Matthew Henry Complete Commentary
on the Whole Bible
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Chapter 15
Samson, though a
tenth part would have served now that his hour had come, and ten times
as many would have done nothing if he had not yielded.
II. Samson basely betrayed and delivered up by the men of Judah,
Judges 15:11.
Of Judah were they? Degenerate branches of that valiant tribe! Utterly
unworthy to carry in their standard the lion of the tribe of
Judah. Perhaps they were disaffected to Samson because he was not
of their tribe. Out of a foolish fondness for their forfeited
precedency, they would rather be oppressed by Philistines than rescued
by a Danite. Often has the church's deliverance been obstructed by such
jealousies and pretended points of honour. Rather it was because they
stood in awe of the Philistines, and were willing, at any rate, to get
them out of their country. If their spirits had not been perfectly
cowed and broken by their sins and troubles, and they had not been
given up to a spirit of slumber, they would have taken this fair
opportunity to shake off the Philistine's yoke. If they had had the
least spark of ingenuousness and courage remaining in them, having so
brave a man as Samson was to head them, they would now have made one
bold struggle for the recovery of their liberty; but no marvel if those
that had debased themselves to hell in the worship of their dung-hill
gods
(Isaiah 57:9)
thus debased themselves to the dust, in submission to their insulting
oppressors. Sin dispirits men, nay, it infatuates them, and hides from
their eyes the things that belong to their peace. Probably Samson went
into the border of that country to offer his service, supposing his
brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver
them, as Moses did,
Acts 7:25.
But they thrust him from them, and very disingenuously,
1. Blamed him for what he had done against the Philistines, as if he
had done them a great injury. Such ungrateful returns have those often
received that have done the best service imaginable to their country.
Thus our Lord Jesus did many good works, and for these they were ready
to stone him.
2. They begged of him that he would suffer them to bind him, and
deliver him up to the Philistines. Cowardly unthankful wretches! Fond
of their fetters and in love with servitude! Thus the Jews delivered up
our Saviour, under pretence of a fear lest the Romans should come and
take away their place and nation. With what a sordid servile spirit do
they argue, Knowest thou not that the Philistines rule over us?
And whose fault was that? They knew they had no right to rule over
them, nor would they have been sold into their hands if they had not
first sold themselves to work wickedness.
III. Samson tamely yielding to be bound by his countrymen, and
delivered into the hands of his enraged enemies,
Judges 15:12,13.
Now easily could he have beaten them off, and kept the top of his rock
against these 3000 men, and none of them all could, or durst, have laid
hands on him; but he patiently submitted,
1. That he might give an example of great meekness, mixed with great
strength and courage; as one that had rule over his own spirit, he knew
how to yield as well as how to conquer.
2. That, by being delivered up to the Philistine, he might have an
opportunity of making a slaughter among them.
3. That he might be a type of Christ, who, when he had shown what he
could do, in striking those down that came to seize him, yielded to be
bound and led as a lamb to the slaughter. Samson justified
himself in what he had done against the Philistines: "As they did to
me, so I did to them; it was a piece of necessary justice, and they
ought not to retaliate it upon me, for they began." He covenants with
the men of Judah that, if he put himself into their hands, they should
not fall upon him themselves, because then he should be tempted to fall
upon them, which he was very loth to do. This they promised him
(Judges 15:13),
and then he surrendered. The men of Judah, being his betrayers, were in
effect his murderers; they would not kill him themselves, but they did
that which was worse, they delivered him into the hands of the
uncircumcised Philistines, who they knew would do worse than kill him,
would abuse and torment him to death. Perhaps they thought, as some
think Judas did when he betrayed Christ, that he would by his great
strength deliver himself out of their hands; but no thanks to them if
he had delivered himself, and, if they thought he would do so, they
might of themselves have thought this again, that he could and would
deliver them too if they would adhere to him and make him their head.
Justly is their misery prolonged who, to oblige their worst enemies,
thus abuse their best friend. Never were men so infatuated except those
who thus treated our blessed Saviour.
IV. Samson making his part good against the Philistines, even when he
was delivered into their hands, fast pinioned with two new cords. The
Philistines, when they had him among them, shouted against him
(Judges 15:14),
so triumphing in their success, and insulting over him. If God had not
tied their hands faster than the men of Judah had tied his, they would
have shot at him (as their archers did at Saul) to dispatch him
immediately, rather than have shouted at him, and given him time to
help himself. But their security and joy were a presage of their ruin.
When they shouted against him as a man run down, confident that all was
their own, then the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, came
mightily upon him, inspired him with more than ordinary strength and
resolution. Thus fired,
1. He presently got clear of his bonds. The two new cords, upon the
first struggle he gave, broke, and were melted (as the original
word is) from off his hands, no doubt to the great amazement and terror
of those that shouted against him, whose shouts were hereby turned into
shrieks. Observe, When the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, his
cords were loosed. Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is
liberty, and those are free indeed who are thus freed. This
typified the resurrection of Christ by the power of the Spirit of
holiness. In it he loosed the bands of death, and its cords, the
grave-clothes, fell from his hands without being loosed, as Lazarus's
were, because it was impossible that the mighty Saviour should be
holden of them; and thus he triumphed over the powers of darkness that
shouted against him, as if they had him sure.
2. He made a great destruction among the Philistines, who all gathered
about him to make sport with him,
Judges 15:15.
See how poorly he was armed: he had no better weapon than the jaw-bone
of an ass, and yet what execution he did with it! he never laid it out
of his hand till he had with it laid 1000 Philistines dead upon the
spot; and thus that promise was more than accomplished. One of you
shall chase a thousand,Joshua 23:10.
A jaw-bone was an inconvenient thing to grasp, and, one would think,
might easily be wrested out of his hand, and a few such blows as he
gave with it might have crushed and broken it, and yet it held good to
the last. Had it been the jaw-bone of a lion, especially that which he
himself had slain, it might have helped to heighten his fancy and to
make him think himself the more formidable; but to take the bone of
that despicable animal was to do wonders by the foolish things of
the world, that the excellency of the power might be of God and
not of man. One of David's worthies slew 300 Philistines at once,
but it was with a spear,1 Chronicles 11:11.
Another slew of them till his hand was weary and stuck to his sword,
2 Samuel 23:10.
But they all came short of Samson. What could be thought too hard, too
much, for him to do, on whom the Spirit of the Lord came mightily!
Through God we shall do valiantly. It was strange the men of
Judah did not now come in to his aid: cowards can strike a falling
enemy. But he was to be a type of him that trod the wine-press
alone.
V. Samson celebrating his own victory, since the men of Judah would not
do even that for him. He composed a short song, which he sang to
himself, for the daughters of Israel did not meet him, as afterwards
they did Saul, to sing, with more reason, Samson hath slain his
thousands. The burden of this song was, With the jaw-bone of an
ass, heaps upon heaps, have I slain a thousand men,Judges 15:16.
The same word in Hebrew (chamor) signifies both an ass
and a heap, so that this is an elegant paronomasia, and
represents the Philistines falling as tamely as asses. He also gave a
name to the place, to perpetuate the Philistines' disgrace,
Judges 15:17.
Ramath-lehi, the lifting up of the jaw-bone. Yet he did
not vain-gloriously carry the bone about with him for a show, but threw
it away when he had done with it. So little were relics valued
then.
Samson's Thirst Relieved.
B. C. 1140.
18 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?
19 But God clave a 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 in Lehi unto this day.
20 And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty
years.
Here is,
I. The distress which Samson was in after this great performance
(Judges 15:18):
He was sore athirst. It was a natural effect of the great heat
he had been in, and the great pains he had taken; his zeal consumed
him, ate him up, and made him forget himself, till, when he had time to
pause a little, he found himself reduced to the last extremity for want
of water and ready to faint. Perhaps there was a special hand of God in
it, as there was in the whole transaction; and God would hereby keep
him from being proud of his great strength and great achievements, and
let him know that he was but a man, and liable to the calamities that
are common to men. And Josephus says, It was designed to chastise him
for not making mention of God and his hand in his memorial of the
victory he had obtained, but taking all the praise to himself: I
have slain a thousand men; now that he is ready to die for thirst
he is under a sensible conviction that his own arm could not have saved
him, without God's right hand and arm. Samson had drunk largely of the
blood of the Philistines, but blood will never quench any man's thirst.
Providence so ordered it that there was no water near him, and he was
so fatigued that he could not go far to seek it; the men of Judah, one
would think, should have met him, now that he had come off a conqueror,
with bread and wine, as Melchizedek did Abram, to atone for the
injury they had done him; but so little notice did they take of their
deliverer that he was ready to perish for want of a draught of water.
Thus are the greatest slights often put upon those that do the greatest
services. Christ on the cross, said, I thirst.
II. His prayer to God in this distress. Those that forget to attend God
with their praises may perhaps be compelled to attend him with their
prayers. Afflictions are often sent to bring unthankful people to God.
Two things he pleads with God in this prayer,
1. His having experienced the power and goodness of God in his late
success: Thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of thy
servant. He owns himself God's servant in what he had been doing:
"Lord, wilt thou not own a poor servant of thine, that has spent
himself in thy service? I am thine, save me." He calls his
victory a deliverance, a great deliverance; for, if God
had not helped him, he had not only not conquered the Philistines, but
had been swallowed up by them. He owns it to come from God, and now
corrects his former error in assuming it too much to himself; and this
he pleads in his present strait. Note, Past experiences of God's power
and goodness are excellent pleas in prayer for further mercy. "Lord,
thou hast delivered often, wilt thou not deliver still?
2 Corinthians 1:10.
Thou hast begun, wilt thou not finish? Thou hast done the greater, wilt
thou not do the less?"
Psalms 56:13.
2. His being now exposed to his enemies: "Lest I fall into the hands
of the uncircumcised, and then they will triumph, will tell it
in Gath, and in the streets of Ashkelon; and will it not redound to
God's dishonour of his champion become so easy a prey to the
uncircumcised?" The best pleas are those taken from God's glory.
III. The seasonable relief God sent him. God heard his prayer, and sent
him water, either out of the bone or out of the earth through the bone,
Judges 15:19.
That bone which he had made an instrument of God's service God, to
recompense him, made an instrument of his supply. But I rather incline
to our marginal reading: God clave a hollow place that was in
Lehi: the place of this action was, from the jaw-bone, called
Lehi; even before the action we find it so called,
Judges 15:9,14.
And there, in that field, or hill, or plain, or whatever it was, that
was so called, God caused a fountain suddenly and seasonably to open
just by him, and water to spring up out of it in abundance, which
continued a well ever after. Of this fair water he drank, and his
spirits revived. We should be more thankful for the mercy of water did
we consider how ill we can spare it. And this instance of Samson's
relief should encourage us to trust in God, and seek to him, for, when
he pleases, he can open rivers in high places. See
Isaiah 41:17,18.
IV. The memorial of this, in the name Samson gave to this upstart
fountain, En-hakkore, the well of him that cried, thereby keeping
in remembrance both his own distress, which occasioned him to cry, and
God's favour to him, in answer to his cry. Many a spring of comfort
God opens to his people, which may fitly be called by this name; it is
the well of him that cried. Samson had given a name to the place
which denoted him great and triumphant--Ramath-lehi, the
lifting up of the jaw-bone; but here he gives it another name,
which denotes him needy and dependent.
V. The continuance of Samson's government after these achievements,
Judges 15:20.
At length Israel submitted to him whom they had betrayed. Now it was
past dispute that God was with him, so that henceforward they all owned
him and were directed by him as their judge. The stone which the
builders refused became the head-stone. It intimates the low
condition of Israel that the government was dated by the days of the
Philistines; yet it was a mercy to Israel that, though they were
oppressed by a foreign enemy, yet they had a judge that preserved order
and kept them from ruining one another. Twenty years his government
continued, according to the usages of the judges' administration; but
of the particulars we have no account, save of the beginning of his
government in this chapter and the end of it in the next.