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Judges 15

Samson’s conflict with the Philistines moves through escalating revenge to a victory and survival that depend on God.

At wheat harvest, Samson brings a young goat to visit his wife, but her father says she has been given to his companion. Samson burns Philistine crops, and the Philistines kill his wife and her father. Revenge spreads into further slaughter. When Philistine forces enter Judah, Judah’s men hand Samson over bound. YHWH’s Spirit empowers him to break free and kill a thousand men with a donkey’s jawbone. Afterward, thirst brings him to prayer, and God provides water.

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1But after a while, in the time of wheat harvest, Samson visited his wife with a young goat. He said, “I will go in to my wife’s room.” But her father wouldn’t allow him to go in.
2Her father said, “I most certainly thought that you utterly hated her; therefore I gave her to your companion. Isn’t her younger sister more beautiful than she? Please, take her instead.”
4Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took torches, and turned tail to tail, and put a torch in the middle between every two tails.
6Then the Philistines said, “Who has done this?” They said, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he has taken his wife and given her to his companion.” The Philistines came up, and burned her and her father with fire.
7Samson said to them, “If you behave like this, surely I will take revenge on you, and after that I will cease.”
8He struck them hip and thigh with a great slaughter; and he went down and lived in the cave in Etam’s rock.
9Then the Philistines went up, encamped in Judah, and spread themselves in Lehi.
11Then three thousand men of Judah went down to the cave in Etam’s rock, and said to Samson, “Don’t you know that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to us?” He said to them, “As they did to me, so I have done to them.”
12They said to him, “We have come down to bind you, that we may deliver you into the hand of the Philistines.” Samson said to them, “Swear to me that you will not attack me yourselves.”
14When he came to Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they met him. Then the LORD’s Spirit came mightily on him, and the ropes that were on his arms became as flax that was burned with fire; and his bands dropped from off his hands.
15He found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, put out his hand, took it, and struck a thousand men with it.
18He was very thirsty, and called on the LORD and said, “You have given this great deliverance by the hand of your servant; and now shall I die of thirst, and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?”
19But God split the hollow place that is in Lehi, and water came out of it. When he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived. Therefore its name was called En Hakkore, which is in Lehi, to this day.
20He judged Israel twenty years in the days of the Philistines.
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Key verses
Judges 15:14YHWH’s Spirit turns Samson’s capture into escape, identifying the source of his strength before the battle.
Judges 15:15A fresh donkey’s jawbone becomes Samson’s weapon against a thousand men, showing the scale of his Spirit-enabled victory.
Judges 15:18Samson credits God with deliverance, then admits that the victor of the battle is in danger of dying from thirst.
Where this chapter reaches

Judges 15 shares with 1 Samuel accounts of YHWH’s Spirit coming upon a person and enabling extraordinary action amid conflict with enemies. Its account of God providing water when Samson fears death from thirst also shares a provision theme with Exodus.

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After reading the whole chapter

What do Samson’s and the Philistines’ stated reasons for retaliation reveal about the conflict’s spread?

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How does Samson’s prayer after the battle shape your understanding of his strength and dependence on God?

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Questions people ask about Judges 15

Why did the men of Judah hand Samson over to the Philistines?

The men of Judah acknowledge that the Philistines rule over them and blame Samson for bringing the conflict into their territory. Three thousand men come to bind him for surrender. Samson agrees after they promise they will not kill him themselves. The account portrays Judah accepting Philistine rule.

How did Samson kill a thousand men with a donkey’s jawbone?

The account places YHWH’s Spirit coming upon Samson before his escape and victory. His ropes fall away, and he takes a fresh donkey’s jawbone to strike a thousand men. The text attributes his extraordinary strength to divine empowerment, while giving no detailed account of how the fighting unfolded.

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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).