Judges 15:1 - Meaning and Application

Here we have Samson returning to his wife, whom he had left in anger. He may not have known that she had been given to another man. After time had cooled his resentment, he came back to her with a kid, a young goat, Judges 15:1. The gift was small in value, but it was meant as a sign of peace. It may have been the custom then for people who had been at odds to bring such a gift when they were being reconciled.

Samson acted generously, even though he was the one who had been offended and had the higher position. By duty, she should have been the one to seek peace first. When there is conflict between close relatives, those are the wisest and best who are quickest to forgive, forget the wrong, and give way for the sake of peace.

But he was turned away. Her father would not let him go in, because he had given her to another man, Judges 15:2. He tried to excuse himself by saying, “I was sure you hated her.” That was a very poor excuse. He judged Samson by the common behavior of the Philistines, and even then he only guessed the worst. Yet this was all he had to defend his wrong. People cannot justify evil by saying, “I thought someone else meant harm.”

He then tried to calm Samson by offering his younger daughter instead. He thought she was more attractive and might be accepted in place of the one he had already given away. See what trouble comes into families when they are not ruled by the fear and law of God. One daughter is given this week, and another the next, as if marriage were something to be shuffled around. Samson rejected the offer. He knew better than to take a wife and then marry her sister, against the law (Leviticus 18:18).

Samson then took revenge on the Philistines for this wrong. If he had only wanted to defend himself, he would have gone after the man who had wronged him and his father-in-law alone. But he saw himself as acting for Israel as a whole, because the insult was likely aimed at him as an Israelite. So he decided to harm the Philistines, and he did not doubt that their treatment of him made his action fair, Judges 15:3. He had done what was right by trying to be reconciled to his wife, but since she had made that impossible, they could not blame him if he showed his anger.

The way he chose to punish them was by burning their grain fields, Judges 15:4-5. That would greatly weaken and impoverish the land. His method was strange. He caught 300 foxes, tied them tail to tail in pairs, and put a firebrand between each pair of tails. Then he let them loose in the Philistines’ fields. Frightened animals would run into the grain and spread the fire in many places at once, so it would be hard to put out, especially if it happened at night.

He could have used men, but perhaps he could not find enough Israelites brave enough to help him. Or maybe one man could not do the work in enough places at once. Samson never seems to have used servants or soldiers in his exploits, so here he used foxes as his fire carriers. The Philistines had hurt him by trickery and malice, and now he answered them with crafty foxes and burning brands. By using such weak and mean creatures, he also put contempt on the enemies he was fighting.

This act is often used as a picture of the church’s enemies. Though they may have different interests and look in opposite directions in other matters, they often unite in some wicked scheme to harm God’s people, especially to spread division among them. The damage Samson did was very great. It happened at wheat harvest (Judges 15:1), when the straw was dry, so the fire quickly spread to the cut grain, the standing grain, the vineyards, and the olive trees. It was a ruin of valuable goods. Yet in wartime, destroying an enemy’s food supply is justly allowed. If Samson might take away their lives, he might also take away their livelihood. God was righteous in this, too. The grain, wine, and oil that the Philistines had prepared for Dagon, their idol, were turned in season into a burnt offering to God’s justice.

Then came the Philistines’ anger against Samson’s treacherous wife and her father. They knew these two had provoked Samson to do this damage to the country, so the mob attacked them and burned them with fire, perhaps in their own house, Judges 15:6. They dared not attack Samson himself. So they turned on those who had clearly given him reason to be angry. In doing so, they became instruments of justice, even if they did not mean to. They did not take vengeance on Samson, but vengeance was taken for him, since he had not wanted to punish them himself out of respect for his former family ties.

Those who act treacherously will often be dealt with treacherously in return. The Lord is made known by these judgments, especially when he uses the enemies of his people to punish one another over quarrels involving his people. When a cruel Philistine burns another who has been false, the righteous may rejoice to see justice done (Psalm 58:10-11). In this way, the wrath of man gives praise to God (Psalm 76:10).

The Philistines had once threatened Samson’s wife that if she did not get the answer to his riddle from him, they would burn her and her father’s house with fire, Judges 14:15. To save herself and please her people, she betrayed her husband. And what happened? The very thing she feared came upon her. She and her father’s house were burned with fire, and the Philistines she tried to please brought that evil on her.

The trouble we try to escape by unlawful means often comes back on our own heads. Whoever tries to save his life that way will lose it. Samson then used this as a chance to do the Philistines even greater harm, harm that reached their flesh and bone (Judges 15:7, 8). He seems to say, in effect, “Though you have done this to them, and shown what you would do to me if you could, that will not keep me from troubling you further.” Or he may mean, “You may think that by this act you have paid me back for the insult I suffered among you, but I still have Israel’s cause to defend as a public man. For the wrongs done to them I will take revenge on you. If you then stop your insults, I will stop too, because my aim is only Israel’s deliverance.”

It says he struck them hip and thigh with a great blow. We take this to mean he dealt them wounds that were likely deadly, since injuries in the hip or thigh often are. Some think it means only that he disabled them, as horses are hamstrung. In any case, it describes a fierce attack. He defeated them completely, with great slaughter, or routed them all together, foot soldiers and horsemen alike.

The phrase also suggests that he used all the strength he had, not just in his arms and hands, but with his hips and thighs as well. He kicked and stamped them down, crushing them in anger and trampling them in his fury (Isaiah 63:3). When he had finished, he withdrew to the natural stronghold on top of the rock of Etam, and there he waited to see whether the Philistines would be softened by the punishment he had given them.