Judges 15

Judges 15

Samson goes back to his father-in-law with a goat offering and he wants sex from his wife. The timing on this is strange, since it says that he went during the wheat harvest. To me, it sound like this is at least a few weeks, if not months later.

His FIL says that she has married another but he can marry her younger sister instead.

Samson gets mad and wants to take his vengeance out on the greater Philistine community. He does this by capturing 300 foxes and ties their tails together in pairs along with a torch. Then, he releases these into their harvest fields (which are full of food since it is the harvest season).

So, was this whole incident really about taking revenge on the Philistines from the start? That sounds like it to me. I think Samson knew that his wife was now with another guy. His FIL's reaction is a little strange, but kind of makes sense if he thinks Samson is actually trying to provoke violence and not interested in the wife. ("I thought you hated her, have her younger sister instead").

There definitely is a lot to speculate on regarding everyone's motivation here.

(side point - super strength will not help you catch 300 foxes. It is not explained how he did that, but it is almost more remarkable than his super strength).

Back to the story, the Philistines get mad because their food supply is destroyed by arson, so they kill Samson's wife and her father by burning them.

Samson goes on a rampage and kills many Philistines, but ends up hiding in a cave. Meanwhile, the Philistines answer with reprisals on the local people of Judah. The people of Judah (3,000) agree to arrest Samson on behalf of the Philistines. The people of Judah agree not to kill Samson until he is delivered to the Philistines. This makes sense because Samson only gets his super strength when he is handed to the Philistines. So, as a prisoner of Judah, he had ordinary strength and was vulnerable.

Samson picks up a donkey's jawbone and kills 1,000 Philistines. I am not sure why the jaw bone details is important, since he does not need it to win. It is actually kind of a useless weapon in the grand scheme of things. Maybe that is why the detail stands out.

After the fight, Samson is overcome with thirst and thinks he'll die. So God splits a rock which spews out water for him.

Samson judged Israel for 20 years.