Judges 15:6-10

Judges 15:6

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.

 

Then the leaders and no doubt the vineyard owners had inquired as to who had done this.  Immediately they told them that it was Samson.  It is curious that they included the description of “son in law of the Timnite.”  They associated that man’s family with Samson.  Then they told the Philistines the reason that Samson acted the way he did.  His wife was taken from him and given to another man.  The Philistines then took retribution on the man and his daughter by burning their home with them in it.

 

Judges 15:7

And Samson said unto them, Though ye have done this, yet will I be avenged of you, and after that I will cease.

 

Samson knowing what they did to his wife and her father had now told them that he would take vengeance upon them and when that vengeance was fully satisfied then he would cease and not take it any further.

 

Judges 15:8

And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam.

 

By smiting them “hip and thigh” is a Hebrew idiom which denotes that Samson had made a great slaughter of the Philistines.  Even if the term “hip and thigh” was a literal injury it would have caused many of them to be unable to go to war in any manner.  Etam was 25 miles (40 km) south of Timnath.  The Etam in this verse was possibly located in the hill country of Judah.  And their villages were, Etam, and Ain, Rimmon, and Tochen, and Ashan, five cities:  (1 Chronicles 4:32, KJV)  The site of this particular rock has not been identified but it may refer to a fissure or ravine where Samson went.  He also may have stayed on the top of this rock to keep watch to see if the Philistines would pursue him.

 

Judges 15:9

Then the Philistines went up, and pitched in Judah, and spread themselves in Lehi.

 

Lehi was 10 miles (16 km) northwest of Etam.  It was named that because the name Lehi means “jawbone.”  It was named that after Samson had used a jawbone of a donkey to make another great slaughter of the Philistines.  The Philistines had assembled their army and moved into the hill country of Judah to pursue Samson.

 

Judges 15:10

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.

 

Then the men of Judah had asked the Philistines why they had come up against them since they did not provoke them with any aggression.  They answered them that they were looking for Samson to take him prisoner and exact revenge upon him for what he had done to them.  They were hoping that the men of Judah would hand him over to them without incident.

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