of Manasseh beyond Jordan, of which Jephthah was, that they were the scum of the house of Joseph, that they had run away from their brethren, and dwelt in a corner of the land by themselves; and were of no account at all among Ephraim and Manasseh, and disclaimed by them both, and not esteemed by either. The Targum is,
"the fugitives of Ephraim said, what are ye Gileadites accounted of among the Ephraimites, and among the Manassites?''
on which Kimchi remarks, that those Ephraimites that came in this tumultuous manner, and insulted Jephthah, were a most abject company of men, the refuse of the tribe of Ephraim, shepherds who through necessity were obliged to come over Jordan with their flocks and herds for pasture: but the words may be rendered, "for they said, fugitives of Ephraim are ye, even the Gileadites, who were, or being between the Ephraimites and the Manassites"; that is, the Gileadites called the Ephraimites so, when they fled before them, and when they got at the fords of Jordan, which lay between Ephraim and the half tribe of Manasseh on the other side Jordan; and they are in the next verse expressly so called.
Judges 12:5
Ver. 5. And the Gileadites took the passages of Jordan before the Ephraimites,.... Being either swifter of foot, or going a nearer and shorter way, being better acquainted with their own country:
and it was so, that when those Ephraimites which were escaped said, let me go over; the fugitives of Ephraim, as before called, who ran away from the battle, made their escape, and the best of their way to the passages of Jordan, to get over there to their own country:
that the men of Gilead said unto him; to everyone of them, as they came up,
art thou an Ephraimite? or an Ephrathite; for so it seems those of the tribe of Ephraim were called, as Jeroboam, 1Ki 11:26
if he said, nay; that he was not an Ephraimite;
Judges 12:6
Ver. 6. Then said they unto him, say now "Shibboleth",.... Which signifies a stream or course of water, at which they now were; and so it was as if they had bid them say,
"may I, or let me, pass over the stream of this river;''
so Jarchi; and this being the case, though it was done to try them, and by their pronunciation learn whether they were Ephraimites or not, they were not upon their guard, but in an hurry, and at once expressed the word as they commonly did:
and he said, sibboleth; pronouncing the letter "shin" as if it was "sin", or a "samech"; just as the French, as Kimchi observes, pronounce "s" like a "t"; and though the Gileadites and Ephraimites were of the same nation of Israel, and spoke the same language, yet their pronunciation differed, as did that of the Galilean Jews from others in the times of Christ, Mt 26:73, and so in all nations, among the Greeks, Romans, and among ourselves, people in different counties pronounce in a different manner; which Kimchi thinks was in the Ephraimites owing to the air or climate, as the French, he observes, pronounce "s" as a "t", with a soft and gentle sound:
for he could not frame to pronounce it right; or "thus" {t}, as he was bid to do; being used to pronounce otherwise, he could not frame the organs of speech, or so dispose and order them as to say "shibboleth"; or he did not frame, order, and dispose {u}; he was not careful to do it, though with some care he could, being not aware of the design of the Gileadites in it:
then they took him and slew him at the passages of Jordan; everyone as they came thither, who could not say "shibboleth"; these they suffered not to pass over, but slew them:
and there fell at that time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand; not at the passages of Jordan only; but what fell there, with those at the battle, and in the pursuit, amounted to this number; so that the Ephraimites paid dearly for their pride and insolence.
{t} Nk "sic", Pagninus, Montanus. {u} Nwkn al "non dirigebat", Montanus.
Judges 12:7
Ver. 7. And Jephthah judged Israel six years,.... After the affair of the Ephraimites, he was acknowledged by all Israel as their judge and supreme governor, but did not live long; being perhaps depressed and worn away with grief, on account of his daughter, and other troubles that attended him:
then died Jephthah the Gileadite, and was buried in one of the cities of Gilead: it is not said in what city he was buried, but very probably it was in his own city Mizpeh, where he dwelt. Josephus {w} says it was in his own country, Sebee, a city of Gilead.
{w} Antiqu. l. 5. c. 7. sect. 12.
Judges 12:8
Ver. 8. And after him Ibzan of Bethlehem judged Israel. There were two Bethlehems, one in the tribe of Zebulun, Jos 19:15 of which some think this man was; and another in the tribe of Judah, the city of Jesse and David, and of the Messiah; and Josephus says {x}, Ibzan was of the tribe of Judah, of the city of Bethlehem; and because Boaz was of the same place, and lived in the times of the judges, the Jewish Rabbins {y} are of opinion that he is the same with Ibzan; so Jarchi and Ben Gersom.
{x} Antiqu. l. 5. c. 7. sect. 13. {y} T. Bab. Bava Bathra, fol. 91. 1.
Judges 12:9
Ver. 9. And he had thirty sons and thirty daughters,.... Which was a very uncommon case for a man to have so many children, and those as to their sex to be equal. Between the former judge and him there was a great difference, in respect of this circumstance of children; he had but one daughter, an only child; and she, by reason of his vow, not suffered to marry. Such a difference does God, in his all wise Providence, make even among good men: nor is this any certain characteristic of a good man. Danaus had fifty daughters, and his brother Egyptus fifty sons, who were married to each other; and the husbands were all slain by their wives but one, on the wedding night, and so far from being happy in them: but it was otherwise with this judge:
whom he sent abroad, and took in thirty daughters from abroad for his sons; his daughters he sent abroad, or married them, to persons not of another nation, nor of another tribe, but of another family of the same tribe, and these he dismissed from him to live with their husbands; and he took in daughters of families in the same tribe to be wives to his sons, and who seem to have dwelt together; it being the custom then for sons, though married, to abide with their father, and their wives with them; as Abarbinel says is the custom at Zenobia unto this day:
and he judged Israel seven years; and in his days the wars of Troy are said {z} to begin; but they began in the times of Jephthah his predecessor, and ended in his {a}.
{z} Juchasin, fol. 136. 1. {a} Gerard. Vossii Isagoge Chron. dissert. 1. p. 4.
Judges 12:10
Ver. 10. Then died Ibzan, and was buried in Bethlehem. He died at the end of his seven years of government, and was buried in his native place; nothing memorable having happened during his being judge; this is all that is recorded of him.
Judges 12:11
Ver. 11. And after him Elon a Zebulonite judged Israel,.... One of the tribe of Zebulun:
and he judged Israel ten years; administered justice to them, preserved them in the true religion, and from idolatry; though it does not appear that any enemies arose in his time against them, from whom he delivered them.
Judges 12:12
Ver. 12. And Elon the Zebulonite died,.... At the end of his ten years of government:
and was buried in Aijalon in the country of Zebulun; which is added to distinguish it from another Aijalon in the tribe of Dan Jud 1:35.
Judges 12:13
Ver. 13. And after him Abdon the son of Hillell, a Pirathonite, judged Israel. So called from Pirathon, where he was born, and which was in the tribe of Ephraim, as appears from Jud 12:15.
Judges 12:14
Ver. 14. And he had forty sons, and thirty nephews,.... Or sons' sons, that is, grandsons; so that he lived not only to see his sons married, but his grandchildren grown up to men's estate; since it follows,
that rode on seventy ass colts; who were either employed by him to ride about on these animals, which in those times were honourable; see Jud 5:10 to administer justice throughout the nation in their circuits; or rather, not following any trade, or being concerned in husbandry, or feeding cattle, but being men of estates, rode about like gentlemen:
and he judged Israel eight years; in his time it is said {b} the city of Troy was destroyed; so Eusebius {c}, who calls this judge Labdon, though he elsewhere {d} places it in the times of Eli;
See Gill on "Jud 12:9".
{b} Juchasin, ut supra. (fol. 136. 1.) {c} Evangel. Praepar. l. 10. c. 11. p. 484. {d} Evangel. Praepar. l. 10. c. 11. p. 503.
Judges 12:15
Ver. 15. And Abdon the son of Hillell the Pirathonite died,.... At the end of his eight years' government;
and was buried at Pirathon, in the land of Ephraim, in the mount of the Amalekites; in the place where he was born, and from whence he had the name of a Pirathonite; and this was in the tribe of Ephraim, and the particular spot was Mount Amalek; so called either from the name of the person to whom it belonged, or because the Amalekites formerly dwelt in it; or rather because of some remarkable advantage got over them at this place: here, Josephus says {e}, this judge had a magnificent funeral.
{e} Ut supra, (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 7.) sect. 15.
<ALIGN="CENTER"John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.
Judges 13:1
INTRODUCTION TO JUDGES 13
This chapter relates the birth of Samson, another of the judges of Israel, which was foretold by an angel to his mother, who told her husband of it, Jud 13:1 upon whose entreaty the angel appeared again, and related the same to them both, Jud 13:8 and who was very, respectfully treated by the man, and by the wonderful things he did was known by him to be an angel of the Lord, which greatly surprised him, Jud 13:15 and the chapter is closed with an account of the birth of Samson, and of his being early endowed with the Spirit of God, Jud 13:24.
Ver. 1. And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord,.... Committed idolatry, which was the evil they were prone unto, and were frequently guilty of:
and the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines forty years: which according to Josephus {f} are to be reckoned from the death of the last judge, and the time of Samson's birth; or rather from some time after the death of Jephthah, particularly taking in the two last years of Ibzan, when the Ephraimites having been weakened through the slaughter of them by Jephthah, might encourage the Philistines to break in upon them; from which time to the birth of Samson were twenty years, and twenty more may be allowed before he could begin to deliver Israel out of their hands; so that the oppression lasted forty years. According to others, it began at the same time as the oppression of the Ammonites did, though it lasted longer, Jud 10:7.
{f} Ibid. (Antiqu. l. 5.) c. 8. sect. 1.
Judges 13:2
Ver. 2. And there was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of the Danites,.... Of the tribe of Dan, in which tribe Zorah was, and seems to have lain both on the borders of Judah and Dan, Jos 15:33;
See Gill on "Jos 15:33",
See Gill on "Jos 19:41", and this man was not a mean man, but of rank and figure, a principal man in the country, according to Josephus {g}; though the Talmudists {h} say he was a plebeian:
whose name was Manoah; which signifies "rest", and has much the same signification as Noah; and by this name he was well known in those times, and among his people:
and his wife was barren, and bare not; had no child, as the Targum; and it is observed by many, that several eminent persons were born of women that had been barren, as Isaac, Jacob, Samuel, and John the Baptist; and it is remarkable, that the strongest man that ever was born of such a woman, as the following account relates. The name of this woman, the mother of Samson, is said {i} to be Zalalponith; see 1Ch 4:3.
{g} Antique. l. 5. c. 8. sect. 2. {h} T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 61. 1. {i} T. Bab. Bava Bathra, fol. 91. 1. Juchasin, fol. 10. 8.
Judges 13:3
Ver. 3. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman,.... According to Josephus {k}, it was in a plain without the city; and that he appeared in the form of a man is certain from Jud 13:6 but was not a mere man, a prophet of the Lord, nor a created angel, but the uncreated one, the Angel of the covenant, the Son and Word of God, who often appeared in an human form; since his name is said to be "Wonderful", and he to do wonderful things, and is called "Jehovah",
Jud 13:18,
and said unto her, behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not; barren at that time, and so she had been ever since she was married to that time; and this is observed, that it might appear the more wonderful that she should after this have a child:
but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son; which to do, must be ascribed to divine power, that one in her circumstances should bear a son; as the prediction of it was owing to divine omniscience, and a proof of it.
{k} Antiqu. l. 5. c. 8. sect. 2.
Judges 13:4
Ver. 4. Now therefore beware, I pray thee, and drink not wine nor strong drink,.... Any liquor inebriating and intoxicating, neither new wine nor old wine, as the Targum, and so Jarchi; the reason of this appears in the next verse, because the child she should conceive and bear was to be a Nazarite, and to be one from his mother's womb; and from all such liquors, Nazarites, according to the law, were to abstain, Nu 6:3
and eat not any unclean thing; meaning not so much such sort of food as was forbidden by the law to be eaten, which every Israelite was to abstain from, but such as were particularly forbidden to Nazarites, as moist and dried grapes, or anything made of the vine tree, from the kernel to the husk, Nu 6:3. The reason of this is, because the child in the womb is nourished with the same the mother is; and as this child was to be a Nazarite from the womb, and even in it, his mother was to abstain both from eatables and drinkables forbidden a Nazarite by the law.
Judges 13:5
Ver. 5. For, lo, thou shalt conceive and bear a son,.... Which is not only repeated for the confirmation of it, but that she might take notice that he was to be a Nazarite, and therefore must conform to everything agreeable to the law of the Nazarites, and take care that it was observed in him:
and no razor shall come on his head; to cut off the hair of it, not from the time of his birth to his death; for he was to be a perpetual Nazarite: other Nazarites during the time of their Nazariteship were not to suffer a razor to come upon them, but afterwards might; but for such an one as Samson, it was not lawful ever to suffer his hair to be cut off; see Nu 6:5
for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God from the womb; in which he was a type of Christ, who was sanctified by the Lord, separated from sinners, and called a "Nazarene": was born of a virgin, as Samson was of a barren woman, and his birth foretold by an angel as this:
and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines; for the salvation he wrought for Israel was not complete and perfect; it was only begun by him, and carried on in the times of Eli, Samuel, and Saul, and perfected by David. In this his antitype exceeds him, who is the author of the complete salvation of his people out of the hands of all their enemies, sin, Satan, and the world; though in this there is a great resemblance between Samson and our Lord Jesus, in that what he did he did himself alone; not at the head of an army, and with forces under him, as other judges; so Christ with his own arm, and of himself, and without others, wrought salvation for his people; see Isa 63:5.
Judges 13:6
Ver. 6. Then the woman came and told her husband,.... To whom it would be joyful news, as it was to her:
saying, a man of God came unto me; he appeared in an human form, and therefore she calls him a man; and by his mien and deportment, and the message he brought, she concluded he was a man of God, that is, a prophet; by which name such persons went in those days; and so the Targum calls him a prophet of the Lord: but it is a mere conceit of Ben Gersom that it was Phinehas, who in all probability was not living; besides what is after related shows that this was a divine Person, and no other than the Son of God:
and his countenance was like the countenance of an angel of God, very terrible; for though she might never have seen an angel, yet it being a common notion that angels were very illustrious, of a beautiful form and of a shining countenance, and very majestic, she compares the man she saw to one; for by being "very terrible", is not meant that he was frightful, and struck her with horror, but venerable and majestic, which filled her with admiration:
but I asked him not whence he [was], neither told he me his name; this she added to prevent her husband's inquiring about his name and place of abode; and perhaps, as she came along, she reflected on herself that she did not ask those questions; which might be owing to the surprise she was in, partly at the awful and venerable appearance of the person, and partly at the joyful news he brought her; though it seems as if she did ask his name, but he did not tell her what it was.
Judges 13:7
Ver. 7. But he said unto me, behold, thou shalt conceive and bear a son,.... She says nothing of her barrenness, which the angel took notice of to her, that having been to her reproach:
and now drink no wine nor strong drink; neither new wine nor old wine; so the Targum as before:
neither eat any unclean thing; which was so in a ceremonial sense; otherwise every creature of God is good, and not to be called common or unclean; it here respects what was forbidden Nazarites to eat; see
Jud 13:4
for the child shall be a Nazarite to God from the womb; it is here added, what is not before expressed,
unto his death; for he was to be a perpetual Nazarite; some were only Nazarites for a time, for so many days or months, according to their vow; but this son was to be a Nazarite all his days, by the appointment of God; nor is it any objection to what is here said, that his hair was cut off before his death, which caused his Nazariteship to cease; since these words are not a prophecy, but a precept; and besides, that affair happened but a little before his death, he died quickly afterwards.
Judges 13:8
Ver. 8. Then Manoah entreated the Lord,.... Josephus {l} makes the woman to entreat the Lord; but the text is clear for it that it was Manoah that prayed:
and said, O my Lord, let the man of God which thou didst send unto us; he believed that the man that came to his wife was a man of God, and that he was of his sending; nor was he incredulous of the message he brought, as appears by what follows:
and teach us what we shall do unto the child that shall be born; he believed there would be a child born, and he knew what was to be done to a Nazarite in common, according to the law of God respecting such, and the angel had mentioned somewhat to the woman; yet this being an extraordinary case, a Nazarite from his birth to his death, he was desirous of knowing what was further to be done; or if there was any thing more special and particular to be observed concerning him; which showed his readiness and cheerfulness to obey the will of God in all things.
{l} Ut supra, (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 8.) sect. 3.
Judges 13:9
Ver. 9. And God hearkened unto the voice of Manoah,.... Heard his prayer and answered it:
and the angel of God came again unto the woman as she sat in the field; who very likely returned to the same place where she was before, in hope her husband's prayers would be heard, and the man return and come to her where he had before met her; as well as she might be here retired for meditation and prayer; unless it can be supposed that she had business here to do, as keeping a flock of sheep, which women, and those great personages too, were wont to do in those times and countries, as Rebekah the sister of Laban, and the daughters of Jethro, prince of Midian:
but Manoah her husband was not with her; the angel appeared to the woman again, because she would know him to be the same; whereas had he appeared to Manoah, especially alone, he could not have known whether he was the same or not. This clause is observed for the sake of what follows.
Judges 13:10
Ver. 10. And the woman made haste, and ran,.... It is not improbable what Josephus says {m}, that she entreated the angel to stay a little till she fetched her husband, which he assented to, and then made all the haste she could to him, partly through eagerness to acquaint him with it, and partly that she might not make the prophet she took him to be wait too long:
and showed her husband; that his prayer was heard:
and said unto him, behold, the man hath appeared unto me that came unto me the [other] day; or, as the Targum, "this day"; so Kimchi and Ben Melech; for the word "other" is not in the text. It is very probable it was the same day he came again he had appeared to her; perhaps it was in the former part of the day he first came to her, when she went home to her husband, and acquainted him with it, who prayed to the Lord that he might be sent again; and then she returned to her place in the field, and in the latter part of the day the angel appeared again.
{m} Antiqu. l. 5. c. 8. sect. 3.
Judges 13:11
Ver. 11. And Manoah arose and went after his wife,.... As soon as she had delivered the above, she made all the haste she could to the man again, lest he should think her too long, and depart; and it was proper enough she should go first, to direct her husband where the man was; Jarchi interprets it, after her counsel and advice:
and came to the man, and said unto him, art thou the man that spakest unto the woman? meaning his wife then present:
and he said, I am; the very same person; for though he was not a man, yet appearing in an human form was taken for one; and therefore makes answer according to the supposition of him, and was the selfsame person, and in the same form he had appeared before.
Judges 13:12
Ver. 12. And Manoah said, now let thy words come to pass,.... Which was not only a wish that they might, but a prayer of faith that they would come pass:
how shall we order the child? and how shall we do unto him? he believed a child would be born, and as he was to be a Nazarite, he knew what were the rules and orders to be observed concerning one in common; but as he was to be an extraordinary one, he was desirous of knowing what particular laws and rules were to be observed with respect to him, or what more was to be done to him than to another: the words may be rendered, as in the margin of our Bibles, "what shall be the judgment of the child, and his work?" and seems to relate not to what should be done to it, but what that should do; for being an extraordinary Nazarite, he supposed that some extraordinary work would be done by him, and he was curious to know it; and so Abarbinel interprets it of his request to know things future and wonderful, that should be done after the child was grown up; but this the angel chose not to inform him of, since it might have been prejudicial to them, should the Philistines get knowledge that this child would be a judge and saviour of Israel, and do such and such things to them as he did, they would have sought to have slain his wife while she bare him, or the child when born; and it may be observed, that though the angel told the woman at first, that he should "begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines", Jud 13:5, yet she said nothing of it to her husband, nor did the angel repeat it.
Judges 13:13
Ver. 13. And the angel of the Lord said unto Manoah,.... Giving him no direct answer to his question, either what should be done to the child, or what that should do; only reminds of and repeats what he had said to his wife, which she should be careful to observe and would, and that was enough for him to know:
of all that I said to the woman, let her beware; take to abstain from everything in eating and drinking during the time of her going with child, he had joined, which are particularly repeated in the next verse.
Judges 13:14
Ver. 14. She may not eat of anything that cometh from the vine,.... Grapes moist or dried, kernels, or husks, or anything made of them:
neither let her drink wine, or strong drink; as she was to be careful to abstain from such liquors, so her husband also is enjoined not to suffer her to drink any:
nor eat any unclean thing; which was so by the law of Moses, and particularly by the law of the Nazarites:
all that I commanded her, let her observe; both with respect to herself and the child.
Judges 13:15
Ver. 15. And Manoah said unto the angel of the Lord,.... Being satisfied with what he had said, and perceiving that he chose to say no more, and was about to depart:
I pray thee let me detain thee, until we shall have made ready a kid for thee; to eat a meal with them, in token of gratitude for the trouble he had been at in bringing these messages to them, taking him to be a man, a prophet of the Lord, for whom they were wont to make entertainments; and Abarbinel thinks Manoah proposed this, on purpose to detain him, in hope that while they were eating together he would reveal some secrets unto him.
Judges 13:16
Ver. 16. And the angel of the Lord said unto Manoah,.... In answer to his request:
though thou detain me, I will not eat of thy bread; that is, should he be prevailed upon to stay awhile with him, until an entertainment should be got ready, he would not eat of any of his provisions; for "bread" is put for all eatables, or whatsoever he might provide for the entertainment:
and if, or "but if" {n}
thou wilt offer a burnt offering, thou must offer it unto the Lord; if he meant to provide not a festival entertainment, but a sacrifice, then he should take care that he did not offer it to strange gods, as was now very much the custom with Israel in this their time of apostasy,
Jud 13:1 but to the true Jehovah, and not to a servant of his, a prophet or an angel, but to himself:
for Manoah knew not that he was an angel of the Lord; he took him to be a man, a prophet sent of God, and not an angel; and much less the uncreated one, to whom as such only the sacrifice could be offered.
{n} Maw "si autem", V. L. "quod si", Tigurine version; "sin autem", Junius & Tremellius; "si vero", Piscator.
Judges 13:17
Ver. 17. And Manoah said unto the angel of the Lord, what is thy name,.... Who art thou, and by what name art thou called? for since he could not prevail upon him to stay and eat a meal with him, he desired to know his name, and where he lived, that when he heard his name mentioned he might speak well of him, or send to him upon occasion; or if any message was sent from him, as Jarchi suggests, that he might show a respect to him, and observe it: and particularly,
that when thy sayings come to pass, we may do thee honour? say that such a prophet, whose name is such, and lives in such a place, foretold these things; or that they might send him a present, in gratitude for, and as a reward of his service and trouble; so the reward of a labourer, and the maintenance of a Gospel minister, is called "honour", 1Ti 5:17 and thus Josephus {o} understood it, that they might give him thanks, and send him a present.
{o} Antiqu. l. 5. c. 8. sect. 3.
Judges 13:18
Ver. 18. And the angel of the Lord said unto him,.... Being so importunate, and pressing upon him;
why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret? and not to be known; as his nature and essence as a divine Person, which may be meant by his name, is what passes knowledge, is infinite and incomprehensible; see Pr 30:4 or "wonderful" {p}; which is one of the names of Christ, and fitly agrees with him, who is wonderful in his person, as God and man; in his incarnation, in his offices and relations, in his love to his people, and in all he is unto them, and has done for them;
See Gill on "Isa 9:6".
{p} yalp yaumaston, Sept. "mirabile", V. L. Montanus; "mirificus", Junius & Tremellius.
Judges 13:19
Ver. 19. So Manoah took a kid with a meat offering,.... The kid which he proposed to make an entertainment with, for the man of God, he took him to be, he fetched and brought for a burnt offering, at the hint which the angel had given him, and joined to it a meat offering, as was usual whenever burnt offerings were made; see Nu 15:3,
and offered it upon a rock unto the Lord; for though Manoah was not a priest, nor was this a proper place for sacrifice; high places were now forbidden, and only at the tabernacle in Shiloh were offerings to be brought; yet all this was dispensed with, and Manoah was justified in what he did by the warrant of the angel, Jud 13:16. The rock was probably near the place where this meeting of Manoah and his wife with the angel was, and where the discourse between them passed; and which served instead of an altar, and on which Manoah sacrificed, not to idols, but to the true Jehovah, as the angel directed:
and the angel did wondrously; agreeably to his name, which was "Wonderful", Jud 13:18 or "he, Jehovah, did wondrously" for this angel was no other than Jehovah the Son. The instance in which he did wondrously was, as Kimchi observes, by bringing fire out of the rock, which consumed the flesh of the kid, and the meat offering; and so Josephus {q} says, that he touched the flesh with a rod he had, and fire sparkled out, and consumed it with the bread, or meat offering; just in the same manner as the angel did with the kid and cakes that Gideon brought, Jud 6:21
and Manoah and his wife looked on; to see either fire come down from heaven, or spring up out of the rock, which consumed the sacrifice, and showed the Lord's acceptance of it, and also the angel's ascending in it, as follows.
{q} Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 8. sect. 3.)
Judges 13:20
Ver. 20. For it came to pass, when the flame went up towards heaven from off the altar,.... That is, from the rock, which served instead of an altar, and from whence perhaps the fire sprung which consumed both the burnt offering and the meat offering, the flame of which went up to heaven; this rock or altar having no covering, but was "sub dio", open to the heavens:
that the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar; making use of the smoke, as Josephus {r} says, as a vehicle in which he openly went up to heaven:
and Manoah and his wife looked on it; on the flame and smoke, and the angel in it as he ascended; just as the disciples of Christ looked steadfastly on him as he went up to heaven, when a cloud received him out of their sight, Ac 1:9
and fell on their faces to the ground; with astonishment and surprise at what they saw, through fear and reverence of the divine Being, of whose presence they were now sensible, and as worshipping of him, and praying to him.
{r} Ibid. (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 8. sect. 3.)
Judges 13:21
Ver. 21. But the angel of the Lord did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife,.... As the flame and smoke ascended, he disappeared therewith, and was seen no more:
then Manoah knew that he was an angel of the Lord; by the wondrous things he did, causing fire to come down from heaven, or out of the rock, ascending in the midst of the flame, without being hurt by it, and going up to heaven in it.
Judges 13:22
Ver. 22. And Manoah said unto his wife,.... Being risen from the ground, where they fell on their faces:
we shall surely die, because we have seen God; by which it appears that he not only believed him to be an angel, and not a man, but a divine Person; for though angels are sometimes called "Elohim", the word here used, yet good men were not wont to fear death, or conclude they should die on sight of an angel; but their notion was, that an appearance of God to them was death, and were surprised when it did not follow,
Ge 32:30.
Judges 13:23
Ver. 23. But his wife said unto him,.... Who was less fearful, and the strongest believer of the two, seeing her husband so very much intimidated, endeavoured to comfort and strengthen him by the three following arguments:
if the Lord was pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt offering and a meat offering at our hands; for it was at the direction of this illustrious Person that they offered these offerings, and who testified the divine acceptance of them, by causing fire in an extraordinary manner to consume them, which was always reckoned a token of God's acceptance of them; and besides, the angel went up in the flame, as being well pleased with them, and, as it were, carrying up the sacrifice to heaven with him, as a sweetsmelling savour to God. Here the angel is called Jehovah by the woman, and shows this was the uncreated angel:
neither would he have showed us all these things; which they saw as the appearance of a divine Person to them in an human form, the consuming of the sacrifice by fire in so strange a manner, and the ascent of the angel heavenwards in the flame of it:
nor would, as at this time, have told us [such things] as these; as that they should have a son; how the woman was to manage herself, while with child of him; and how when born he was to be brought up, and what things God would do by him, and begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines. Now all this would not have been told at such a time of distress, as the nation was now in, but to comfort them, or he would never have told them of a son to be born of them, if they were to be destroyed immediately. So an enlightened soul may reason from the sight and sense he has had of his sinful, lost, and undone state by nature; from the revelation of Christ to him as the only way of salvation; from the views he has had of the glories of his person, and the riches of his grace; and from that communion with God he has sometimes enjoyed; from all this he may reason, that if God had a design to damn him for his sins, he would never have made such discoveries of love, grace, and mercy to him; as well as from the sacrifice of Christ, God has provided and accepted of, on the foot of which justice is engaged to save; and besides, grace and glory are inseparable.
Judges 13:24
Ver. 24. And the woman bare a son, and called name Samson,.... After these appearances were over, Manoah and his wife returned to their habitation, and she soon became pregnant, and at the usual course of time brought forth a son, and she gave him the name of Samson; for what reason it is not easy to determine. Josephus says {s} the word signifies "strong"; perhaps he was born a strong robust child, which is not unlikely, or the woman might have some prophetic hint of his future strength, and so gave him this name; but the word has not the signification of strength in it; it rather signifies the sun, which is indeed a strong body, and is compared to a strong man running his race, and so a strong man may be compared to that; but rather, with respect to the sun, this name might be given him, because of the splendour of his countenance with which he might be born, or in memory of the shining countenance of the angel which brought the tidings of his birth, or because he was to be the instrument of dispelling the darkness of calamity and distress Israel were now in: but the word more properly signifies a minister or servant, from whence the sun has its name; for Samson was to be, and was, a minister and servant of God, and of his people Israel. There is an agreement between the type and the antitype in this name in either sense. Christ is the mighty God, and mighty Saviour, the sun of righteousness, the light of the world, and the deliverer of his people from darkness of calamity and distress; and who came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and perform the great service of redemption and salvation:
and the child grew in bodily strength and stature, and grew up to man's estate, Lu 2:40
and the Lord blessed him; not only with extraordinary strength of body, but with great endowments of mind, with the Spirit and graces of the Spirit; with grace, and blessings of it, and with his gracious presence; with this compare Ps 21:3.
{s} Ut supra, (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 8.) sect. 4.
Judges 13:25
Ver. 25. And the Spirit of the Lord began to move him at times in the camp of Dan,.... To go out into it, in order to be trained up in and inured to military exercises; or it began to "strike" his mind, inject thoughts into it, and impress it with them concerning doing great things for the people of God in time to come; and for the present put him upon doing strange and wonderful exploits, which were omens of what was to be done by him hereafter; and these were done by him now and then, not always, but as the Spirit of God came upon him, under the impulse of which he did them, and by the strength he gave him; so the Targum,
"and the Spirit of strength from the Lord began to strengthen him.''
This camp of Dan was either a camp formed in that tribe, to prevent the incursions of the Philistines; or rather, since it does not seem that Israel had strength enough to resist them, they having got the power over them, this was the name of a place called Mahanehdan near Kirjathjearim, from the Danites encamping in it, when they went to besiege Laish, Jud 18:11 for the fact was done before this time, though related afterwards:
between Zorah and Eshtaol; which were two cities in the tribe of Dan, and upon the borders of the tribe of Judah; of which see
Jos 15:33. It may be observed, that as the tribe of Dan lay near to the Philistines, and so liable to their ravages, and might be most oppressed by them, so a deliverer of Israel was raised up in this tribe.
<ALIGN="CENTER"John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.
Judges 14:1
INTRODUCTION TO JUDGES 14
This chapter treats of Samson's courtship, and marriage of a Philistine woman, Jud 14:1 of his meeting with a young lion as he went courting, and of his slaying it, and afterwards finding honey in it, Jud 14:6, of a riddle which be framed out of this incident, and put to his companions at his marriage to solve, giving them seven days to do it in, with a promise of a reward,
Jud 14:10 and of their solving it by means of his wife, who got the secret from him, Jud 14:15, which led him to slay thirty Philistines, to make good his promise of thirty sheets and changes of raiment, and to leave his newly married wife, who was given to his companion, Jud 14:19.
Ver. 1. And Samson went down to Timnath,.... A city which by lot fell to the tribe of Judah, but was afterwards given to the tribe of Dan, and now in the hands of the Philistines,
Jos 15:57. Judah is said to go up to it, because the place where he lived lay below it, Ge 38:13, but Samson is said to go down to it, because he lived above it. The Jews {t} differ about the reconciliation of these two places; some say there were two of this name, the one is a descent, and the other is an ascent; others say there was but one, so situated, that they that came to it on one side ascended, and they that came to it on the other side descended. Bochart {u} approves of the former. According to Bunting {w}, this was twelve miles from Eshtaol, where Samson lived:
and saw a woman in Timnath, of the daughters of the Philistines; who at this time dwelt there; he saw no doubt many other women besides her, but he took special notice of her, and entertained a particular affection for her; or, in other words, on sight of her fell in love with her.
{t} T. Bab. Sotah, fol. 10. 1. {u} IIierozoic. par. 1. l. 3. c. 4. col. 763, 764. {w} Travels, &c. p. 115.
Judges 14:2
Ver. 2. And he came up, and told his father and his mother,.... Of his passion of love, being desirous of having their approbation and consent, in which he acted a dutiful part, and what became him; and may be an example to children to advise with their parents, and have their opinion and consent before they engage in such an enterprise, even before courtship: and said,
I have seen a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines; whom he had a good liking of, and a strong affection for; he is very open and ingenuous in his account, does not go about to hide anything from his parents, or colour things over, or conceal her descent, but frankly tells them she was a Philistine woman, which he knew would at once furnish out an objection against her:
now therefore get her for me to wife: for it seems it was the custom then, when a young man had found a woman he liked, that it was left to his parents to entreat with the woman and her friends about the marriage of her to him.
Judges 14:3
Ver. 3. Then his father and his mother said unto him,.... What he might expect, and doubtless did expect:
is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren, or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines? none in their own family, nor in the tribe of Dan, nor among the whole nation of Israel, but must go among the uncircumcised Philistines; for though they were not of the seven nations of the Canaanites, with whom marriage was forbidden, yet they not only dwelt where they did, and where the Israelites should, but were idolaters and impure persons, and therefore affinity should not be contracted with them, as being of a dangerous consequence, which might entice to idolatry. Ben Gersom observes, that their Rabbins say he made her a proselyte first, though he did not acquaint his parents with it, and so Abarbinel; but this seems not likely, for, had this been the case, he would have had an easy and ready reply to this objection of theirs:
and Samson said unto his father, get her for me, for she pleaseth me well; or "is right in mine eyes" {x}; not only his eyes were taken with her beauty or external form, but it was right in his sight, in his judgment, to marry her; he having an impulse upon his mind from the Spirit of God unto it, though he did not let his parents know of it, but left them to conclude it sprung from a strong affection to her person. Abarbinel observes, that he only addressed his father, and not his mother, she being most vehemently against the match, and expressing more uneasiness at it than his father did; but it is most likely that he addressed his father particularly, because he was the proper person to negotiate this affair for him.
{x} ynyeb hrvy "recta in oculis meis", Montanus, Junius et Tremellius.
Judges 14:4
Ver. 4. And his father and mother knew not that it was of the Lord,.... That he should marry this uncircumcised Philistine; Samson knew it was, and that his desire of having her in marriage did not arise from carnal affection to her merely, being captivated with her beauty and external form, for she was not so very fair, her younger sister was fairer than she, Jud 15:2 but he perceived it was the mind and will of God that he should take such a person to wife, by the impulse of the Spirit of God upon him, pointing it, unto him, inclining and urging him to it, suggesting the end and design of it, and the opportunity it would give him of quarrelling with the Philistines, and taking vengeance on them; but this his parents were ignorant of, nor did he let them know that this was of God:
that he sought an occasion against the Philistines; in this way, by this means; they might know he sought to get an opportunity to be avenged on them for their oppression, and to attempt the deliverance of Israel; but they knew not that it was the will of God that a way should be opened for it by this means. Samson might be directed by the Lord to reason thus in his mind, that if he proposed to the Philistines to marry one of their daughters, and they should reject his proposal, this would give him a reason to fall out with them, and fall upon them; and if they should agree to such a match, he might expect they would be kind to him, and to his people for his sake, being in alliance with them, or he should resent it, and take occasion from hence to come to a quarrel with them:
for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel; had invaded their country, and dwelt in their cities, and made them tributary to them, and used them ill; which Samson observing, was provoked to seek an opportunity of avenging the injuries done them, and of delivering them, and he was directed to it this way.
Judges 14:5
Ver. 5. Then went Samson down, and his father and his mother, to Timnath,.... They were prevailed upon to go with him, either because they perceived his affections were so strongly set upon a wife, that they thought it advisable to agree to it, lest it should be of bad consequence to him, or because he let them know that the thing was of God, and what was his design in it:
and came to the vineyards of Timnath; the land of Canaan was a land of vineyards, and particularly that part of it which was inhabited by the Philistines and Phoenicians; and though we nowhere read of the wine of Timnath, yet frequent mention is made in authors of the wine of Ashkelon, Gaza, and Sarepta, inhabited by the above people; these vineyards seem to have lain somewhat out of Samson's way; but hither he turned on some account or another from his parents, perhaps to eat some grapes:
and, behold, a young lion roared against him; not a whelp, that is expressed by another word, but one more grown, and is afterwards called a lion simply; and, by the Targum, a lion, the son of lions or lionesses; which seeing him in the vineyards, where he was lurking, came out to meet him, and roared at him in a hideous manner, and came up to him to destroy him: these creatures, though now more rare in those parts, were at this time frequent, and in later times: see
1Sa 17:34 and several writers {y} make mention of lions in Mesopotamia and Syria; and Strabo {z}, and Pliny {a} speak of a city in Phoenicia near Sidon, called the city of lions, because perhaps it had been much infested with them; and for a like reason it may be some cities in the tribes of Judah and Simeon were called Lebaoth and Bethlebaoth, Jos 15:32.
{y} Strabo. Geograph. l. 16. p. 514. Curtius, l. 8. sect. 1. Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 16. {z} Geograph, l. 16. p. 520. {a} Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 20.
Judges 14:6
Ver. 6. And the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him,.... The Spirit of might from the Lord, as the Targum, inspiring him with courage and intrepidity of mind, and increasing his bodily strength:
and he rent him as he would rend a kid; as he came up to him to seize him, he laid hold on him and strangled him, as Josephus {b} says, caught him by the throat, and tore it out; for it does not seem that the carcass was torn to pieces, or limb from limb, by what follows; and this he did with as much ease as if he had had only a kid to deal with:
and he had nothing in his hand; not a staff to keep it off, nor a spear, sword, or knife to stab it with: in this Samson was a type of Christ, who has destroyed our adversary the devil, compared to a roaring lion, 1Pe 5:8 to a lion for his strength, cruelty, and voraciousness; to a roaring lion, making a hideous noise and stir when the Gospel was carried unto the Gentiles, and they were about to be called and espoused to Christ; from among whom he was cast out, and by no other weapon than the ministration of the Gospel, accompanied with the power of Christ, and his Spirit:
but he told not his father or his mother what he had done; when he overtook them, as he quickly did, he said not a word to them of his meeting with a lion and slaying it; which, as it showed his modesty in not blazing abroad his wonderful and heroic actions, in which also he was a type of Christ, but his great prudence in concealing this, lest his great strength should be known too soon, and the Philistines be upon their guard against him, or seek to dispatch him privately; though no doubt he had pondered this in his own mind, and considered it as an omen and presage of the advantage he should have over the Philistines his enemies, whom he should as easily overcome as he had that lion, and that without any instrument of war.
{b} Antiqu l. 5. c. 8. sect. 5.
Judges 14:7
Ver. 7. And he went down, and talked with the woman,.... Entered into a conversation with her, that he might the better judge of her other qualifications, besides that of outward form and beauty, whether she would be a suitable yoke fellow for him; and he talked with her about marriage, and proposed it to her, or talked about her to her father and near relations; and, as the Targum expresses it, asked the woman, not only asked of her consent, but demanded her of her friends: it may refer, as Abarbinel observes, to his father, that he went down and talked with the woman and with her relations about her, concerning the affair of his son's marriage with her:
and she pleased Samson well; he liked her conversation as well as her person, and the more he conversed with her, the more agreeable she was to him, and the more desirous he was to marry her. Though some observe from hence, that she did not please the father of Samson as himself; so Abarbinel.
Judges 14:8
Ver. 8. And after a time he returned to take her,.... Matters being agreed on, and settled on both sides, and the espousals made, he and his parents returned, and, at the proper usual time for the consummation of the marriage, he went again to Timnath for that purpose. It is in the Hebrew text, "after days" {c}, which sometimes signifies a year, see Ge 4:3 and so Ben Gersom interprets it, that a year after this woman became Samson's wife (i.e. betrothed to him) he returned to take her to himself to wife; and it seems, adds he, that twelve months were given her to prepare herself; and some considerable time must have elapsed, as appears from what had happened to the carcass of the lion, next related:
and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion: just before he came to Timnath he thought of the lion he had slain some time ago, and he went a little out of the way to see what was become of it, or had happened to it. Josephus says {d}, when he slew it he threw it into a woody place, perhaps among some bushes, a little out of the road; for which reason it had not been seen and removed, and was in a more convenient place for what was done in it:
and, behold, [there was] a swarm of bees and honey in the carcass of the lion; and though naturalists {e} tell us that bees are averse to flesh, and will not touch any, yet in the course of time that the carcass of this lion had lain, its flesh might have been clean eaten off by the fowls of the air, or was quite dried away and consumed, so that it was nothing but a mere skeleton; a bony carcass, as the Syriac version. Josephus {f} says, the swarm was in the breast of the lion; and it is no more unlikely that a swarm of bees should settle in it, and continue and build combs, and lay up their honey there, than that the like should be done in the skull of Onesilus king of Cyprus, when hung up and dried, as Herodotus {g} relates. Besides, according to Virgil {h}, this was a method made use of to produce a new breed of bees, even from the corrupt gore and putrid bowels of slain beasts; and Pythagoras {i} observes, they are produced from thence. This may be an emblem of those sweet blessings of grace, which come to the people of Christ through his having destroyed Satan the roaring lion, and all his works; particularly which came to the poor Gentiles, when the devil was cast out from them, and his empire there demolished.
{c} Mymym "a diebus", Montanus; "post dies", Vatablus. {d} Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 8. sect. 5.) {e} Aristot. Hist. Animal. l. 9. c. 40. Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 11. c. 21. {f} Ut supra, (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 8.) sect. 6. {g} Terpsichore, sive, l. 5. c. 114. {h} "----quoquo modo caesis", &c. Georgic. l. 4. ver. 284, &c. "Liguefacta boum per viscera", &c. Ib ver. 555. {i} Apud Ovid. Melamorph. l. 15. fab. 4. ver. 365, 366.
Judges 14:9
Ver. 9. And he took thereof in his hands, and went on eating,.... Josephus {k} says he took three honeycombs, he means three pieces of the honeycomb, and ate the honey as he went along to Timnath; which he might do without touching the carcass of the lion, and defiling himself thereby, which, as a Nazarite, he was more especially to be careful of:
and came to his father and mother, and he gave them, and they did eat; who went down with him to the consummation of the marriage, and from whom he had turned a little aside; and now overtook them, and to whom he gave some of his honey to eat, which, having travelled some way, might be grateful to them. The above writer takes no notice of this, but says he gave of it to the young woman whom he betrothed, when he came to her; but of that the text makes no mention:
but he told not them that he had taken the honey out of the carcass of the lion; either lest they should scruple eating it, being taken out of such a carcass; or that the riddle, which perhaps he meditated as he came along eating the honey, might not be found out, which might more easily have been done, had this fact been known by any.
{k} Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 8. sect. 6.)
Judges 14:10
Ver. 10. So his father went down unto the woman,.... At Timnath, whom Samson had espoused; the Targum is,
"about the business of the woman;''
about the consummation of the marriage with her; they all three went, the father, the mother, and the son, as appears from the preceding verse:
for Samson made a feast, for so used the young men to do; at the time of marriage; this was the nuptial feast common in all nations; but it seems the custom now and here was for the bridegroom to make it; whereas from other instances we learn, that the father of the bridegroom used to make it,see Gill on "Mt 22:2" and the Vulgate Latin version here renders it,
and he made a feast for his son Samson; the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions add, seven days, and so long this feast was kept,
Jud 14:12. Now this marriage of Samson with a daughter of the Philistines was a type of the marriage of Christ with his people, especially with the Gentile church, such as were not of the commonwealth of Israel, but sinners of the Gentiles, very ignorant of divine things, reproached by the Jews, and their calling an offence to them; and may fitly express the love of Christ to his church, though unworthy of it, which is a love of complacency and delight, arising from his own good will and pleasure, and not owing to any superior beauty, excellence, worth, or worthiness in them, they being no better than others, children of wrath, even as others, see Jud 15:2 as well as there is an agreement in the manner of his obtaining and betrothing her, which was by applying to his father to get her for him, and being got and given, be betrothed her; so Christ asked his people of his father to be his spouse, which request being obtained, he betrothed them to himself in righteousness; and the Gospel feast, or ministry of the word, is kept and continued on account of it,
Ps 21:2.
Judges 14:11
Ver. 11. And it came to pass; when they saw him,.... That is, the Philistines, the citizens of Timnath, when they saw that he was come to consummate his marriage:
that they brought thirty companions to be with him; to be the bridegroom's men, or children of the bridechamber, as they are called, Mt 9:15 or friends of the bridegroom, Joh 3:29 to keep him company during the nuptial feast: this they did according to custom, and in honour and respect unto him; though some think, and so Josephus {l}, that they were brought to be guards upon him, observing that he was a man of great might, strength, and courage, so that they were afraid of him, lest he should have some design upon them; but it is not certain that there was anything very visible or terrible in him, more than in another man, that showed him to be of extraordinary courage and strength, since it was but at times the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and as yet he had done nothing to their knowledge which showed him to be such; had they indeed known of his encounter with the lion, they might have had such thoughts of him, but this they knew nothing of.
{l} Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 8. sect. 6.)
Judges 14:12
Ver. 12. And Samson said unto them,.... His thirty companions, very likely on the first day of the feast:
I will now put forth a riddle to you: a secret, hidden, abstruse thing, not easy to be understood; a dark saying, wrapped up in figurative terms; and this he proposed as an amusement to them, to exercise their wits, which it seems was usual to entertain guests with, and might be both pleasing and profitable:
if you can certainly declare it unto me within the seven days of the feast; for so long the nuptial feast was usually kept, see
Ge 29:27. If they could find it out; and with clearness and certainty explain the riddle to him within that period of time, which was giving them time enough to do it in:
then I will give you thirty sheets, and thirty change of garments: that is, every man one of each. By "sheets" he means, as Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it, a covering of the body in the night next to the flesh, in which a man lies, and was made of linen; meaning either what we call shirts, or bed sheet, and by change of raiment, a suit of clothes worn in the daytime.
Judges 14:13
Ver. 13. But if ye cannot declare it unto me,.... Explain the riddle in the space of time allowed:
then shall ye give me thirty sheets, and thirty change of garments; so many shirts and suits of apparel:
and they said unto him, put forth thy riddle that we may hear it; not thereby to judge whether they would agree to his proposals, but hereby suggesting that they accepted his terms and conditions, either to give or receive the above premium, if they did or did not hit on the explanation of the riddle.
Judges 14:14
Ver. 14. And he said unto them, out of the eater came forth meat,.... Out of a devouring eater, such as the lion is, came forth honey, or that was taken out of it, which Samson, and his father and mother, ate of, and which was the common food of some persons, as of John the Baptist:
and out of the strong came forth sweetness: not only out of that which was strong in body while alive, but of a strong and ill scent, as the carcass of a dead lion is, and out of that came forth honey, than which nothing is sweeter. Josephus {m} expresses it,
"that which devours all things furnishes out pleasant food, when that itself is altogether unpleasant:''
and they could not in three days expound the riddle; so long they laboured to find it out, but then began to despair of it.
{m} Antiqu. l. 5. c. 8. sect. 6.
Judges 14:15
Ver. 15. And it came to pass on the seventh day,.... Not on the seventh day of the feast, for some time before that they applied to his wife, and she pressed him hard to disclose it; but on the sabbath day, as Kimchi, and so Jarchi says, on the seventh day of the week, not on the seventh day of the feast, for it was the seventh day of the feast; this is so clear, that the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions, instead of the seventh, read the fourth day:
that they said unto Samson's wife, entice thy husband, that he may declare unto us the riddle; that is, persuade him to tell the meaning of it to her, that she might declare it to them:
lest we burn thee and thy father's house with fire; in which she now was, not as yet being taken home to her husband, and her in it; this they said to terrify her, and make her importunate with Samson to explain the riddle to her, if he had any value for her, and her life:
have ye called us to take that we have? invited them to the wedding feast, to strip them of their clothes, and even take their very shirts off of their backs, which they must have been obliged to part with, if they could not explain the riddle, or send for other suits and shirts from their own houses: "is it not so?" verily this is the case, nor can it be understood otherwise than a contrived business between thee and thy husband, to get our raiment, woollen and linen, from us.
Judges 14:16
Ver. 16. And Samson's wife wept before him,.... When she came to him to get out of him the explanation of the riddle, thinking that her tears would move him to it:
and said, thou dost but hate me, and lovest me not: another artifice she used, well knowing he could not bear to have his affection called in question, which was now very strong, as is usual with newly married persons:
thou hast put forth a riddle unto the children of my people; her countrymen, fellow citizens, and neighbour, and could not but be dear to her, and respected by her; so that what affected and afflicted them must have some influence upon her:
and hast not told me; that is, the explanation of it, otherwise it is likely she had heard the riddle itself told:
and he said unto her behold, l have not told it my father nor my mother, and shall I tell it thee? his parents he was greatly indebted to, for whom he had the highest reverence and esteem, whose fidelity and taciturnity he had sufficient knowledge of, and yet he had not thought fit to impart it to them; how therefore could she expect to be trusted with such a secret, with whom he had not been long acquainted, not long enough to know whether she could keep it or not?
Judges 14:17
Ver. 17. And she wept before him the seven days, while the feast lasted,.... Those that remained of the seven days, from the fourth to this time, as Kimchi seems rightly to interpret it; though some think she began to beseech him with tears, on the first day of the feast, to impart the secret to her for her own satisfaction; and then, after the men had urged her on the fourth day to persuade her husband to it, she continued pressing him more earnestly with tears unto the seventh day. Some, as Abarbinel observes, and to whom he seems to incline, think there were fourteen days, seven days before the festival began, on the last of which they importuned her to try to get the secret from him, Jud 14:15, and that she continued pressing all the second seven days; but it seems quite clear that it was at the beginning of the seven days of the feast that the riddle was put, which was to be explained within that time, Jud 14:12
and it came to pass on the seven day, that he told her, because she lay sore upon him; pressed him most earnestly with her entreaties, cries, and tears:
and she told the riddle to the children of her people; though she knew it would be to her husband's detriment, and that he must be obliged to give them thirty sheets of linen, and as many suits of apparel, and though it is probable she had promised not to tell them.
Judges 14:18
Ver. 18. And the men of the city said unto him, on the seventh day, before the sun went down,.... And so soon, enough to free them from the obligation they otherwise would have been under, to have given him the sheets and changes of raiment agreed unto:
what is sweeter than honey? nothing, at least that was known, sugar not being invented. Julian the emperor {n}, in commendation of figs, shows, from various authors, that nothing is sweeter than they, excepting honey:
and what is stronger than a lion? no creature is, it is the strongest among beasts, Pr 30:30. Homer {o} gives the epithet of strong to a lion:
and he said unto them, if ye had not ploughed with my heifer; meaning his wife, whom he compares to an heifer, young, wanton, and unaccustomed to the yoke {p}; and by "ploughing" with her, he alludes to such creatures being employed therein, making use of her to get the secret out of him, and then plying her closely to obtain it from her; and this diligent application and search of theirs, by this means to inform themselves, was like ploughing up ground; they got a discovery of that which before lay hid, and without which they could never have had the knowledge of, as he adds:
ye had not found out my riddle; the explanation of it. Ben Gersome and Abarbinel interpret ploughing of committing adultery with her; in which sense the phrase is used by Greek and Latin writers {q}; but the first sense is best, for it is not said, "ploughed my heifer", but with her.
{n} Opera, par. 9. epist. 24. {o} Odyss. 4. ver. 336. {p} Vid. Horat. Carmin, l. 2. ode 5. Graja. "Juvenca venit". Ovid. ep. 5. ver. 117. {q} Vid. Bochart. Hierozoic par. 1. l. 2. c. 41. col. 406.
Judges 14:19
Ver. 19. And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him,.... The Spirit of might from the Lord, as the Targum; which filled him with zeal and courage, animating him to the following undertaking, and increased his bodily strength to perform it:
and he went down to Ashkelon; one of the five principal cities of the Philistines; it lay near the Mediterranean sea, and, according to Bunting {r}, was twenty four miles from Timnath; why he went so far, is not easy to say; some think there was some grand solemnity or festival observed there at this time, which he knew of, when persons put on their best suits of apparel, and such he wanted: and slew thirty men of them; in vindication of which, it may be observed, that Samson was now raised up of God to be judge of Israel; and that he acted now as such, and under the direction and impulse of the Spirit of God, and the persons he slew were the common enemies of Israel; and if now observing a festival in honour of their gods, they were justly cut off for their idolatry:
and took their spoil; their clothes off their backs, stripped them of their apparel, and even of their shirts, all which he brought away with him: and here it may be observed, that though Samson was a Nazarite, yet not a common one, and was an extraordinary person, and not in all things bound to the law of the Nazarites; at least that law was dispensed with in various instances relative to him, as taking honey out of the carcass of the lion, and here stripping dead bodies which were defiling, and other things:
and gave change of garments unto them which expounded the riddle; to the thirty companions, to whom it was proposed, each man a suit of apparel taken from the thirty men he slew at Ashkelon, and sheets or shirts also no doubt, though not expressed. Indeed some have thought, because they did not find out the riddle of themselves, he did not give them the whole premium, and that by their own consent:
and his anger was kindled; against his wife, for her treachery and unfaithfulness to him, and against his companions for their deceitful usage of him, and against the citizens of the place, who perhaps laughed at him, being thus tricked and deceived:
and he went up to his father's house; left his wife, and her relations, and his companions, and the men of Timnath, and betook himself to his father's house again, as if he had been never married; his parents very probably had returned before him.
{r} Travels of the Patriarchs, &c. p. 116.
Judges 14:20
Ver. 20. But Samson's wife was given to his companion,.... By her father, and with her consent, both being affronted and provoked by Samson leaving her, who judged her not only to be injured, but hereby discharged from him, and free to marry another:
and whom he had used as his friend; though there were thirty of them that were his companions, yet there was one of them that was the principal of them, and was the most intimate with him, whom he used in the most friendly manner, and admitted to a more free conversation than the rest, the same that is called the friend of the bridegroom, Joh 3:29 while the others were called the children of the bridechamber, Mt 9:15. It is not unlikely that this person had too much intimacy with Samson's wife before, and so had the secret of the riddle from her, and so very readily married her, as soon as Samson departed; and all this furnished out an occasion and opportunity, which Samson sought for, to be revenged on the Philistines, as in the following chapter.
<ALIGN="CENTER"John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.
Judges 15:1
INTRODUCTION TO JUDGES 15
This chapter relates, that Samson being denied his wife, did by a strange stratagem burn the corn fields, vineyards, and olives of the Philistines, Jud 15:1, and that because of their burning her and her father, he made a great slaughter of them, Jud 15:6, which brought the Philistines against the men of Judah, who took Samson and bound him, to deliver him to the Philistines, when he, loosing himself, slew a thousand of them with the jaw bone of an ass,
Jud 15:9 and being athirst, God in a wonderful manner supplied him with water, Jud 15:18.
Ver. 1. But it came to pass within a while after,.... Or "after days", a year after, the same phrase as in Jud 14:8 in the time of wheat harvest; which began at Pentecost, as barley harvest did at the passover; this circumstance is mentioned for the sake of the following piece of history:
that Samson visited his wife with a kid; by this time his passion of anger subsided, and he "remembered" his wife, as the Targum expresses it, and thought proper to return to her, and attempt a reconciliation with her; and for that purpose took a kid with him to eat a meal with her in her own apartment, which in those days was reckoned an elegant entertainment, and was a present to a king, 1Sa 16:20. Isidore {s} derives the Latin word for a kid, "ab edendo", from eating, as if it was food by way of eminency, as it is both savoury and wholesome:
and he said, I will go with my wife into the chamber; where she was, as women had their chambers and apartments by themselves; this he said within himself, or resolved in his own mind, and perhaps expressed it in her father's hearing, or however moved that way, which plainly indicated his design:
but her father would not suffer him to go in; placed himself perhaps between him and the door, and parleyed with him, and declared he should not go into his daughter's chamber; Samson, through his superior strength, could easily have pushed him away, and broke open the door, but he did not choose to use such violent methods, and patiently heard what he had to say, and submitted.
{s} Origin. l. 12. c. 1. p. 101.
Judges 15:2
Ver. 2. And her father said, I verily thought that thou hadst utterly hated her,.... Not only thought so, but said so, and had said it over and over again; for the words are, "saying I said" {t}, affirmed it confidently and constantly, that "in hating thou hast hated her" {u}, with an implacable hatred, that there was no hope of any reconciliation:
therefore I gave her to thy companion; this he said to excuse his daughter, and soften his resentment, that it was not his daughter's doing, but his, and that he had disposed of her not to anybody, but to a companion of Samson's; and what follows seems to be said with the same view, for he might be in some fear of Samson, knowing him to be a man of spirit and strength:
is not her younger sister fairer than she? take her, I pray thee, instead of her; that is, to wife; and two things he observes to recommend her, her youth and beauty, in which she was preferable to her sister. Such incestuous marriages were common with the old Canaanites, and it seems still continued; but were condemned by the law of God, and not allowed an Israelite, which Samson knew full well, and therefore listened not to the proposal; see Le 18:3.
{t} ytrma rma "dicendo dixi", Pagninus, Montanus, Piscator. {u} htanv anv "odiendo odires eam", Pagninus, Montanus; so Piscator.
Judges 15:3
Ver. 3. And Samson said concerning them,.... His wife's father, and other relations, and the citizens of Timnath; this, which is what follows, he said either within himself respecting them, or he said it to them openly and publicly before them all:
now shall I be more blameless than the Philistines, though I do them a displeasure; signifying, that if he did them an ill thing, or what might be reckoned an injury to their persons or properties, and which would be disagreeable and displeasing to them, they could not justly blame him for it, since they had given him such a provocation as to dispose of his wife to another man; though Samson did not mean to act, nor did he act in the following instances as a private person taking private revenge, but as a public person, and judge of Israel; and took occasion, from the private injuries done him, to avenge the public ones of the children of Israel upon the Philistines; and they might thank themselves for giving the opportunity, which they could not justly condemn him for taking.
Judges 15:4
Ver. 4. And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes,.... Nor should this be thought at all incredible, since Canaan and Palestine abounded with foxes; hence several places therein had their names of Shual, which signifies a fox, Jos 15:28. A traveller {w} in those parts says that foxes swarm there, and that there are very great numbers of them in the hedges, and ruins of buildings: and these creatures were very pernicious to vines, and so may reasonably be thought to be about Timnath in great numbers, because of the vineyards there, Jud 14:5, besides, there is no necessity of supposing that Samson took all these himself, he might employ others in catching them for him, nor that he took them at the same time, on one and the same day; he might be many days and weeks about it, and keep them up until he had got his number: to which may be added, there was a creature in those parts very much like a fox, called Thoes, which, as Bellonius {x} says, were about Caesarea and Palestina, and go two hundred in company; and so making use of proper means, which Samson was not unacquainted with, great numbers might be taken together; but, above all, it may be observed, that as this was under the direction of the divine Providence, God could easily cause such a number of creatures to be gathered together, and taken, as he ordered all the living creatures, as by an instinct, to come into the ark to Noah:
and he took fire brands; or rather torches, made of oily and resinous matter, which were not easily extinguished:
and turned tail to tail; took two foxes, and tied their tails together with a cord, giving them room enough to run about, as such creatures do, not forward, but in a crooked, flexuous manner, here and there:
and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails: which torch seems to have been fastened to the cord with which the tails were tied; he did not put a firebrand or torch to the tail of every single fox, which then would have made its way to its own den, but between two, which could not enter into one hole, and would draw different ways, and stop each other, and so do greater damage to the fields and vineyards into which they came.
{w} Morrison's Voyage, l. 2. c. 31. apud Calmet in the word "Fox". {x} L. 2. c. 11. apud Scheuchzer. Physic. Sacr. vol. 3. p. 476.
Judges 15:5
Ver. 5. And when he had set the brands on fire,.... Disposed as before related; and foxes being naturally fearful of, and frightened with fire, and especially so near them as at their tails, would run into the first place they could for shelter:
he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines; which being ripe, as it was now wheat harvest, would soon take fire; and taking fire, this would in course cause the foxes to run still further to other parts of standing corn, and set fire to them also; besides, it is reasonable to suppose that Samson did not let them go all at once on one spot, but disposed of them, some here, and some there, to do the greater and more speedy execution:
and burnt up both the shocks, and also the standing corn, with the vineyards and olives; for as it was in the time of harvest, in some places the corn was standing, and in other places it was cut down, and put into shocks or heaps; and to these the foxes would naturally run to shelter themselves, and so set fire to them, as well as they would make their way to the vineyards or oliveyards, either for shelter also, or for the sake of the grapes and olives, to satisfy their hunger, after having been detained long for this purpose; and thus by one means or another they destroyed the corn, the vines, and olives of the Philistines in those parts. Some would have it, in order to shun the difficulties objected by the enemies of revelation, that the word for "foxes" should be rendered "sheaves" or shocks of corn, set end to end {y}, which the word for "tail" is said to signify; and firebrands or torches being set on fire, communicated it to standing corn, shocks of corn, vineyards, and oliveyards; but there is no need to put such a sense upon the words, as already observed; nor is the word translated "foxes" ever used in Scripture in any form for "sheaves" or shocks of corn, but always others; nor in any Jewish writings, nor in the sister dialects, Arabic, Chaldee, or Ethiopic; and in any place of Scripture where it is translated "fox" or "foxes", should the word "sheaves" or "shocks" be put, the sense would appear most ridiculous; nor is the word for "tail" ever used in Scripture, in a literal sense, but for the tail of a living creature; nor is the word for "took" or "caught" ever used of taking anything in common, but either of taking men or cities by force, or of creatures in nets, traps, and snares: and the sense which such a version of the words would give is not only contrary to the Hebrew text, and to the Chaldee paraphrase, but to all the ancient versions, Arabic, Syriac, Septuagint, and Vulgate Latin, and to Josephus. The memory of this great event was kept up, or a custom borrowed from it, as some learned men have observed in the Vulpinaria of the Romans, mentioned by Ovid {z}, and others, which bore a great resemblance to this, and which was observed at the same time of the year, about the middle of April, or calends of May; which exactly agrees with the time of wheat harvest in Palestine; when in the Circus they used to send out foxes with burning torches fixed to their backs. Nor need this affair of Samson's seem more strange or incredible than the great number of creatures brought into the Circus at Rome, to be seen there together. Sylla first introduced one hundred lions, after him Pompey the great three hundred, and Julius Caesar, when he was dictator, four hundred, as Pliny {a} relates. Probus {b} sent into the amphitheatre at one time, which he made like a wood full of trees, 1000 ostriches, a like number of harts, does, boars, and other creatures each; and at another time one hundred lions, as many lionesses and leopards each, and three hundred bears; Heliogabalus {c} got together 1000 weasels, 10,000 mice, 10,000 weight of spiders and flies.
{y} Observ. Halens. apud Stockium in voc. lev, p. 1126. & Hardtius apud Marck. Dissertat. Philolog. Exercitat. 5. sect. 7. p. 196. {z} Fasti, l. 4. Vid. Alex. ab Alex. Genial. Dier. l. 5. c. 26. {a} Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 16. {b} Vopiscus in Vita Probi. {c} Ib. in "Vita ejus".
Judges 15:6
Ver. 6. Then the Philistines said, who hath done this?.... They asked and inquired one of another, who they thought could be the author of such mischief:
and they answered, Samson, the son in law of the Timnite; this they said either by conjecture, which might be the case of some; and others more confidently asserted it, having heard what he said, Jud 15:3 and they assign a very good reason for it,
because he had already taken away his wife, and given her to his companion, which had provoked him to do such an action as this; and perhaps the very same persons that were very well pleased before that Samson was so served, yet now were full of wrath and indignation at the Timnite, having suffered so much in their property on his account:
and the Philistines came up, and burnt her and her father with fire; Josephus {d} says, her and her relations; they set fire to her father's house, where she was, and burnt them both in it, whereby that evil came upon her she thought to avoid by getting the secret of the riddle out of Samson, and telling it to his companion, Jud 14:15 and suffered the proper punishment for her adultery; the people that did this were those that lived in the towns adjacent, from whence they came up to Timnath, whose fields, vineyards, and oliveyards, had been destroyed by the foxes with their firebrands.
{d} Antiqu. l. 5. c. 8. sect. 7.
Judges 15:7
Ver. 7. And Samson said unto them,.... After they had burnt his wife and her father in their dwelling house, by which they thought to appease him, being afraid of him:
though ye have done this, yet will I be avenged of you; not for burning his wife and father-in-law; his sense is, that though they had done this, in order to ingratiate themselves with him, yet he should not stop on this account, but be avenged on them, not for private injuries done to him, or any that had been in connection with him, but for public injuries done to Israel, and their oppression of them:
and after that I will cease; when he had taken full vengeance on them, and not before.
Judges 15:8
Ver. 8. And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter,.... Either smote them on their hips and thighs with his hands (for it does not appear he had any weapon of war), so that they were sadly bruised, and maimed, and lamed, that they could not stir, and of which blows and bruises multitudes died: or he smote them with his legs on their thighs, kicked them about at pleasure, which kicks numbers of them never got over; or the meaning of the proverbial expression is, he laid on them at a great rate, and smote them here and there, and any where, which issued in the death of many of them: the Targum is,
"he smote them horse and foot,''
their cavalry and infantry, destroyed them both; but it does not appear that they came out in an hostile manner unto him, and much less in the form of a regular army:
and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam. Josephus says {e}, that Samson having slain many in the fields of the Philistines, went and dwelt at Etam, a strong rock in the tribe of Judah; and which agrees with 2Ch 11:6, where mention is made of the city Etam, along with Bethlehem and Tekoah, cities in that tribe, which had its name either from this rock, or the rock from that. The Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions read,
"in a cave of the rock of Etam;''
and the Syriac and Arabic versions, in Sahaph, which is on the rock of Etam, as if Sahaph was the name of a city there; hither Samson went, not through fear, or for safety, but to wait for another opportunity of further avenging the injuries of Israel on the Philistines.
{e} Ibid. (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 8.) sect. 8.
Judges 15:9
Ver. 9. Then the Philistines went up,.... From Palestine, which lay low on the shore of the Mediterranean sea:
and pitched in Judah; in the laud of Judea, which lay higher, particularly in the tribe of Judah, whither they came with an army, and encamped there:
and spread themselves in Lehi; their forces were so many, that they extended a considerable way, and particularly reached to Lehi, that is, which was afterwards so called; for it has its name by anticipation from the jaw bone, which it signifies, with which Samson slew many in this place, as after related.
Judges 15:10
Ver. 10. And the men of Judah said,.... To the Philistines, very probably by a deputation, which they sent unto them, to know the reason of this formidable appearance:
why are ye come up against us? in this hostile manner, with such a number of forces, since they were not conscious to themselves that they had done anything to offend them; they had not attempted to cast off their yoke, they quietly submitted to their government, and had paid their whole tribute, as Josephus {f} represents them saying; they could not imagine what should be the meaning of all this:
and they answered, to bind Samson are we come up; that is, to oblige them to bind him, and deliver him into their hands:
to do to him as he hath done to us: to put him to death, as he had slain many of their people in the last rencounter with them.
{f} Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 8. sect. 8.)
Judges 15:11
Ver. 11. Then three thousand of Judah went up to the top of the rock of Etam,.... Or "went down" {g}; that is, into the cave of the rock of Etam, as the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions; and so it is taken by David de Pomis {h} for a cave dug in the rock: this was a large number that went to take one man; the reason is, they knew his great strength:
and said to Samson, knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us? and therefore it must be a very unwise thing to disoblige and provoke them, when it lay in their power to oppress them yet more and more, to increase their tribute, and make their burdens heavier, and even take away their lives:
what is this that thou hast done unto us? they ask not what he had done to them, but unto us; though they mean that, but express themselves thus, because what he had done to the Philistines was the occasion of their coming up against them, and so eventually it was doing them ill:
and he said unto them, as they did unto me, so have I done to them; they had done him ill, and therefore he did ill to them; they had burnt his wife and her father with fire, and he had slain many of them; at least this was what he thought fit to say in his own vindication; otherwise what he did was not in a way of private revenge, but on account of the injury done to the people of Israel, he taking what was done to them as done to himself, the chief magistrate and judge of Israel.
{g} wdryw, "et descenderunt", Pagninus, Montanus; "descenderunt ergo", V. L. Tigurine version. {h} Tzemach David, fol. 112. 3.
Judges 15:12
Ver. 12. And they said unto him, we are come down to bind thee,.... That is, they were come down into the cave where he was; otherwise more properly they were come up to the top of the rock:
that we may deliver thee into the hands of the Philistines; they own what was their intention in binding him, and what put them upon it was not ill will to him, but fear of the Philistines:
and Samson said unto them, swear unto me that ye will not fall upon me yourselves; which shows he did not fear them, though they were 3000; and that if they attempted to take away his life, he should defend himself, but he chose not to shed the blood of any of them; and rather than they should come into any distress through the Philistines, consented to be bound by them, and delivered into their hands; which he was a type of Christ, who was betrayed by the Jews, and delivered by them into the hands of the Romans; and though he could have delivered himself by his great strength, would not, but suffered himself to be taken and bound, and given into the hands of his enemies, that his own people might go free; see Joh 18:4.
Judges 15:13
Ver. 13. And they spake unto him, saying, no,.... They declared they would not fall upon him themselves and slay him; nor would the Jews put Christ to death themselves, though they were virtually his betrayers and murderers, Joh 18:31
but we will bind thee fast and deliver thee into their hands; as the Jews did Christ, and not only delivered him bound to the high priest, but also to the Roman governor, Mt 27:2
but surely we will not kill thee: not with their own hands, but then they proposed to deliver him into the hands of the Philistines, from whence nothing but death could be expected; so that had they put him to death, they would have been accessory to it, as the Jews were to the death of Christ by delivering him to the Gentiles, and are charged with it, Ac 2:23.
and they bound him with two new cords; not with one only, lest it should not be sufficient to hold him, knowing his strength, but with two, and these not old worn out ones, but new ones just made, and very strong; and, as Joseph Kimchi, noted by Ben Melech, were trebled, or made of three cords or thongs, for greater security; and of flax, as the following verse intimates, and such are most firm and strongest to hold anything; hence nets were made of flax to hold creatures in, fish, fowl, or beasts {i}:
and brought him up from the rock; the place, as Kimchi says, where the men of Judah dwelt, being higher than the rock; though rather the true sense is, they brought him up out of the cave in the rock.
{i} Vid. Plin Nat. Hist. l. 19. 1.
Judges 15:14
Ver. 14. And when he came unto Lehi,.... The place which was afterwards so called, from what happened there at this time, and where the Philistines were spread, Jud 15:9 this, according to Bunting {k}, was six miles from Etam:
the Philistines shouted against him: for joy that they had got him into their hands, and in the circumstances he was, being bound, so that they had nothing to fear from him:
and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him: as it at times did, and had done before; the Targum is,
"the Spirit of might from the Lord,''
which gave him courage and resolution of mind, and great strength of body, even while he was speaking, as a token of the wonders God more than he had at other times:
and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire; as easily parted as the flax when fire takes it, which is consumed at once:
and his bonds loosed off from his hands; by which it appears that both arms and hands were bound with the cords; his arms were pinioned close to his body, as well as his hands were tied together; and these, as in the original, "melted away" {l}, like wax before the fire, or snow before the sun, so easily were these bands separated from him; this may be an emblem of Christ's loosing himself from the cords of death, Ac 2:24.
{k} Travels, p. 116. {l} womy "diffuxerunt", Tigurine version; "liquefacta sunt", Piscator.
Judges 15:15
Ver. 15. And he found a new jawbone of an ass,.... That is, the jawbone of an ass lately killed, which perhaps had some of the flesh upon it, the blood or purulent matter on it; for Jarchi says, he had read in the books of physicians, that the word here used signifies the sanies or purulent matter of a wound; however, it was moist, and fresh, and so tough and strong, and would bear to strike with, and give hard blows with, when an old jawbone would have been dry and brittle; and perhaps the asses of those countries were larger than ours, and so their jawbones bigger and stronger:
and put forth his hand and took it; it lay near him, being so disposed by the providence of God at the time and place where his cords were loosed from him, and he reached and took it up:
and slew one thousand men therewith, such was his great strength, that every blow he gave in all probability killed a man; there have been wonderful things done by mighty warriors, but none like this; they have by the use of warlike weapons destroyed many, as with the sword or spear, but not with such an instrument. One of David's worthies slew three hundred men at one time with his spear, 1Ch 11:11 and Scanderbeg with his sword slew great numbers of the Turks with his own hand at different times; what comes nearest to this is Shamgar's killing six hundred Philistines with an ox goad, Jud 3:31, this may be an emblem of the weak and contemptible means of the Gospel, the foolishness of preaching, by which Christ has conquered and subdued multitudes to himself.
Judges 15:16
Ver. 16. And Samson said,.... In a kind of triumphant song:
with the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps; that is, with such an instrument he had slain heaps of men, who lay dead in heaps upon one another; in the words for an "ass", and for an "heap", is an elegant "paronomosia", not easy to be expressed in our language:
with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men: this he said not in a proud and haughty manner, ascribing it to himself, as Josephus suggests {m}, since he takes notice of the mean instrument he used; which showed that he was sensible it was not done by his own power, but by the power of God, which enabled him by such weak means to do such wonderful things.
{m} Antiqu. l. 5. c. 8. sect. 9.
Judges 15:17
Ver. 17. And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking,.... Of delivering out the above song, which very probably consisted of much more than what is here expressed:
that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand; which he held in his hand had wrought by him through the means of it, and so served to animate him to praise and thankfulness; but having no further use for it, he threw it away:
and called the place Ramathlehi; that is, the casting away the jawbone, so Kimchi; but Ben Gersom thinks it was an high place where it was thrown, and so signifies the elevation or lifting up of the "jawbone", as the Septuagint version renders it.
Judges 15:18
Ver. 18. And he was sore athirst,.... Which Josephus {n} thinks came upon him as a rebuke unto him, for ascribing the victory he had obtained to his own strength, and not to the Lord, whereby he was shown his own weakness, and how easily his strength could be reduced; but for this there seems to be no foundation; it is not to wondered at, in a natural way, that he should be athirst after he had been bound with cords, after he had so exerted himself, and slain 1000 men with his own hand, and after he had celebrated this victory with a triumphant song; and it may also be observed, that it was so ordered in Providence, that he might in this be a type of the Messiah, who on the cross, as he was spoiling principalities and powers, and triumphing over them in it, said, "I thirst", Joh 19:28
and called on the Lord, and said; in prayer to him:
thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of thy servant; he owns the deliverance to be great, as indeed, it was, and that it was of the Lord, and he only his servant and instrument in it:
and now shall I die for thirst; when my life has been saved in so wonderful a manner, and so great a salvation has been wrought by my hands, as an instrument:
and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised? which would be matter of joy and triumph to them, and mar the glory of the deliverance wrought.
{n} Antiqu. l. 5. c. 8. sect. 9.
Judges 15:19
Ver. 19. And God clave an hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water thereout,.... A socket in which was fastened one of the teeth, and was in the form of a mortar; so Jarchi and Ben Melech, as the word for an hollow place signifies; one of the grinders was knocked out, and so the place where it had been was left hollow, and out of that sprung a stream or flow of water; which was very wonderful, since out of such a place rather blood, or purulent matter, would naturally have issued; the Targum is,
"the Lord clave the rock which was in the jaw;''
which Kimchi interprets thus, the rock was under the jaw and the rock was made as a hollow place, and therefore they call it "mactes", a mortar: the sense seems to be this, that the place on which Samson cast the jawbone was a rock, and there God clave an hollow place, out of which water sprung, and which perhaps was under the jawbone, and sprung under it, and through it; and so Josephus says {o}, that God at his prayer brought a sweet and large fountain out of a certain rock; and the words of the text will bear to be rendered, "and God clave, an hollow place, which is in Lehi"; that is, in the place called Lehi,
Jud 15:9 and not in the jawbone itself:
and when he had drank, his spirit came again, and he revived; his spirit was sunk and gone, as it were, but upon drinking a draught of this water he was refreshed and cheered, recovered his spirits, and became brisk and lively:
wherefore he called the name thereof Enhakkore; that is,
"the fountain of him that was calling;''
of Samson that called upon God in prayer, and was heard, in memory of which he gave it this name; so the Targum,
"therefore its name was called the fountain that was given through the prayer of Samson:''
which is in Lehi unto this day; or in the jawbone: not that the jawbone continued unto the time of the writer of this book, but the name of the place where this miracle was wrought, which was in Lehi, continued to be called Enhakkore unto that time, and it may be the fountain itself continued also; nay, Giycas {p} says, who lived but about six hundred years ago, that the fountain continued unto his time, and was to be seen in the suburbs of Eleutheropolis, and was called the fountain of the jawbone.
{o} Ibid. (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 8. sect. 9.) {p} Annal. par. 2. p. 164. apud Reland. Palestin. Illustrat. p. 872.
Judges 15:20
Ver. 20. And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years. While they had the power over the Israelites, who were not entirely delivered out of their hands by Samson, he only began to deliver them, but did not completely do it; though he got many advantages over them, and wrought many salvations and deliverances, yet was not the author of perfect salvation, see Jud 13:5 however, he was a check upon the Philistines, and protected the Israelites from heavier oppressions, which otherwise they would have come under; and no doubt administered justice and judgment among them, and was an instrument of their reformation, and of preserving them from idolatry; for in such things the work of a judge chiefly lay: some from hence observe, that this shows the years of servitude and bondage are included in the years of the judges.
<ALIGN="CENTER"John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.
Judges 16:1
INTRODUCTION TO JUDGES 16
In this chapter we have an account of Samson's too great familiarity with two harlots; by the one he was brought into great danger, and narrowly escaped, Jud 16:1, and by the other he was betrayed into the hands of the Philistines, having got the secret out of him wherein his great strength lay, Jud 16:4 who having him in their hands, put out his eyes, imprisoned him, and in their idol temple made sport of him, Jud 16:21, where praying for renewed strength from the Lord, he pulled down the temple, and destroyed multitudes with the loss of his own life, Jud 16:26.
Ver. 1. Then went Samson to Gaza,.... One of the five principalities of the Philistines, which was ten miles from Ashkelon, as Sandys {q} says; who also describes {r} it as standing upon an hill environed with valleys, and these again well nigh enclosed with hills, most of them planted with all sorts of delicate fruits; and, according to Bunting {s}, forty two miles from Ramathlehi, the place where we last hear of him, See Gill on "Am 1:6" see Gill on "Zep 2:4" what he went hither for is not easy to say; it showed great boldness and courage, after he had made such a slaughter of the Philistines, to venture himself in one of their strongest cities, where he must expect to be exposed to danger; though it is highly probable this was a long time after his last encounter with them:
and saw there an harlot, and went in unto her; the Targum renders it an innkeeper, one that kept a victualling house; so Kimchi, Ben Gersom, and Ben Melech interpret it; into whose house he went for entertainment and lodging, and very probably in the dusk of the evening; and the woman that kept this house might herself be an harlot, or, however, Samson saw one in her house, with whom he was captivated, and went in unto her, or had criminal conversation with her; it seems as if he did not turn in thither with any such wicked design, but on sight of the person was ensnared to commit lewdness with her; and, as Lyra says, there were many hostesses in some places, and so here, who too easily prostituted themselves to their guests.
{q} Travels, l. 3. p. 118. {r} Travels, l. 3. p. 116. {s} Ut supra. (Travels, l. 3. p. 118.)
Judges 16:2
Ver. 2. And it was told the Gazites,.... The inhabitants of Gaza, the principal ones of it, the magistrates of the city, either by some persons that saw him come in, who knew him, or by the harlot into whose company he fell, to whom he made himself known:
saying, Samson is come hither; the man so famous for his strength, and such an enemy to the Philistines; his name was well known for his great exploits, and rung throughout Palestine, and was a terror to the whole country:
and they compassed [him] in; not that they surrounded the house where he was, which perhaps they might not certainly know, but they secured all the avenues and gates of the city, made them fast, and placed guards there, that he might not escape their hands:
and laid wait for him all night in the gate; particularly at that gate, where, if he went out for his country, he must pass:
and were quiet all the night; did not attempt to disturb Samson, or seize on him, if they knew where he was; knowing his great strength, and what a tumult might be raised in the city, they said nothing of it to anybody that passed, what they were placed there for, lest it should come to his ears; they made as if they were deaf and dumb, as some interpret it, and heard and knew nothing:
saying, in the morning, when it is day, we shall kill him; when they should better know him, and make sure their blow at him, and do it suddenly, unawares to him, as he came to the gate, to pass through it.
Judges 16:3
Ver. 3. And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight,.... Either not being able to lie any longer through the conviction of his conscience for his lewdness, or being warned by a dream, or having an impulse upon his spirit, which suggested to him that wait was laid for him, and the danger he was in; and coming to the gate of the city, which he found shut and fast barred and bolted, and the watch perhaps asleep, not expecting his coming until daylight:
and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and all; did not stand to break open the doors of the gate, but took the two side posts up, on which the folding doors of the gate were hung, out of the ground in which they were fastened, with the bar which went across the doors for the security of them:
and carried them up to the top of an hill that is before Hebron; if this hill was near Hebron, as the words thus read seem to intimate, he must carry the gates twenty miles upon his shoulders, for so far was Hebron from Gaza; so Josephus says it was over Hebron; but according to Adrichomius {t}, it was near Gaza, looking towards Hebron; and so Sandys says {u}, in the valley, on the east side of the city, are many straggling buildings, beyond which there is a hill more eminent than the rest, on the north side of the way that leads to Babylon, said to be that to which Samson carried the gates of the city. It is very probable, as some think, that it was between Gaza and Hebron, in sight of both cities, which may be meant by the phrase "before", or "on the face of"; being so high might be seen as far as Hebron, as well as at Gaza. This was an emblem of Christ's resurrection, of whom Samson was a type, who being encompassed in a sepulchre, and sealed and watched by soldiers, broke through the bars of death and the grave, and carried off the doors in triumph; and in a short time ascended to heaven, whereby he declared himself to be the Son of God with power. It was usual for doors and bars of gates to be carried in triumph, and laid up in temples {w}; and the Jews say these doors were not less than sixty cubits, and suppose Samson's shoulders to be as broad {x}.
{t} "Theatrum Terrae Sanet". p. 133. {u} Ut supra, (Travels l. 3.) p. 117. {w} "----sacris in postibus arma: ----et portarum ingentia claustra." Virgil. Aeneid. 7. ver. 185. {x} T. Bab. Sotah, fol. 10. 1.
Judges 16:4
Ver. 4. And it came to pass afterwards, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek,.... Which, according to Adrichomius {y} was but half a mile from the brook Eshcol, from whence the spies brought a bunch of grapes, as a specimen of the fruit of the land of Canaan; and this valley of Sorek seems to have been famous for the best wine, and hither Samson retired for refreshment and pleasure; but, according to Jerom {z}, it was on the north of Eleutheropolis, where, he says, was shown a village in his time called Capharsorech, near the village Zorah, from whence Samson was; and Bunting {a} makes it to be twelve miles from Hebron, and twelve from Jerusalem; where he met with a woman he loved; whether she was an Israelite, or one of the daughters of the Philistines, they now being the rulers of Israel, is not said; most likely the latter, as say Ben Gersom and Abarbinel, since the lords of the Philistines were so intimate with her, and were entertained in her house, and she showed more respect to them than to Samson. The Jews say she became a proselyte, but if she did, there is very little evidence of her being a sincere one: some have thought, that the courtship to her was a lawful conjugal love; that falling in love with her, he courted and married her; but this is not very likely, since no mention is made of his marriage to her, nor did he take her home, but dwelt in her house: it rather seems to be an impure and unlawful love he had to her, and that she was an harlot, as Josephus {b}; and all her conduct and behaviour confirm the same:
whose name was Delilah; the Jews say {c} she was so called because she weakened the heart and spirit of Samson, and weakened his strength, and weakened his works; and therefore, if this had not been her name, they say it was one very proper for her.
{y} Ut supra, (Theatrum Terra Sanct.) p. 24. {z} De loc. Heb. fol. 94. L. {a} Travels, p. 116, 117. {b} Ut supra, (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 8.) sect. 11. {c} T. Bab. Sotah, fol. 9. 2.
Judges 16:5
Ver. 5. And the lords of the Philistines came up unto her,.... Having heard that Samson kept company with her, she being a noted strumpet, like Lais among the Grecians. These were in number five, as appears from Jud 3:3 and had under them five principalities, into which Palestine was divided; and these, if not united in their government, which possibly might be the case at this time, yet were united against their common enemy Samson; and being great personages, it is thought by some they came not themselves to this harlot's house, but sent a deputation of five persons in their names, though the text is very express here and after: they are said to come up to her, because their country lay on the shore of the sea, and lower than Judea:
and said unto her, entice him; persuade him with soothing and flattering words; take an opportunity when in an amorous mood to improve her interest in his affections:
and see wherein his great strength lieth; for it might not appear by the size of his body, or from his natural constitution, and in the common actions of life, but only at certain times, and as it should seem when he pleased; and he might have been heard to say that it was a secret he kept to himself, and no man knew it; or they might suspect something of magic in the case, that he carried something about with him, which, if it could be gotten from him, would deprive him of his strength:
and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him; to humble him, bring him low, and reduce him to the common condition of men; they did not propose to kill him, which they might think she would not agree to, and so reject their proposal at once, but at most to distress him, and to chastise him with mockings and scourgings, bonds and imprisonment, for the mischief he had indeed done them, and prevent him from doing more:
and we will give thee, everyone of us, eleven hundred [pieces] of silver or shekels; it may seem strange that they should promise each 1100: some think their principalities offered each 1000 shekels, and the princes themselves one hundred; but Abarbinel supposes that this was, on some account or another, in those times an usual sum or computation, since the same is mentioned in the following chapter; though it may be observed that these five several sums put together make a round number, 5500 pieces of silver; which, taking them to be shekels, according to Waserus {d}: they amounted to 1375 rix dollars, and of Helvetian money 3666 pounds, and a little more, and of our money near seven hundred pounds sterling; a considerable bribe, and very tempting to a person of such a character, and which she readily embraced, as appears by what follows.
{d} De Antiquis Numis, l. 2. c. 5.
Judges 16:6
Ver. 6. And Delilah said to Samson,.... At a proper opportunity, when in his hands and caresses, as Josephus relates {e}, and introduced it in an artful manner, admiring his strange exploits, and wondering how he could perform them:
tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth; which she proposed seemingly out of mere curiosity, and as it would be a proof of his affection to her, to impart the secret to her:
and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee; not that she suggested to him that she was desirous to have him afflicted, or to try the experiment herself in order to afflict him, but to know by what means, if he was bound, it would be afflicting to him so that he could not relieve himself; she knew he might be bound, if he would admit of it, as he had been, but she wanted to know how he might be bound, so as to be held, and could not loose himself.
{e} Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 8. sect. 9.)
Judges 16:7
Ver. 7. And Samson said unto her,.... In answer to her pressing solicitations:
if they bind me with seven green withs that were never dried; the word is sometimes used for nerves, and cords or ropes; but neither of these can be here meant, since these, if moistened or made wet, are the less fit to bind with, and the drier the better; but rods or branches of trees just cut off, such as faggots are bound up with, or green osiers, which are easily bent and twisted, and may bind with; Josephus {u} calls them vine branches:
then shall I be weak, and be as another man; which cannot well be excused from a lie; for Samson knew full well that being bound would not weaken his strength; but as he had fallen into one sin, it is no wonder he was drawn into another: unless this can be understood, as it is by some, as jesting with her; however, it shows that he was "compos mentis", as Josephus {w} observes, and was upon his guard with respect to the secret of his strength.
{u} Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 8. sect. 9.) {w} Ibid.
Judges 16:8
Ver. 8. Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her,.... To the chamber where she was with Samson, she having acquainted them with what he had told her:
seven green withs, which had not been dried; just such as he had described and directed to:
and she bound him with them; taking an opportunity, very likely, when he was asleep, and drunk too, according to Josephus {x}: the Philistines did not attempt to bind him, supposing that he would not admit them to do it, if aware of them; and they might fear, if asleep, he might awake before they could do it, and fall upon them and destroy them; but as for Delilah, if she had been found at it, she could have excused it as a piece of curiosity, being willing to try whether he told her truth or not.
{x} Antiqu. l. 5. c. 8. sect. 11.
Judges 16:9
Ver. 9. Now there were men lying in wait,.... Very likely some of the servants of the lords of the Philistines, who were placed privately on purpose, that when an opportunity offered, they might rush out, and fall upon Samson; Josephus {y} calls them soldiers:
abiding with her in the chamber; in a private part of it, or otherwise they could not be said to lie in wait; in it may mean near it; perhaps it was in the next apartment to hers, where they were set:
and she said unto him, the Philistines be upon thee, Samson; are just ready to fall upon thee, and seize thee; this she said to arouse him, and try whether he could break the withs or not, before she called in the men that lay in wait, and whether he had told her the truth or not:
and he brake the withs as a thread of tow is broken when it toucheth the fire; or "smells it" {z}; as soon as it comes near it; a thread of tow or linen catches the fire presently, it being so weak that it cannot stand before the least force of it; so easily did the withs give way, and were broken, when Samson did but just stir himself, and move his arms:
so his strength was not known; by Delilah, nor by the Philistines; that is, where it lay, so as that it might be weakened; for otherwise it was known by the easy breaking of the withs.
{y} Antiqu. l. 5. c. 8. sect. 11. {z} wxyrhb "cum olfecerit", Drusius, so Piscator.
Judges 16:10
Ver. 10. And Delilah said unto Samson,.... Not on the same day, but some time after, as Kimchi observes, when an opportunity offered, and he was in like circumstances as before; for had she immediately attacked him, it might have created some suspicion in him of a design against him:
behold, thou hast mocked me, and told me lies; deceived her with lies, by telling her the other day that if he was bound with green withs, he should become as weak as other men; which she, out of curiosity as she might pretend, had tried, and had found to be false; and which, she might add, was an argument of want of true love to her, to mock her in such a manner:
now tell me, I pray thee, wherewith thou mightest be bound; so as to be held.
Judges 16:11
Ver. 11. And he said unto her,.... Abarbinel presents Samson replying to her, that he had told her the truth at first, only forgot one circumstance, that the "cords", for so he takes the word for "withs" to signify, should be "new", such as were never used, as follows:
if they bind me fast with new ropes, that never were occupied; the word signifies thick ropes, which, according to Kimchi and Ben Melech, were trebled, or made of three cords twisted together, and those such as were just made, and had never been put to any use, and so strong and firm:
then shall I be weak, and be as another man; see Jud 16:7.
Judges 16:12
Ver. 12. Delilah therefore took new ropes, and bound him therewith,.... Tried this experiment with him, according to his directions, being very desirous of getting the sum of money offered her:
and said unto him, the Philistines be upon thee, Samson: using the same words, and with the same view as she had done before, Jud 16:9
(and there were liers in wait abiding the chamber); as before, ready upon occasion to rush in upon him, as soon as any notice was given them:
and he brake them from off his arms like a thread; as easily as a thread of linen can be snapped asunder.
Judges 16:13
Ver. 13. And Delilah said unto Samson,.... At another time, when she thought it most proper to upbraid him with his deception of her:
hitherto thou hast mocked me, and told me lies; both the times that she had solicited him to impart the secret of his strength to her:
tell me wherewith thou mightest be bound; tell me the real truth, and deceive me no more:
and he said unto her, if thou weavest the seven locks of my head with the web; it seems that Samson's hair was parted into seven locks, which no doubt hung down very long; and now he tells her, that if these were interwoven with the warp which was upon the beam in a loom near by; perhaps in the same room, where Delilah used to weave, as was the custom of those times, and in various nations {a}; his strength would be weakened; for Braunius {b} is mistaken in supposing this to be the beam about which the web was rolled, as he is also in the pin next mentioned, which he takes to be the "spatha", or lathe, with which the threads are knocked together.
{a} "Arguto conjux", &c. Virgil. Georgie. l. 1. v. 294. So Penelope in Homer, Minerva & Arachne in Ovid. Metamorph. l. 6. fab. 1. v. 55, &c. Vid. Pignorium de servis, p. 418. Braunium de Vest. Sacerd. Hebr. l. 1. c. 17. sect. 33. {b} "De Vest". Sacerd. Hebr. l. 1. c. 16. sect. 8.
Judges 16:14
Ver. 14. And she fastened it with the pin,.... That is, after she had interwoven the locks of his hair into the warp, she fastened the beam on which it was with the pin, that it might not roll back; or else her machine or loom to the ground, that it might stand more firmly; or the web into which the hair was woven, with the hair itself; which of them is right, it is difficult to say: but if the addition of the Septuagint version can be admitted as genuine, which supplies some things which seem to be wanting, and which best agrees with what follows, the whole will be plain and easy, and which after the preceding verse runs thus;
"and fastenest "them" with a pin to the wall, then shall I be weak as another man; and it came to pass when he slept, and Delilah took seven locks of his head, and wove "them" in the web, and fastened them with a pin to the wall;''
and then it follows as here:
and said unto him, the Philistines be upon thee, Samson; as she had twice before:
and he awaked out of his sleep; in which he was during her weaving his locks into the web; and this makes it probable that he was in the same circumstances when she bound him both with withs and ropes, though it is not expressed:
and went away with the pin of the beam, and with the web; carried off not the pin of the beam only, but the beam itself, and the warp on it, and the whole web into which his hair was woven. The Septuagint version is, he took the pin of the web out of the wall; and the Vulgate Latin, the pin with the hairs and web.
Judges 16:15
Ver. 15. And she said unto him, how canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart is not with me?.... She took an opportunity, when he was caressing her, to upbraid him with dissembled love, and a false heart: thou hast mocked me these three times; she had urged him to tell her where his strength lay, and by what it might be weakened, first pretending it might be done by binding him with green withs, and then with new ropes, and a third time by weaving his locks into the web:
and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lieth; the thing so frequently and so importunately requested.
Judges 16:16
Ver. 16. And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him,.... Lay at him day after day to communicate the secret to him, gave him no rest, but was incessant in her applications to him:
so that his soul was vexed unto death: could hardly bear to live, but wished to die, being in the utmost perplexity what to do between two different passions, love and fear; on the one hand chained by his lust to this harlot, that was continually teasing him, and whom he had not an heart to leave, or otherwise that would have cleared him of his difficulties; and on the other hand, should he disclose the secret, he feared, and was in danger of losing his strength, in which his glory lay: or
"his soul was shortened unto death'' {c};
it was the means of shortening his days, and hastening his death. Abarbinel thinks that Samson was sensible of this, that his days were short, and the time of his death at hand; which made him the more willing to impart the secret. This may put in mind of the story of Milo, a man famous for his great strength, said to carry an ox upon his shoulders a furlong without breathing; of whom it is reported, that none of his adversaries could deliver themselves out of his hands, but his whore could, often contending with him; hence it is observed of him, that he was strong in body, but not of a manly soul {d}; and there are many other things said {e} of him concerning his great strength, which seem to be taken from this history of Samson.
{c} ruqt "abbreviata est", Montanus, Drusius. So Munster. {d} Aelian. Var. Hist. l. 2. c. 24. {e} Vid. Pausan. Eliac. 2. sive. l. 6. p. 309.
Judges 16:17
Ver. 17. That he told her all his heart,.... All that was in his heart concerning this affair, all that he knew relating to it; he had told her something before, or at least what came nearer to the truth of the matter, when he directed her to the weaving of his locks into the web; but now he told her all, which is as follows:
and said unto her, there hath not come a razor upon mine head; his head had never been shaved since he was born; which was the order of the angel that foretold his birth, and it had been carefully observed to that time:
for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb; one condition of which, or what was enjoined a Nazarite, was, that he should not be shaved, and which had been religiously observed in Samson; and whereas abstinence from wine and strong drink was another part of the law of Nazariteship, or what such persons were obliged unto, what Josephus says concerning Samson being drunk in the above cases could not be true; since his Nazariteship would have been made void by it, and so have affected his strength: but it must be owned that there were other things Nazarites were obliged to, which were dispensed with, as has been observed in the case of Samson, a perpetual Nazarite; and therefore it is probable, that the principal thing he was to regard, and upon which his strength was continued, was not shaving his head:
if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man; in which he says more than he ever did before, namely, that his strength should go from him; for though that did not arise from his hair, yet the keeping on of that was the condition of his retaining it.
Judges 16:18
Ver. 18. And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart,.... Which she perceived by his countenance, and the serious manner in which he expressed himself; and Abarbinel conjectures that he might swear to her that what he said was truth; and who observes from their Rabbins, as does also Kimchi, that she concluded he had told her the truth, by his making mention of the name of God, saying he was a Nazarite unto God, whose name she knew he would not take in vain; and with the account he gave agreed the long hair he wore:
she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, come up this once; for it seems as they were returned home, finding that she could do nothing with him, and was not able to get the secret out of him; but now, believing she had it, sends to them, and entreats them to come once more, being very desirous of having the money they had offered her:
for he hath showed me all his heart; there is a double reading of this clause; the Keri or marginal reading, which our version follows, is, "hath showed me", as being the words of Delilah to the lords of the Philistines; but the Cetib or textual reading is, "he hath showed her", as being the words of the messengers to them:
then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her; that is, from their own country; for it can hardly be understood of their coming up into her room, or chamber; and especially since it follows,
and brought money in their hand; 1100 shekels of silver apiece, the sum they first proposed to give her; and now being pretty well assured of success, brought it along with them to pay her for the service done.
Judges 16:19
Ver. 19. And she made him sleep upon her knees,.... Giving him, as some think, a sleepy potion; or however encouraged him to take a nap upon her knees, and by her fondness lulled him to sleep:
and she called for a man; a barber; in former times to shave was the work of a servant {f} and sometimes of a woman; she gave orders for one to be sent for; for Jarchi calls him a messenger of the lords of the Philistines:
and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; this shows that they were not wove into one another, and made but one lock, as some interpret what she was before directed to do:
and she began to afflict him; as his hair was shaving off; though he was asleep, yet he discovered some uneasiness, the effects of it began to appear: though the word "began" here may be redundant, as in
Nu 25:1 and then the meaning is, that she afflicted him, or again afflicted him; for she had afflicted him, or at least attempted it, three times before, and therefore did not begin now; this Hebraism is used in Mr 4:1 and frequently in Jewish writings {g}:
and his strength went from him; sensibly and gradually; though some understand it of her shaking him in a violent manner to awake him, and shrieking and crying out terribly to frighten him, with her old cry of the Philistines being on him, and of her binding him, though not expressed; whereby she perceived his strength was gone, and he could not loose himself.
{f} Vid. Pignorium de servis, p. 89, 90, 91. & Popma de servis, p. 57, 58. {g} See Lightfoot. Hor. Heb. in Mark iv. 1. Vid. Sterringae Animadv. Philolog. Sacr. p. 248.
Judges 16:20
Ver. 20. And she said, the Philistines be upon thee, Samson,.... In like manner as she had before, that she might have full proof that the case was really such, that his strength was gone from him:
and he awoke out of his sleep; upon the cry she made: and said; within himself, purposing and determining in his own mind:
I will go out as at other times before; as he had done at the three former times, and did not meet with any Philistines to fall upon him, and so concluded it would be the case now, and he, if he did, should be able to defend himself against them:
and shake myself; that he might be thoroughly awake, and be on his guard and defence:
and he wist not that the Lord was departed from him; might have forgot what he had told Delilah of, and knew not what had been done to him, that his hair was shaved off; or if he did, was not sensible that the Lord had removed from him; but might hope that he would renew his strength, when he should stand in need of it; but he soon found his mistake; he was quickly taken by the Philistines, and ill used, and in a little time lost his life. And from hence it is thought sprung the story of Nisus, king of the Megarenses, who is supposed to reign about this time; of whom it is reported {h}, that the hair of his head was of a purple colour, and was told by the oracle, that so long as that was kept on he should be safe, but if it was shaved off he should die; and so it was, that when the Cretians besieged him, his daughter falling in love with Minos, the king of the Cretians cut off her father's hair, and so both he and his country were delivered into the hands of the enemy.
{h} Pausaniae Attica, sive, l. 1. p. 33. Ovid Metamorph. l. 8. Fab. 1.
Judges 16:21
Ver. 21. But the Philistines took him,.... Being assured by Delilah that his strength was gone from him, of which perhaps she had made trial by binding him, and found he could not free himself from the bonds till she loosed them; or otherwise they would have been afraid to have ventured to lay hold upon him;
and put out his eyes; that should his strength return to him, be might not be able to see where and whom to strike, and so be incapable of doing much mischief any more; the word signifies, they "dug" or "bored them" {i} out; they plucked or cut out his eye balls, so that it was impossible his sight should ever be recovered; according to the Arabic version, they blinded him by putting fire to his eyes; the Jews observe, that this was done in just retaliation, measure for measure; Samson, they say {k}, went after his eyes; that is, by taking one harlot after another; therefore the Philistines put out his eyes:
and brought him down to Gaza: which lay on the sea coast, and therefore they are said to bring him down to it; here he had been before of his own will, now against it; for in one instance he had acted to his own shame, by going in to an harlot; and in another, to the shame and disgrace of the city, and the inhabitants of it, by carrying off their city gates; through which they now brought him in triumph, in order to repair the dishonour done them: though, perhaps, the true reason of carrying him thither was, that he might be at the greater distance from the Israelites, should they think of rescuing him out of their hands; and especially because it was a very strong fortified city, it had its name from strength; hence Mela {l} calls it "Munita admodum Gaza", and says, that when Cambyses made war in Egypt, he carried his wealth and money to this place:
and bound him with fetters of brass; the Targum calls them chains of brass, and the word being of the dual number, it is probable there were two of them, with which he was bound the greater security:
and he did grind in the prison house; the motion of mills by water or wind was as yet not invented, but it was usual, as it is still in the eastern countries, to grind with hand mills, at which one or more worked; or with mills moved around by beasts or slaves, and was a work prisoners were employed in, Ex 11:5 and Samson being a strong man, they might expect much service from him this way. The Talmudists {m} understand this in a criminal sense, as they do
Job 31:10 but this is justly rejected by Kimchi.
{i} wrqny "effoderant", Pagninus, Montanus, Tigurine version, Junius & Tremelius, Piscator {k} Misn. Sotah. c. sect. 8. {l} De Situ Orbis, l. 1. c. 11. {m} T. Bab. Sotah, fol. 10. 1.
Judges 16:22
Ver. 22. Howbeit, the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven. It began to grow immediately no doubt, as it naturally would do; but it is highly probable it grew in an extraordinary manner, and in a short time became as when it was shaved {n}, as it may be rendered, and upon which his strength was renewed; not that his strength naturally lay in his hair, and so naturally increased as that grew; but he being made sensible of his sin, and repenting of it, renewed his Nazariteship, of which letting his hair grow was a token; and it pleased God, who accepted of his repentance as genuine, of his own good will and pleasure to renew his strength; particularly upon his prayer to him, after related.
{n} xlg rvak "ut rasus fuerat", Tigurine version, Vatablus; "ut quum abraderetur", Junius & Tremellius.
Judges 16:23
Ver. 23. Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together,.... The five lords, with their friends, not directly upon Samson's being taken and committed to prison, but some time after; perhaps some months:
for to get a great sacrifice to Dagon their god; in later times their god was called Marnas {o}, which signifies the lord of men, but now Dagon; who also had a temple at Ashdod, another of the five principalities of the Philistines, 1Sa 5:2 and seems to have been at this time their common and chief deity: according to Jarchi in the place referred to, it was in the form of a fish, for "dag" in Hebrew signifies a fish; and Kimchi on the same place says, that from its navel upwards it was in the form of a man, and from thence downwards in the form of a fish {p}; and Diodorus Siculus {q} relates that Derceto, a goddess of Ashkelon, another of the five principalities of Palestine, its face was human, and the other part of its body resembled a fish; and the same Lucian says of the Syrian goddess; and Cicero {r} testifies, that the Syrians worshipped a fish, and Porphyry {s} says they will not eat any; and Gaza being a maritime city, a sea port, this might be their sea god in this form: but Ben Gersom in the above place says, it was in the form of a man; and Sanchoniatho {t} making mention of Dagan, a brother of Saturn, Philo Byblius, who translated his history into Greek, interprets it by Siton, which signifies corn, deriving it from Dagan, which so signifies; as if this deity presided over corn, as Ceres in other nations, and Jupiter Frumentarius, or Aratrius; yea, he says he invented corn and the plough; however this be, the Philistine princes met together to sacrifice to him, not a common offering, but a great sacrifice. It is very probable that this was a public festival of the Philistines, as Josephus {u} says, an anniversary one; and perhaps was held in a more grand manner on the present occasion, since it is added,
and to rejoice: for they said, our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hands; for though Samson's harlot had done it, and they had paid her for it, yet they attribute it to their god, such was their blindness and stupidity; and yet this may shame us believers in the true God, who are so backward to ascribe to him the great things he does for us, when such Heathens were so forward to give glory to their false deities, without any foundation for it.
{o} Hicron. in Isa. xvii. fol. 39. K. {p} So David de Pomis Lexic. fol. 18. 3. & Milton in his Paradise Lost, l. 1. v. 462, 463. "Dagon his name; sea monster! upward man, And downward fish." {q} Bibliothec. l. 2. p. 92. & Ovid Metamorph. l. 4. Fab. 1. v. 44, &c. {r} De Natura Deorum, l. 3. {s} De Abstinentia, l. 2. sect. 6. {t} Apud Euseb. Evangel. Praepar. l. 1. p. 36, 37. {u} Antiqu. l. 5. c. 8. sect. 12.
Judges 16:24
Ver. 24. And when the people saw him,.... In the condition he was, blinded and fettered, of whom and of his great exploits they had heard so much: they praised their god; as Belshazzar did his, Da 5:4 in hymns and songs composed for them, the substance of which was as follows:
for they said, our god hath delivered into our hands our enemy, and the destroyer of our country; as he had been, by tying firebrands to the tails of three hundred foxes, and letting them go into their cornfields, vineyards, and oliveyards:
which slew many of us; thirty men at Ashkelon, more at Timnath, and 1000 with the jawbone of an ass at Lehi.
Judges 16:25
Ver. 25. And it came to pass when their hearts were merry,.... With wine, for which Gaza is famous in many writers {w}; with eating and drinking, dancing, and music; for it was usual for the Heathens to feast in their temples, and especially no doubt they would on such an occasion as this:
and they said, call for Samson, that he may make us sport; by which it seems that what is before said, "when the people saw him", Jud 16:24 is said by anticipation; for as yet he was not in the temple, but in the prison; and therefore a motion was made by some of the great personages, that he might be fetched from thence, and they might have some diversion with him:
and they called for Samson out of the prison house; sent some messengers to fetch him from thence:
and he made them sport; not actively, but passively; it cannot well be thought, that a man of so great a spirit as Samson was, and in such circumstances as he now was, would ever, either by words or gestures, do anything on purpose to divert his enemies, and make them laugh; but he was the object of their sport and scorn, and he bore it patiently, their cruel mockings, buffetings, and spittings; in which he was a type of Christ. It was a diversion to them to see him in his rattling chains, groping, and blundering along from post to pillar, one perhaps giving him a box of the ear, or a slap of the face, another plucking him by his nose or beard, and another spitting in his face, and others taunting at him, and reproaching him:
and they set him between the pillars; that he might be the better seen, and in which there was the direction of Providence to bring about what follows.
{w} Vid. Rivinum de Majumis, &c. c. 6. sect. 13.
Judges 16:26
Ver. 26. And Samson said to the lad that held him by the hand,.... And led him about; as nothing is more common now than for a blind man to be led by a boy:
suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house standeth; he might by information know in what manner the house was built, that it was supported by pillars, if he had never been in it before when he had his sight; and he might understand, by some means or another, that he was near these pillars, and placed between them, though being blind, did not know which way to direct his hands towards them to feel them, as he proposed to do, and therefore desired the lad that led him to guide his hands towards them:
that I may lean upon them; being, as he might at least pretend to be, weary, as Josephus says {x}; either by grinding at the mill, or through being led to and fro in this house, that all might see him, and cast their flouts and jeers at him,
{x} Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 8. sect. 12.)
Judges 16:27
Ver. 27. Now the house was full of men and women,.... Within it, who were gathered together from all parts of the city, and perhaps from other places on this occasion:
and all the lords of the Philistines were there; their five lords, the lords of Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron:
and there were upon the roof three thousand men and women; it being a flat roof, as the houses in Canaan and Phoenicia, and the places adjacent, were; see De 22:8 and there might be some openings or windows in several parts of it, through which the people might see who were below them, and were within the house, and what was doing there, and particularly could have a sight of Samson through them as follows:
that beheld while Samson made sport; or was made a sport of; while he was buffeted and used in a ludicrous manner.
Judges 16:28
Ver. 28. And Samson called unto the Lord,.... In an ejaculatory manner, by mental prayer; though he might possibly express it aloud, without being heard and observed by the people, amidst their noise and mirth; and if it was heard, it might only furnish out more ridicule and contempt; and be it as it may, the prayer must have been preserved by the Lord himself, and given by inspiration to the writer of this book; since there were none that heard it that lived to relate it to others, no, not Samson himself:
and said, O Lord God, remember me, I pray thee; the office that I bear as judge of Israel, the reproaches cast upon me, and which fall upon thy people, cause, and interest; remember thy lovingkindness, formerly expressed to me, the gracious promises made unto me, and the help and assistance I have had from thee:
and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God; and it was a prayer of faith, as appears by its being heard, accepted, and answered; and shows that his strength did not come with his hair, but was owing to the immediate communication of it from the Lord:
that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes; once for all, and no more; take his last and final vengeance on them; or one vengeance for his two eyes, or vengeance for one of his two eyes; either senses will bear. This was said not from a private spirit of revenge for personal injuries; but as a civil magistrate, a judge of Israel, whose office it was to be a revenger, to execute wrath; and though he mentions only his own eyes, yet he suffered the loss of them, and every other indignity and injury, as a public person, the common enemy of the Philistines, and destroyer of their country, and protector of Israel; and in this character he now acted.
Judges 16:29
Ver. 29. And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars, upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up,.... Some have objected, that a building so large and so capacious as this was could not be supported by two pillars, and those placed in the middle, and so near to each other that Samson could lay hold on them; on which it has been observed, that the architecture of the ancients is little known to us, and they might have curious and ingenious arts of building, now lost; and several authors have taken notice of two Roman theatres built by Curio, that held abundantly more people than this house did, which were supported only by a single pin or hinge, as Pliny {y} relates; and our Westminster hall, which was built by William Rufus, and is two hundred and seventy feet long, and seventy four broad {z}, and has a roof the largest in all Europe, is supported without any pillars at all; add to all which, that mention being made of the two middle pillars of this house, supposes that there were others in other parts of it, though these were the main and principal ones, on which the weight of the building chiefly lay. Kimchi observes, that the word signifies to incline or bend, as if Samson made the pillars to bend or bow; but it is a better sense that he laid hold of them:
of the one with his right hand, and the other with his left; and thus he stood with his arms stretched out, as Jesus on the cross, of whom he was a type, as often observed.
{y} Nat. Hist. l. 36. c. 15. {z} Rapin's History of England, vol. 1. p. 188.
Judges 16:30
Ver. 30. And Samson said, let me die with the Philistines,.... He sought their death, and was content to lose his own life to be avenged on them; in neither of which did he act a criminal part as a judge of Israel; and from a public spirit he might desire the death of their enemies, and seek to effect it by all means possible; and was the more justifiable at this time, as they were not only insulting him, the representative of his nation, but were affronting the most high God with their idolatries, being now in the temple of their idol, and sacrificing to him. As for his own death, he did not simply desire that, only as he could not be avenged on his enemies without it, he was willing to submit to it; nor did he lay hands on himself, and cannot be charged with being guilty of suicide, and did no other than what a man of valour and public spirit will do; who for the good of his country will not only expose his life to danger in common, but for the sake of that will engage in a desperate enterprise, when he knows most certainly that he must perish in it. Besides, Samson said this, and did what he did under the direction and influence of the Spirit of God; and herein was a type of Christ, who freely laid down his life for his people, that he might destroy his and their enemies:
and he bowed himself with all his might, having fresh strength, and a large measure of it given him at this instant, which he had faith in, and therefore made the attempt, and for which he is reckoned among the heroes for faith in Heb 11:32
and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein; who were all killed, and Samson himself; an emblem this of the destruction of Satan, and his principalities and powers, by the death of Christ:
so the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life; for besides the lords, and they that were in the house, there were 3000 men and women on the roof, which fell in, and lost their lives also, so that it is very likely there were at least 6000 or 7000 slain; Philo Byblius says 40,000, which is not probable; whereas in his life we only read of 1000 slain by him with the jawbone, besides thirty men at Ashkelon, and the slaughter made when he smote hip and thigh, the number of which is not known. As this house pulled down by Samson is generally thought to be the temple of Dagon, a traveller {a} in those parts tells us, that there is now extant the temple of Dagon in half demolished, and the pillars of it are yet to be seen; but he doubtless mistakes an edifice of a later construction for it: and another traveller {b} of our own country says, on the northeast corner and summit of the hill (on which the city is built) are the ruins of huge arches sunk low in the earth, and other foundations of a stately building; the Jews, adds he, do fable this place to have been the theatre of Samson pulled down on the heads of the Philistines; but he takes it to be the ruins of a later building;
See Gill on "1Sa 5:2".
{a} Baumgarten. Perogrinatio, l. 2. c. 3. p. 27. Vid. Adrichom. Theatrum Terrae S. p. 134. {b} Sandy's Travels, l. 3. p. 116.
Judges 16:31
Ver. 31. Then his brethren, and all the house of his father, came down,.... To Gaza, having heard of what had befallen him there. This must be understood of his kindred and near relations, those of his father's family; though it is not unlikely that he had brethren in a proper sense, since though his mother was barren before his birth, yet afterwards might have many children, as Hannah had, whose case was similar to her's:
and took him and brought him up; took his body out of the ruins of the house, and brought him up on a bier, or some proper carriage, to his own country; and perhaps in great funeral pomp, as a judge of Israel; nor need it be wondered at that the Philistines should admit of it, it being usual in all ages, and among all people, to allow even an enemy to bury their dead; besides Samson's friends had done them no injury, only Samson himself, and the Israelites in general were quiet and peaceable under their government; add to this, they were now in distress themselves for their own dead, and might be in some fear of the Israelites falling upon them, and attempting to deliver themselves out of their hands, since their five lords were dead, and no doubt many more of their principal men with them; so that they might judge this was not a proper time to refuse such a favour, lest it should occasion a quarrel, which they were not in a condition to engage in; and had Israel taken this opportunity, in all likelihood they might have freed themselves from them:
and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol, in the burying place of Manoah his father; the former of these seems to have been his native place, and the other was near it; and between these the Spirit of the Lord first began to move him, and here his father's sepulchre was, in which he was laid; see Jud 13:2 and he judged Israel twenty years; by distressing and weakening their enemies; and though he did not complete their deliverance out of their hands, yet no doubt their oppressions were fewer, and their burdens easier, on his account; the time of his judging Israel is observed before, Jud 15:20 and here repeated for the confirmation of it, and the rather because they were now ended by his death. Ben Gersom observes, that this is said to show that the time that Samson dwelt in the land of the Philistines is included in these twenty years; some would infer from hence that he judged Israel forty years, twenty in the days of the Philistines, as it is expressed in the above place; that is, when they had the dominion over Israel, and twenty more afterwards; but it does not appear that their dominion over Israel ceased in his time. In the Jerusalem Talmud {c} it is also said that he judged Israel forty years, but for it there is no foundation; nor is the reason given of any force, that the Philistines feared him twenty years after his death; the other Talmud {d} says he judged Israel twenty two years; but the word "two" is put into a parenthesis.
{c} T. Hieros. Sotah, fol. 17. 2. {d} T. Bab. Sotah, fol. 10. 1.