Judges 15:1-8

Judges 15:1-8

[1] But it came to pass within a while after,  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,  that thou hadst utterly  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  and caught  three  hundred  foxes,  and took  firebrands,  and turned  tail  and put  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. 

What does Judges 15:1-8 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

Wheat harvest took place in late May or early June in this part of Palestine. [1] Samson"s anger had cooled, and he decided to return to Timnah and arrange for the completion of his marriage. Instead of flowers or candy he took a young goat as a gift for his fiance. The woman"s father, however, claimed that he was sure Samson so thoroughly hated his daughter because of her betrayal that he would never want to marry her. Whether this was the real reason he gave her to another man is not clear. He may have simply wanted to avoid losing face. In any case Samson believed treachery had motivated his act. He must have realized that his treatment of the30 Philistines in Ashkelon ( Judges 14:19) was blameworthy since he announced that what he was about to do would be blameless ( Judges 15:4). He was about to embark on holy war.
"Samson regarded the treatment he had received from his father-in-law as but one effect of the disposition of the Philistines generally toward the Israelites, and therefore resolved to revenge the wrong which he had received from one member of the Philistines upon the whole nation, or at all events upon the whole of the city of Timnah." [2]
"His words indicate that he felt completely justified in such vindictive action." [1]
The word translated "foxes" ( Judges 15:4) probably refers to jackals. Foxes are solitary animals, but jackals run in packs and are relatively easy to capture.
"The burning of standing corn was a common method of retaliation or revenge in the ancient world and its effect in an agricultural community was very serious." [4]
"Samson is a man with a higher calling than any other deliverer in the book, but he spends his whole life "doing his own thing."" [5]
The fate that Samson"s "wife" sought to avoid by betraying him overtook her after all (cf. Judges 14:15). The Philistines presumably burned the house down with the woman and her parents inside ( Judges 15:6). The Philistines" act of revenge on his "wife" simply added more fuel to the desire for revenge that was already burning within Samson ( Judges 15:7). Evidently he loved the Timnite woman. He proceeded to avenge her death by killing many more of the Philistines ( Judges 15:8). Then he took refuge in a cave nearby.