History · Chapter 15 of 21

Judges 15

Denied his wife, Samson ties torches to three hundred foxes and burns the Philistines' fields, and they retaliate by burning her and her father. Samson slaughters many in revenge and hides at the rock Etam. The Philistines invade Judah, whose men bind Samson and hand him over. But the Spirit rushes on him; he snaps the ropes and kills a thousand with a donkey's jawbone, then, thirsty, cries to God, who splits a rock to give him water.

What happens in Judges 15

Samson returns to reclaim his wife but learns her father gave her to another, offering her sister instead. Feeling justified, he catches three hundred foxes, ties torches between their tails, and drives them through the Philistine grain, vineyards, and olives, burning the harvest. In revenge the Philistines burn his wife and her father to death, and Samson strikes them down in great slaughter before withdrawing to the rock Etam. The Philistines invade Judah to seize him, and three thousand fearful men of Judah bind their own deliverer to hand him over, on his oath that they will not kill him themselves.

As the Philistines shout in triumph, the Spirit of the LORD rushes on him, the ropes melt like burnt flax, and he kills a thousand men with a fresh donkey's jawbone. Afterward, near death from thirst, he cries to the LORD, who splits open a hollow place and brings out water; Samson drinks, revives, and judges Israel twenty years.

Judges 15 in context

This chapter continues Samson's one-man war with the Philistines, driven by personal vengeance rather than national strategy. Strikingly, Judah does not rally to their deliverer but tries to surrender him, showing a people so accustomed to Philistine rule they resent being rescued.

Samson's exploits are personal and reactive, yet God works through them. His cry for water after victory reveals genuine dependence on God beneath his bravado, and gives the place a lasting name.

Main themes of Judges 15

Judges 15 (KJV)

1But it came to pass within a while after, in the time 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. 2And 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. 3And Samson said concerning them, Now shall I be more blameless than the Philistines, though I do them a displeasure. 4And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails. 5And 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. 6Then 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. 7And Samson said unto them, Though ye have done this, yet will I be avenged of you, and after that I will cease. 8And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam. 9Then the Philistines went up, and pitched in Judah, and spread themselves in Lehi. 10And 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. 11Then three thousand men of Judah went to the top of the rock Etam, and said to Samson, Knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us? what is this that thou hast done unto us? And he said unto them, As they did unto me, so have I done unto them. 12And they said unto him, We are come down to bind thee, that we may deliver thee into the hand of the Philistines. And Samson said unto them, Swear unto me, that ye will not fall upon me yourselves. 13And 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. 14And when he came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him: and the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands. 15And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith. 16And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men. 17And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking, that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand, and called that place Ramathlehi. 18And he was sore athirst, and called on the LORD, and said, Thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of thy servant: and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised? 19But 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 Enhakkore, which is in Lehi unto this day. 20And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.

Verses to carry from Judges 15

“Then three thousand men of Judah went to the top of the rock Etam, and said to Samson, Knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us? what is this that thou hast done unto us? And he said unto them, As they did unto me, so have I done unto them.”Judges 15:11

“And when he came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him: and the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands.”Judges 15:14

“And he was sore athirst, and called on the LORD, and said, Thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of thy servant: and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?”Judges 15:18

Reflection

Judah preferred the safety of chains to the disruption of rescue, resenting the one God sent to free them. We can do the same, guarding the very bondage God wants to break because freedom feels costly.

Is there a place where you are resisting deliverance because it would upset your settled life? Will you cry to God when your own strength runs dry?

A prayer from Judges 15