Chapter 15:
| Darby
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| Gill
| Jamieson Faussett Brown
| Matthew Henry
| Matthew Henry Concise
| Wesley
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Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Joshua Ruth
Judges 15
From the treachery of his wife and her father, Samson takes
occasion to burn their corn, ver. 1-5. He smites the Philistines
with a great slaughter, ver. 6-8. He slays a thousand of them with
the jaw-bone of an ass, ver. 9-17. He is distressed, and supplied
with water, ver. 18-20.
Verse 1. Wheat harvest - Which was the proper season for what follows.
With a kid - As a token of reconciliation. Into the chamber - Into
her chamber, which the women had separate from the mens.
Verse 2. Hated her - Because thou didst desert her: but this was no
sufficient cause; for he should have endeavoured a reconciliation,
and not have disposed of another man's wife without his consent.
Verse 3. Now shall I, &c. - Because they have first provoked me by an
irreparable injury: but although this may look like an act of
private revenge; yet it is plain Samson acted as a judge (for so he
was) and as an avenger of the publick injuries of his people.
Verse 4. Foxes - Of which there were great numbers in Canaan. But it is
not said that Samson caught them all, either at one time, or by his
own hands; for being so eminent a person, and the judge of Israel,
he might require assistance of as many persons as he pleased. And
it must be allowed, that the God who made the world, and by his
singular providence watched over Israel, and intended them
deliverance at this time, could easily dispose things so that they
might be taken. He chose to do this not by his brethren, whom he
would preserve from the hatred and mischief which it might have
occasioned them, but by brute creatures, thereby to add scorn to
their calamity, and particularly by foxes; partly, because they
were fittest for the purpose, being creatures very fearful of fire;
and having such tails as the fire-brands might most conveniently
be tied to; and not going directly forward, but crookedly, whereby
the fire would be dispersed in more places. Fire-brands - Made of
such matter as would quickly take fire, and keep it for a long time;
which was easy to procure. And put, &c. - That the foxes might
not make too much haste, nor run into their holes, but one of them
might delay another, and so continue longer in the places where
they were to do execution.
Verse 5. Let them go - Successively at several times; and in divers
places, so that they might not hinder one another, nor all run into
the same field; but being dispersed in all parts, might spread the
plague farther; and withal might be kept at a distance from the
fields and vineyards of the Israelites.
Verse 6. Burnt her - For the mischief which she had occasioned them;
thus she brought upon herself that mischief which she studied to
avoid. The Philistines had threatened to burn her and her father's
house with fire. To avoid this she betrayed her husband. And now
the very thing she feared comes upon her!
Verse 8. Hip and thigh - It seems to be a phrase, to express a desperate
attack, attended with the utmost hurry and confusion: and perhaps
intimates, that they all fled before him. So he smote them in the
hinder parts. Rock Etam - A natural fortress, where he waited to
see what steps the Philistines would take.
Verse 11. Unto us - Thou hast by these actions punished not them only,
but us, who are sure to smart for it.
Verse 12. Bind thee - Why not rather, to fight under thy banner?
Because sin dispirits men, nay, it infatuates them, and hides from
their eyes the things that belong to their peace. Swear - Not that
he feared them, or could not as easily have conquered them, as he
did the host of the Philistines; but because he would be free from
all temptation of doing them harm, though it were in his own
defense.
Verse 13. And they bound him - Thus was he a type of Christ, who
yielded himself to be bound, yea and led as a lamb to the
slaughter. Never were men so besotted as these men of Judah,
except those who thus treated our blessed saviour. The rock - That
is, from the cave in the rock, in which he had secured himself, out
of which he was first brought up, and then carried down from the
rock to the plain.
Verse 14. Shouted - Because they had now their enemy, as they
supposed, in their hands. Loosed - Hebrew. were melted; that is,
were dissolved, as things which are melted in the fire. This
typified the resurrection of Christ, by the power of the Spirit of
holiness. In this he loosed the bands of death, it being impossible
he should be holden of them. And thus he triumphed over the
powers of darkness, which had shouted against him.
Verse 15. New jaw-bone - And therefore the more tough and strong.
Verse 16. Slain a thousand men - What could be too hard for him to do,
on whom the Spirit of the Lord came mightily? It was strange the
men of Judah did now at least come in to his assistance. But he
was to be a type of him, who trod the wine-press alone.
Verse 17. Ramath-Lehi - That is, the lifting up of the jaw-bone; by
contraction Lehi, ver. 14, as Salem is put for Jerusalem.
Verse 18. Sore a thirst - A natural effect of the great pains he had taken.
And perhaps there was the hand of God therein, to chastise him
for not making mention of God in his song, and to keep him from
being proud of his strength. One would have thought that the men
of Judah would have met him with bread and wine: but they so
little regarded him, that he is fainting for want of a draught of
water! Thus are the greatest slights often put upon those that do
the greatest services! Shall I die - Wilt thou not finish what thou
hast begun? Wilt thou undo what thou hast done.
Verse 19. In the Jaw - Either causing the jaw-bone to send forth water,
as the rock formerly did, causing a spring to break forth in that
Lehi, mentioned ver. 14, for Lehi is both the name of a place, and
a jaw-bone. En-hakkore - That is, the fountain of him that cried
for thirst; or, that called upon God for deliverance; that is, the
fountain which was given in answer to my prayer. In Lehi -
According to this translation, Lehi is the name of a place.
Verse 20. He judged - That is, he pleaded their cause, and avenged them
against the Philistines. Of the Philistines - That is, whilst the
Philistines had the power and dominion, from which he was not
fully to deliver, but only to begin to deliver them. From this place
it is manifest, that in the computation of the times of the Judges,
the years of servitude or oppression are not to be separated from
the years of the Judges, but added to them, and are comprehended
within them; which proposition is of great importance for clearing
this difficult part of scripture-chronology.
Chapter 15:
| Darby
| Geneva
| Gill
| Jamieson Faussett Brown
| Matthew Henry
| Matthew Henry Concise
| Wesley
| Index
| Bible Gateway |
Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 Joshua Ruth
This version of Wesley's Notes on the Bible is a derivative of an electronic version, Copyright 1997, by Sulu D. Kelley. All rights reserved. Used by permission. It may not be modified or used commercially without permission of Wesleyan Heritage Publishing and Sulu Kelley. A special thanks to Mr. Kelley and Wesleyan Heritage Publishing for permission to create and post this version of Wesley's Notes on the Bible.
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