Samson's Revenge Judges 15

Judges 15:1a-2 "But it came to pass within a while after, in the time of wheat harvest, that Samson visited his wife...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."

Samson's wife has been given to one he counted as a friend. Samson became very angry. He tied the tails of foxes together and placed a firebrand between them and turned them loose in the corn of the Philistines.

v5 "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."

Judah of Israel became worried because the Philistines were over them at this time. They apparently were thinking the Philistines would take out reprisals on them. So they sent 3000 to bind Samson so they could turn him over to the Philistines. Samson agreed to let them bind him if they would not kill him.

v13 "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."

It is a sad time for Israel. They have succumbed to their taskmasters so much that they are now turning over one of their own to them. It was a way, however, for Samson to get among the Philistines and slay them.

v15 "And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith."

After this battle, Samson became very thirsty and thought he would die but he prayed to the LORD and water came from the bone he used to slay the Philistines.

v19 "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 En-hakkore*, which is Lehi unto this day." *(The well of him that cried.)

v20 "And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years."

Psalms 63:1 "O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;"

keywords: Bible Study, Old Testament, Judges, Samson, Israel, Philistines, Milton Southerland