Judges 15 explained: Revenge, Fire and a Jawbone

A wife given away (vv. 1-3)

Samson comes back with a young goat as a peace gift, but her father had already given her to Samson's wedding companion after Samson left in anger in the previous chapter. The father's offer of the younger sister is an insult, and Samson treats the whole thing as permission for revenge.

Fields set on fire (vv. 4-5)

The animals were most likely jackals, which roam in packs and were common in the region. At harvest time the dry grain caught easily, and the fire spread to vineyards and olive groves, striking at the area's food and livelihood.

Revenge answers revenge (vv. 6-8)

The Philistines burn the woman and her father to death, the very fate she had been threatened with in the previous chapter when she gave away Samson's riddle. Samson answers with a slaughter, then hides in a cave at Etam.

Judah hands him over (vv. 9-13)

The men of Judah accept Philistine rule and would rather surrender one of their own than face a war. Samson's reply, that he only did what was done to him, sums up the cycle of payback running through the chapter.

The jawbone at Lehi (vv. 14-17)

The Spirit of the LORD comes on him, the ropes fall away, and he kills a thousand men with a fresh jawbone, one not yet dried out and brittle. His chant is a pun because in Hebrew the word for donkey sounds like the word for heap, and Ramath Lehi means "jawbone hill."

Thirst and a spring (vv. 18-20)

This is Samson's first recorded prayer, and "uncircumcised" was an insult marking the Philistines as outsiders to Israel's covenant with God. The spring's name means "spring of the one who called," and the chapter notes he led Israel twenty years while the Philistines still held power.

Key verse: Judges 15:11

Where Christians differ

Christians differ on whether Samson should be read mainly as a hero of faith, as the New Testament book of Hebrews lists him, or mainly as a deeply flawed, revenge-driven man whom God used in spite of himself.

Something to think about

When someone wrongs you and you answer back, at what point does getting even stop being justice and become part of the problem?