Table of Contents
Judges 15
Judges 15
1 But it came to pass within a while after, in the time of wheat harvest, that Samson visited his wife with a kid; and he said, I will go in to my wife into the chamber. But her father would not suffer him to go in.
2 And her father said, I verily thought that thou hadst utterly hated her; therefore I gave her to thy companion: is not her younger sister fairer than she? take her, I pray thee, instead of her.
3 And Samson said concerning them, Now shall I be more blameless than the Philistines, though I do them a displeasure.
4 And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails.
5 And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines, and burnt up both the shocks, and also the standing corn, with the vineyards and olives.
6 Then the Philistines said, Who hath done this? And they answered, Samson, the son in law of the Timnite, because he had taken his wife, and given her to his companion. And the Philistines came up, and burnt her and her father with fire.
7 And Samson said unto them, Though ye have done this, yet will I be avenged of you, and after that I will cease.
8 And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam.
9 Then the Philistines went up, and pitched in Judah, and spread themselves in Lehi.
10 And the men of Judah said, Why are ye come up against us? And they answered, To bind Samson are we come up, to do to him as he hath done to us.
11 Then three thousand men of Judah went to the top of the rock Etam, and said to Samson, Knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us? what is this that thou hast done unto us? And he said unto them, As they did unto me, so have I done unto them.
12 And they said unto him, We are come down to bind thee, that we may deliver thee into the hand of the Philistines. And Samson said unto them, Swear unto me, that ye will not fall upon me yourselves.
13 And they spake unto him, saying, No; but we will bind thee fast, and deliver thee into their hand: but surely we will not kill thee. And they bound him with two new cords, and brought him up from the rock.
14 And when he came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him: and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands.
15 And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith.
16 And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men.
17 And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking, that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand, and called that place Ramathlehi.
18 And he was sore athirst, and called on the Lord, and said, Thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of thy servant: and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?
19 But God clave an hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water thereout; and when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived: wherefore he called the name thereof Enhakkore, which is in Lehi unto this day.
20 And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.
Notes
Cross Reference
Commentary
Rashi
Verse 3
<html><b> At this time I am innocent.</b> I shall be justified in inflicting injury upon them.</html>
Verse 4
<html><b> Twisted.</b> The tails, each into the next. <span><b>וַיִפֶן</b></span> implies that he himself turned, <span><b>וַיֶפֶן</b></span> that he turned, or twisted, others. This usage applies with every word whose verbal root ends with <span><b>ה</b></span>.1<i class=“footnote”>Such as <span><b>גָלָה ,רָבָה ,פָנָה</b></span>.</i> “The people increased;”2<i class=“footnote”>Shemos, 1:20.</i> “He increased, in the people of Yehudah, lamentation….”3<i class=“footnote”>Eichah, 2:5. Cf. Rashi there.</i> “Yehudah went into exile from his homeland”4<i class=“footnote”>Melachim 2, 25:21.</i>—went into exile. “The king [of Ashur] exiled Yisroel to Ashur” 5<i class=“footnote”>Melachim 2, 17:6.</i>—exiled others.</html>
Verse 6
<html><b> The son-in-law of the Timnite.</b> The son-in-law of the Pelishtite from Timnah.</html>
Verse 7
<b> Is this the way you behave.</b> Perhaps you are accustomed to this—shifting wives from one to another.
Verse 8
<html><b> Cavalry and infantry [lit. calf and thigh].</b> “Horsemen and foot soldiers.”6<i class=“footnote”>This is Targum Yonasan’s translation. “Calf” refers to the horseman, supported by the calf, as Rashi explains, and “thigh” refers to the footsoldier, whose weight is supported by the thigh.</i> The horseman is not supported by the thigh, but by the calf of the foot inserted into the metal stirrup hanging from the saddle. <b>On the promontory</b> of a crevice of the Eitam cliff. Similarly, “The promontories of the cliffs,”7<i class=“footnote”>Yeshaya, 2:21</i> “[He] shall remove its branches.”8<i class=“footnote”>Ibid, 10:33.</i></html>
Verse 9
<html><b> They fanned out.</b> They dispersed. <b>At Lechi.</b> The name of a place9<i class=“footnote”>Not literally “cheek”.</i></html>
Verse 10
<html><b> Why have you ascended against us.</b> Are we not enslaved by you? <b>To tie down Shimshon.</b> In order that you tie him down and deliver him to us.</html>
Verse 13
<html><b> No! We shall merely tie you down.</b> We shall not execute you, but merely tie you down.</html>
Verse 14
<html><b> The spirit of Adonoy.</b> A spirit of power, emanating from Adonoy.10<i class=“footnote”>This is Targum Yonasan’s translation.</i> <b>His bonds</b> which tied him down.</html>
Verse 15
<html><b> Moist.</b> Wet. I saw a medical lexicon which refers to pus oozing from a wound as <span><b>טְרִיָה</b></span>.</html>
Verse 16
<html><b> I amassed mounds</b> with the jawbone of a donkey, amassing numerous mounds. “With the jawbone of a donkey I hurled them into mounds.”11<i class=“footnote”>This is Targum Yonasan’s translation.</i></html>
Verse 19
<html><b> The socket [lit. “the mortar”].</b> The socket where the tooth is set is shaped like a mortar. <b>Ein Hakorei.</b> “The wellspring which materialized through the cry of the one who called out to Adonoy.”</html>