Albert Barnes Commentary Judges 15
Albert Barnes Commentary
Judges 15
Albert Barnes Commentary
Judges 15
"But it came to pass after a while, 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." — Judges 15:1 (ASV)
Visited his wife with a kid – A common present (Luke 15:29). From Samson’s wife being still in her father’s house, it would seem that she was only betrothed, not actually married, to his companion.
"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." — Judges 15:2 (ASV)
I gave her - In marriage. Samson had probably not heard of this before. Samson’s father had paid the dowry for the older sister; her father therefore offers her sister in her place. The fear of Samson probably also influenced him.
"And Samson said unto them, This time shall I be blameless in regard of the Philistines, when I do them a mischief." — Judges 15:3 (ASV)
See the margin. Before, when the Philistines injured him, he was in covenant with the Timnathites through his marriage and by the rites of hospitality, for which reason he went off to Ashkelon to take his revenge (Judges 14:19). But now the Philistines themselves had broken this bond, and so he was free to take his revenge on the spot.
"And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between every two tails." — Judges 15:4 (ASV)
Foxes - Rather, “jackals,” which are still very common in Palestine, especially about Joppa and Gaza. 1 Samuel 13:17, Joshua 15:28, and Joshua 19:3 are indications of the abundance of foxes or jackals giving names to places, especially in the country of the Philistines.
It is consistent with Samson’s character, and agrees with the incident about the lion, that he was an expert hunter.
Ovid relates a very curious custom at Rome of letting loose foxes with lighted torches fastened to their tails in the circus at the Cerealia, in commemoration of the damage once done to the standing grain by a fox which a rustic had wrapped in hay and straw and set on fire, and which, running away, put the grain-fields in a blaze. This custom, which may have had a Phoenician origin, is a curious illustration of the narrative.
"Then the Philistines said, Who hath done this? And they said, Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he hath taken his wife, and given her to his companion. And the Philistines came up, and burnt her and her father with fire." — Judges 15:6 (ASV)
burnt her and her father - Out of revenge on Samson’s nearest relations; or, as others think, as an act of justice in favor of Samson, and in hope of pacifying his anger. Burning was the punishment for adultery and kindred crimes among the Jews (Genesis 38:24; Leviticus 20:14; Leviticus 21:9). Samson’s wife brought upon herself the very punishment which she sought to escape by betraying her husband (Judges 14:15).
Jump to: