Judges 15
BSASBSamson goes back for his Philistine wife and finds she has been given to another man. A cycle of revenge follows, with burning fields, burned people and a great slaughter. Even Israel’s own people hand him over, yet God’s Spirit frees him, and God gives him water when he is near death.
Judges 15:1
Some time after the quarrel at his wedding, Samson returns with a young goat as a peace gift. He expects to be welcomed into his wife’s room as her husband. Her father stops him at the door. The visit is meant as reconciliation, but it opens a new round of trouble.
BSA: room (“chamber, private quarters”): Samson claims the rights of a husband to his wife’s private quarters, which her father has no right to deny.
See also: Judges 14:20.
Judges 15:2
The father says he assumed Samson had abandoned his bride, so he gave her to the man who had stood with Samson at the wedding. He offers the younger sister as a replacement. He treats marriage as a bargain to be swapped, and this deepens the insult.
BSA: hated (“felt intense dislike for”): The father says he took Samson’s angry walkout at the wedding to mean he had rejected her completely.
Judges 15:3
Samson says that this time he will be blameless, since he has now been wronged. He sees himself as free to strike back. His words show a man moved by personal grievance, yet God uses this conflict to loosen the Philistines’ grip on Israel.
BSA: blameless (“innocent, free from guilt”): Samson claims he can no longer be blamed, because the Philistines struck the first blow.
See also: Judges 14:4.
Judges 15:4-5
Samson catches three hundred foxes, ties them in pairs with a torch between their tails, and sets them loose in the Philistine fields at harvest time. Grain stacks, standing wheat, vineyards and olive groves all burn. It strikes at the Philistines’ food and livelihood.
BSA: foxes (“burrowers, possibly jackals”): The animals may have been jackals, which run in packs and are easier to gather in numbers.
Hebrew: שׁוּעָלִים (shuʿalim, H7776) — “foxes or jackals.” The Hebrew word covers both foxes and jackals. Either way, frightened animals with fire on their tails would run wildly through the fields and spread the blaze.
Judges 15:6
The Philistines ask who did it and learn the cause: Samson’s wife was given away. Instead of punishing Samson, they burn the woman and her father, the very thing they had once threatened. Their cruelty falls on their own people, and Samson’s anger grows.
BSA: companion (“close friend, best man”): The wife was given to the very man who had stood closest to Samson at the wedding.
See also: Judges 14:15.
Judges 15:7-8
Samson says he will not stop until he has had his vengeance, and he strikes the Philistines with a great slaughter. He then retreats to a cave in the rock of Etam, in Judah’s territory. The cycle of revenge deepens, and it ends up drawing in Israel itself.
BSA: ruthlessly (“hip and thigh, with great force”): The phrase pictures a total and merciless beating, with the enemy left utterly broken.
Judges 15:9
The Philistines march up into Judah and spread out near Lehi, a town whose name means jaw. They bring war onto Israel’s own land. This is the cost of a people who have grown used to foreign rule.
BSA: Lehi (“named after the Hebrew word for jaw, a place of significance”): The name quietly anticipates the weapon Samson will pick up there.
Hebrew: לֶחִי (lechi, H3896) — “jaw, cheek.” The place name and the weapon share the same word, which sets up the wordplay at the end of the story.
Judges 15:10
The men of Judah ask why the Philistines have come against them. The answer is that they want Samson, to arrest him and repay him. Judah is being held responsible for one man’s actions, and they know they are too weak to resist.
BSA: arrest (“bind, take captive”): The Philistines want Samson tied up and helpless, not just stopped.
Judges 15:11
Three thousand men of Judah go to Samson. They do not ask how to fight their enemies. They complain that he has stirred up their rulers. Their sad question shows how comfortable they have become under Philistine control. Samson answers that he only did to them what they did to him.
BSA: rule (“have power, govern”): Judah speaks as if Philistine rule were a plain fact to be accepted rather than a bondage to be ended.
See also: Judges 13:1.
Judges 15:12-13
Judah says plainly that they mean to tie him up and hand him over. Samson asks only for a promise that they will not kill him themselves. They agree and bind him with two new ropes. God’s chosen deliverer is handed over to the enemy by his own people.
BSA: new (“fresh, recently created”): Ropes never used before seemed strongest, so they thought these would hold him.
See also: Judges 16:11-12.
Judges 15:14
As the Philistines come shouting to seize their prisoner, the Spirit of the LORD comes powerfully on Samson. The new ropes become like burnt flax and fall from his hands. His strength is not his own. It is God’s gift, given for God’s purpose.
BSA: mightily (“powerfully, with great strength”): The Spirit’s coming is sudden and forceful, not gentle. flax (“a plant used to make linen thread”): Flax thread burns away at once, so the ropes lose all hold.
Hebrew: וַתִּצְלַח (vattitslach, H6743) — “rushed upon, came powerfully.” The verb pictures the Spirit rushing upon Samson like a sudden surge, taking hold of him and filling him with force.
See also: Judges 14:6.
Judges 15:15
Samson finds a fresh donkey’s jawbone lying nearby and uses it to strike down a thousand men. The weapon is crude and unlikely. A fresh bone would still be strong and not brittle, so it did not break.
BSA: fresh (“new, recently made”): The bone was newly dead and still strong, so it could serve as a weapon.
Hebrew: טְרִיָּה (teriyyah, H2961) — “fresh, moist.” The word describes a bone still moist and firm, not dried out and brittle. This explains why it did not break in battle.
Judges 15:16
Samson sings a short victory verse. It plays on the Hebrew words for donkey and heap, which sound almost the same. The simple tool and the heaps of dead show how great the victory was. The song also gives the credit to the jawbone, and Samson takes some for himself too.
BSA: heaps (“collections, piles”): The enemy lies in mounds on the ground, a picture of complete defeat.
Hebrew: חֲמוֹר חֲמֹרָתַיִם (chamor chamorathayim, H2543) — “a donkey, a heap or two.” The word for donkey and the word for heap sound almost alike, so Samson’s verse works as a play on words.
Judges 15:17
When he finishes his song, Samson throws the jawbone away and names the place Ramath-lehi, meaning height of the jaw. The place name becomes a lasting reminder of the day. Throwing the bone aside shows that the weapon was never the source of the victory.
BSA: cast (“threw away, discarded”): Samson drops the jawbone because its work is finished. Ramath-lehi (“the height of the jawbone”): The name keeps alive the memory of what happened on this spot.
Judges 15:18
After the victory, Samson is faint with thirst. In his need he cries out to the LORD. He calls the victory a great deliverance from God and calls himself God’s servant. He then fears he will die of thirst and fall into pagan hands. His strength is real, but he depends on God for water.
BSA: deliverance (“salvation, rescue”): Samson credits the whole victory to God’s saving act, not to his own strength. servant (“faithful attendant, bondslave”): He describes himself as one who belongs to God and serves at His call.
Judges 15:19
God splits open a hollow place in the ground at Lehi, and water flows out. Samson drinks and his strength returns. He names the spring En-hakkore, the spring of the one who calls. God answers a prayer made in real need and gives the refreshment Samson could not find.
BSA: revived (“restored to life, renewed”): The water brings back not just strength but life itself, as if Samson had been close to death. En-hakkore (“the spring of the one who calls out, a place of divine provision”): The name reminds everyone that the spring came in answer to a cry.
Hebrew: רוּחוֹ (ruḥo, H7307) — “his spirit, his breath.” The Hebrew says his spirit returned to him. The word means breath or spirit, and it shows that the water renewed his whole being.
See also: Exodus 17:6.
Judges 15:20
The chapter closes by saying Samson judged Israel twenty years during the days of the Philistines. A judge in Israel was a leader raised up by God to rescue and lead His people. Samson’s deliverance was partial, yet God still used him.
BSA: judged (“to vindicate, govern”): Judging meant leading and defending the people, not only deciding legal cases.
Hebrew: שָׁפַט (shafat, H8199) — “to judge, govern, deliver.” This word covers ruling and rescuing, not just court decisions. Samson is a deliverer whom God raised up for His people.
See also: Judges 16:31.