Judges 15

Shimshon’s wife given to his comrade

1

And it was, days from then, in the days of the wheat harvest, and Shimshon visited¹ his woman with a kid of the goats, and he said, “I shall ‹go in› unto my woman in the chamber.”² And her father would not give him to ‹go in›,

2

and her father said, “Saying I said that hating thou hated her, and I gave her to thy comrade; is not her little³ sister goodlier than she? Let her be, pray, for thee, in her stead.”

3

And Shimshon said to them,⁴ “I am clear now⁵ from the Philistines, in that I—I do with them badness.”

Shimshon burninates the countryside

4

And Shimshon went and captured three hundred jackals,⁶ and took torches, and turned tail unto tail, and set one torch in the middle between the two tails.⁷

5

And he burned fire in the torches, and ‹sent them forth› into the standing grain⁸ of the Philistines, and burned, from shocks⁹ and until standing grain and until vineyards and olives.¹⁰

6

And the Philistines said, “Who did this?” And they said, “Shimshon, ‹son in law› of the Timnite, in that he took his woman and gave her to his comrade.” And the Philistines ascended and incinerated¹¹ her and her father in fire.¹²

7

And Shimshon said to them, “If ye do as this, therefore shall I be avenged¹³ in you; and afterwards, I shall forbear.”¹⁴

8

And he smote them, shank¹⁵ upon thigh, a big smiting, and descended and dwelt in the split of the crag¹⁶ of Eytam.¹⁷

Yehuda betrays Shimshon to the Philistines

9

And the Philistines ascended and encamped in Yehuda¹⁸ and ‹spread out›¹⁹ in Jawbone,²⁰

10

and the men of Yehuda said, “For what have ye ascended upon us?” And they said, “To bind Shimshon we have ascended, to do to him as that he hath done to us.”

11

And three thousand men from Yehudah went unto the split of the crag of Eytam and said to Shimshon, “Knowest thou not that the Philistines rule in us? And what is this thou hast done to us?” And he said to them, “As that they did to me, so I did to them.”²¹

12

And they said to him, “To bind thee we have descended, to give thee into the hand of the Philistines.” And Shimshon said to them, “Swear to me, lest ye ‹meet upon›²² me yourselves.”

13

And they said to him, saying, “No, in that binding we shall bind thee and give thee into their hand, and killing we shall not kill thee.”²³ And they bound him in two new twinings²⁴ and ascended him from the crag.

14

He ‹came in› unto Jawbone and the Philistines bellowed to meet²⁵ him, and the spirit of Yahweh advanced upon him, and the twinings became, that were upon his arms, as unto flax that is burned with fire, and his bindings melted from upon his hands.

Shimshon smites the Philistines with a donkey’s jawbone

15

And he found a fresh jawbone of an ass, and ‹sent forth› his hand and took it, and smote with it a thousand men.

16

And Shimshon said,

“With the jawbone of the ass,
an ass-load,²⁶ two ass-loads,
With the jawbone of the ass,
I have smote²⁷ a thousand men.”

17

And it was, as he finished speaking, and he cast the jawbone from his hand, and called that place Jawbone Height.²⁸

18

And he was very thirsty, and called unto Yahweh and said, “Thou—thou hast given into the hand of thy servant this big salvation—and now, shall I die with thirst, and fall into the hand of the foreskinned?”

19

And Yahweh rived²⁹ the hollow that is in Jawbone, and there ‹came forth› from it water, and he drank and his spirit ‹turned back› and he lived; upon so he called its name Eye of the Caller³⁰ that is in Jawbone until this day.

20

And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.

visited (paqad). A difficult word to translate, especially here, because it has both the meaning of visiting, and of attending to or, by connection, inspecting or examining. It is used dozens of times in Numbers to refer to Moses numbering the people (i.e., inspecting their number), and in Joshua 8:10 of mustering the people (i.e., for inspection). Cf. Judges 9#28 where Zevul is described as Gideon’s “inspector.” But paqad is also used in Exodus 20:5 of God “visiting” the sins of wrongdoers to the third and fourth generation, and in Ruth 1:6 and 1 Samuel 2:21 of Yahweh “visiting” Israel with bread, and Hannah with children. Thus, while it does here carry the basic denotation that Shimshon visited his wife, it also connotes his attending to her or caring for her needs—but also a level of scrutiny of her. The fact that this happens after some days suggests a sabbath judgment after the initial third-day judgment represented by the wedding. ↩
chamber (cheder). This generally refers to a private room, often an inner chamber; in this case, most likely her own bedroom. Cf. Judges 3#24. ↩
little (qatan). I.e., younger. This is not suggesting child marriage. ↩
to them. Or, “of them” (lahem). ↩
now. Or, “at this time” (hapa’am). Trad. “this time,” but while that reading does preserve the determiner ha, it makes Shimshon to imply that previously he was not clear (i.e., innocent) of doing bad. It seems to me that “at this time” is unnecessarily awkward, and inconsistent with e.g. Genesis 2:23 where hapa’am is traditionally rendered “now,” (which is perfectly reasonable given that the alternative is “this this time”—not only awkward, but questionable in translating both zot and ha as “this” right next to each other). ↩
jackals (shu’al). This refers properly to a burrowing canid, being derived from sho’al, “hollow,” and thus can mean a jackal or a fox. However, foxen are solitary, whereas jackals are social, so it is much more likely in my view that Shimshon captured jackals: it would simply be far easier (albeit still a remarkable feat). Jackals also have an obvious symbolic connection to the Philistines, being scavengers who hunt in packs; and being strongly associated with Egypt through Anubis, the god of death. Foxen by contrast have no such associations, and are less dangerous and eat less meat, with diets that include fruit, insects and the like. The jackal is also associated with the trickster, an archetype Shimshon redeems. ↩
in the middle between the two tails. The word order is reversed in Hebrew: “between the two tails in the middle.” There is perhaps an image here of teams of jackals carrying torch-chariots between them, which “ride forth” in judgment. ↩
standing grain (qama). From qum, “rise” or “stand.” ↩
shocks (gadish). The internet tells me that the proper term today is “stooks,” but I prefer the traditional rendering, and I think it more generally comprehensible. Either way, this is referring to sheaves of cut grain which have been stacked together. The term appears only here, in Job 5:26, and in Exodus 22:6 “In that fire goeth forth, and findeth thorns, and a shock or the standing grain or the field is eaten, he who burned the burning shall repaying repay.” ↩
vineyards and olives. Or “vineyards of olives” (kerem zayit). It is possible that kerem is here functioning as a more general term for an orchard, with zayit specifying what kind, in which case it is referring not to vineyards and olives, but rather to olive yards. But most translations, including the LXX, take this as vineyards and olives. ↩
incinerated. See note on Judges 9#52. ↩
the Philistines ascended and incinerated her and her father in fire. The irony of what happens to Shimshon’s wife is an instructive warning: she broke faith with Shimshon (and thus Yahweh) precisely to avoid being burned to death, and by doing so set in motion a series of events that lead inexorably to her being burned to death. This is not fate, but providential justice: when we choose pragmatism over faith, God ensures that we end up suffering the very thing that we feared more than him. Had Shimshon’s wife trusted him rather than the Philistines, their threats would have come to nothing. It is difficult to overstate the significance of this lesson in an age where the church is characterized by ongoing compromise of a similar nature. A prime example is how Christians keep disobeying God’s requirements for magistrates by voting for conservative political candidates who hate him, because they fear the liberal candidates having power; thus God continues to visit liberalism upon our nations. Yet we remain blind to what is happening. As Jordan notes (Samson: The Mighty Bridegroom), “If you compromise your witness to avoid trouble, you’re just going to get the same trouble later on.” See also my article, How God requires Christians to vote. ↩
avenged (naqam). Properly the word for vengeance or revenge, as classically used in Deuteronomy 32:35; not the same word for redeeming or paying back, which is used for e.g. the “avenger of blood.” ↩
forbear (chadal). Cf. Judges 9#9. ↩
shank (shoq). The traditional rendering of “hip on thigh” has a certain poetry to it, but shoq does not mean hip; it refers properly to the leg, and particularly to the calf, just as shank does. The vast majority of uses in scripture are in Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, and refer specifically to the right leg of an animal offered for sacrifice. ↩
split of the crag (s’ip sela’). Trad. “cleft of the rock,” but both Hebrew words here are different to the ones used in Exodus 17:6. This is not the normal word for rock, tsur, but rather sela’ which refers properly to a cliff or crag. Given the various uses in scripture, the best translation in my mind is crag or perhaps bluff. ↩
Eytam. The root is ’ayit, a rare word meaning to swoop or rush upon. The head is Genesis 15:11 where “swoopers,” birds of prey, descend on the carcasses of Abraham’s sacrifice. Probably the crag of Eytam is a cliff that gets it name from being frequented by birds of prey. ↩
Yehuda. I.e. Judah. ↩
spread out (natash). This word lacks an English equivalent, having a dizzying semantic range; it is also used of God casting Israel off in Judges 6#13. ↩
Jawbone (lechi). I have opted to translate rather than transliterate less recognizable names, as their chief import is specifically in their meaning. ↩
As that they did to me, so I did to them. As a judge, a lawful magistrate of God, Shimshon’s charge is to execute justice in accordance with the lex talionis (e.g., Leviticus 24:17–22). The burning of the harvest of the Philistines using 5×30 pairs of jackals corresponds to a fivefold vengeance upon the firstfruits he himself will never have because they “plowed with his heifer” and robbed him of his wife. Cf. Exodus 22:1. This is not to say that burning a man’s fields is appropriate justice in typical cases; rather, because the Spirit is acting through Shimshon, he is able to enact the kind of providential justice we expect from God himself, as recognized for instance in Genesis 42:21. ↩
meet upon (paga’). Cf. Judges 8#21 and note. ↩
killing we shall not kill thee. Ordinarily I would translate any conjugation of mut along the lines of “‹put to death›” to preserve the root word. However, there is no way to translate the infinitive absolute into English using the words death or die. ↩
twinings (’avot). Although this generally refers to ropes, cords, or bands, it properly means something twined together. The word twine would be perfect if not for the fact that it connotes a relatively thin cord made of two pieces of string, whereas something more like rope is in view here. ↩
meet (qara). Not the same word I translate “meet upon” in verse 12. ↩
ass-load, two ass-loads. Admittedly an unconventional rendering, but one I believe is fitting given the mocking nature of Shimshon’s little poem. Trad. “heaps,” because the root here is probably chamorah, from which we get the measurement “homer,” famously used of barley. Shimshon constructs it as chamor chamoratayim, which could mean “a homer/heap, two homers/heaps,” but also “an ass, two asses.” The pun cannot be translated into English as-is, but we can play on the fact that in English “ass” also has a dual meaning, and produce a similar cheeky effect. ↩
smote. Technically “smitten” is correct, but in English it specifically connotes being love-struck, so I have chosen to stretch the grammar here with a more idiomatic rendering. ↩
Jawbone Height. Or Jawbone Rise. Transliteration: Ramat Lehi. ↩
rived (baqa’). Hebrew has a surprising number of words for splitting things. This could also be translated split or clave, but it is a different word from those used previously in chapters 14–15. ↩
Eye of the Caller. Or “Eye of the One Who Calls,” but this seems needlessly wordy and does not represent the economy of the Hebrew. An eye is a spring. Transliteration: Eyn Hakkore. ↩