Bible Commentaries
Judges 15

Verse 1

CONTENTS

The history of Samson is continued through the whole of this Chapter. Several remarkable and surprising events are here recorded of his quarrels with the Philistines, his triumphs over them, the treachery of his enemies, his great thirst, and the Lord's seasonable supply.

Verses 1-2

I beg the Reader to observe with me, merely as a matter of history in this place, what an awful darkness there must be upon the human mind by nature, when a father is so lost and insensible to decency, as to make such a proposal. And if the Reader feels suitably on the occasion, it will serve to give strength to all the views we have in favor of the principles of our holy faith.

Verse 3

And Samson said concerning them, Now shall I be more blameless than the Philistines, though I do them a displeasure.

If we consider Samson, not simply in his own personal character, but as acting in a public character, for the punishment of Zion's enemies, the Philistines; this will serve to throw a light upon many circumstances in the history otherwise not so plain.

Verses 4-8

I pass over the other considerations here noticed to remark the most interesting, namely, of the suitable punishment on the house of Samson's wife's father. The Reader will recollect the treachery of his wife to get out of Samson the riddle, was to prevent the threatened destruction of her father's house by fire; and now the Lord suffers the very ruin which she had studied to avoid to fall upon her and her house, from the instrumentality of the husband she had injured. Our blessed Lord sweetly explains, in a reference to his holy gospel, the wisdom of doing what the Lord appoints, and of leaving the issue with him. He that will save his life, saith Christ, shall lose it: and he that will lose his life for my sake, and the gospel's, the same shall save it. Mark 8:35 .

Verses 9-13

I would not willingly or knowingly strain the pure word of God to bear a construction the Holy Ghost had not in view; but I think, without violence to the passage before us, in these verses, we may see, some things which bear resemblance to the ever blessed Jesus. And especially, as Samson was, on many accounts, a type of Jesus, it is hardly possible to overlook the representation Samson here makes, of the apprehending of the Lord Jesus by the Chief Priests, and Elders; before his crucifixion. The men of Judah, were those who came to seize Samson, to deliver him up into the hands of the Philistines. And the Reader will recollect, that it was the Elders of Israel which bound Jesus, and delivered him up to the Romans. And as Samson quietly yielded himself up into their hands for this purpose, when he might, by his great strength have conquered them, who doth not behold in this type of the Redeemer, our Almighty Samson, who was led as a lamb to the slaughter, when he might have smitten the host of his enemies to destruction forever. Luke 12:52-54 .

Verse 14

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.

But, if the former view of Samson, represents to us anything typical of Jesus, surely we see yet a brighter and a more striking evidence of it in this. When the Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson, he burst asunder the new cords. And when by the Spirit of the Lord, Jesus arose from the dead, how did he burst asunder the newly formed sepulchre, and loose the bands of death, because it was not possible that He should be holden of them. Sweet and precious salvation! by which He hath secured the resurrection of the just.

Verses 15-17

Certainly there is somewhat wonderfully striking in this man ' s history, and the most instructive view we can take of it is, when it serves to lead our hearts to Jesus. And how hath the Son of God, by the simplest weapons in his gospel, brought down the force of the mighty to the earth! 1 Corinthians 1:27-28 .

Verse 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?

The thirst of Jesus, on the cross, was no doubt peculiarly interesting. Samson's was from fatigue, and bodily necessity. Jesus' thirst seems to have been for the salvation of souls, for He had said in the evening before, that he would drink no more of the fruit of the vine until the day he should drink it new in his Father's kingdom. Luke 22:18 . There is somewhat highly instructive in this prayer of Samson's, in pleading past mercies, as the best argument for present. The Writer and Reader, may both learn from it, the success which followed, in God's gracious answer, that we take the most effectual method to find the Lord merciful in what is to come, when we give him glory for what he hath done before.

Verse 19

But 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.

En-hakkore, means the well of him that cried.

Verse 20

Though we have no more recorded of Samson, yet his reign as a Judge in Israel, formed this period of twenty years.

REFLECTIONS

DEAREST Jesus! may I, in these views of Samson, which represent him as delivered up by his countrymen into the hands of his enemies, have my soul instantly directed to the contemplation of thee, and of thy voluntary surrender; when, in the accomplishment of redemption, thou gavest thy back to the smiter, and thy cheeks to them that plucked off the hair. And may my soul so view thee, in this unequalled mark of grace and condescension, as to have my whole heart interested in all that concerns thee. But oh! precious Jesus, while I behold thy matchless power, displayed in bursting asunder the bands of death, do thou manifest the same omnipotency, in breaking the bands of sin and death in me. Lord! burst the bands of Satan, the strong man armed, in my heart; loosen his hold upon my poor fallen nature, and bring me out of the spiritual prison, where he hath long kept my soul captive. And at length, when thou shalt break through, and come in the clouds to judgment, oh! raise my body, loosened from the bands of corruption, to glorify the triumph of my God and Saviour; that having in this life known the power of his resurrection by grace, I may in that life be among the risen to glory, through the alone merits and salvation of Jesus.