12.9 Numerous progeny stand for effective, wide-ranging control as a political ruler (10.4). Ibzan’s outside marriages represent a quest for wide-ranging familial alliances, similar to royal practice.
12.11–12 Elon is mentioned elsewhere as a clan ancestor of Zebulun (Gen 46.14; Num 26.26). Elon’s town Aijalon is essentially identical to his name.
12.13 Abdon is otherwise unknown.
12.14 The decline from forty sons to only thirty grandsons is a surprising regression, unless the numbers stand for waning political effectiveness, thus anticipating the need for another deliverer-judge. Pirathon is probably modern Far‘ata, about five miles (eight kilometers) west-southwest of Shechem, in Manasseh near the border with Ephraim.
JUDGES 13
The Birth of Samson
1The Israelites again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD gave them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.
2There was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. His wife was barren, having borne no children. 3And the angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her, “Although you are barren, having borne no children, you shall conceive and bear a son. 4Now be careful not to drink wine or strong drink, or to eat anything unclean, 5for you shall conceive and bear a son. No razor is to come on his head, for the boy shall be a naziritea to God from birth. It is he who shall begin to deliver Israel from the hand of the Philistines.” 6Then the woman came and told her husband, “A man of God came to me, and his appearance was like that of an angelb of God, most awe-inspiring; I did not ask him where he came from, and he did not tell me his name; 7but he said to me, ‘You shall conceive and bear a son. So then drink no wine or strong drink, and eat nothing unclean, for the boy shall be a naziritec to God from birth to the day of his death.’”
8Then Manoah entreated the LORD, and said, “O LORD, I pray, let the man of God whom you sent come to us again and teach us what we are to do concerning the boy who will be born.” 9God listened to Manoah, and the angel of God came again to the woman as she sat in the field; but her husband Manoah was not with her. 10So the woman ran quickly and told her husband, “The man who came to me the other day has appeared to me.” 11Manoah got up and followed his wife, and came to the man and said to him, “Are you the man who spoke to this woman?” And he said, “I am.” 12Then Manoah said, “Now when your words come true, what is to be the boy’s rule of life; what is he to do?” 13The angel of the LORD said to Manoah, “Let the woman give heed to all that I said to her. 14She may not eat of anything that comes from the vine. She is not to drink wine or strong drink, or eat any unclean thing. She is to observe everything that I commanded her.”
15Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, “Allow us to detain you, and prepare a kid for you.” 16The angel of the LORD said to Manoah, “If you detain me, I will not eat your food; but if you want to prepare a burnt offering, then offer it to the LORD.” (For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the LORD.) 17Then Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, “What is your name, so that we may honor you when your words come true?” 18But the angel of the LORD said to him, “Why do you ask my name? It is too wonderful.”
19So Manoah took the kid with the grain offering, and offered it on the rock to the LORD, to him who worksd wonders.e 20When the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the angel of the LORD ascended in the flame of the altar while Manoah and his wife looked on; and they fell on their faces to the ground. 21The angel of the LORD did not appear again to Manoah and his wife. Then Manoah realized that it was the angel of the LORD. 22And Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, for we have seen God.” 23But his wife said to him, “If the LORD had meant to kill us, he would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering at our hands, or shown us all these things, or now announced to us such things as these.”
24The woman bore a son, and named him Samson. The boy grew, and the LORD blessed him. 25The spirit of the LORD began to stir him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.
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a That is one separated or one consecrated
b Or the angel
c That is one separated or one consecrated
d Gk Vg: Heb and working
e Heb wonders, while Manoah and his wife looked on
13.1–16.31 The Samson stories have no close parallel in Judges. They are rowdy tales from the old frontier with Philistia, reflecting Dan’s inability to take control of the coastal plain (see 1.34; ch. 18). Samson’s primary pursuits, however, are amorous. For injuries to his vanity he kills many Philistines, but he is not an effective deliverer of Israel or any Israelite tribe. Samson’s story begins the familiar cycle of apostasy and oppression anew (v. 1), but he will only begin to deliver Israel (v. 5). Deliverance from the Philistines must wait until Samuel (1 Sam 7.5–14).
13.1–25 The birth story focuses on Samson’s unnamed mother’s perceptiveness and her collaboration with the Lord.
13.1 Philistines were Sea Peoples from the Aegean and Asia Minor who settled the southern coast of Canaan in the twelfth century BCE, not long after the emergence of Israel in the highlands.
13.2 Zorah is in the Shephelah, the foothills near Dan’s border with Judah.
13.3 The angel of the LORD, representing the deity’s visible presence, last appeared in 6.11–24, engaged in another recruitment mission. There are echoes of the Gideon and Jephthah materials in the Samson stories.
13.4–5 Nazirite, an Israelite man or woman taking temporary vows of consecration to God according to rules such as those in Num 6.1–21. Here the vow is permanent, from birth, and the rule of the Nazirite (no wine or strong drink) is urged as prenatal care for Samson, who would begin the liberation of Israel from the Philistines. Cf. 1 Sam 1.11, where Hannah promises that her son will be a Nazirite.
13.6 Man of God…angel of God. Samson’s mother supposes the messenger is a prophet, but from his striking appearance she nearly guesses the truth.
13.7 The mother’s breathless recounting of the interview makes no mention of the prohibition of haircuts. A Nazirite’s hair was cut when the period of consecration was complete and the Nazirite returned to secular life.
13.8–14 Manoah prays for a second visit from God’s envoy but learns nothing more.
13.15–16 Manoah offers the hospitality appropriate for important visitors (6.19; Gen 18.3–5).
13.18 Too wonderful, i.e., beyond human comprehension.
13.22 We shall surely die is the typical reaction after a divine appearance (cf. Gideon, 6.22).
13.23 Again, it is not the panicky Manoah but the wife who speaks common sense and is more perceptive.
13.24 Samson ’s name is related to the Hebrew shemesh (“sun”). The boy grew…him. Cf. 1 Sam 2.26; Lk 2.52.
13.25 Mention of the spirit of the LORD is anticipatory at this point, only a latent stirring in contrast to 14.6. Mahaneh-dan, Hebrew, “Camp of Dan.”
JUDGES 14
Samson’s Marriage
1Once Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw a Philistine woman. 2Then he came up, and told his father and mother, “I saw a Philistine woman at Timnah; now get her for me as my wife.” 3But his father and mother said to him, “Is there not a woman among your kin, or among all oura people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, because she pleases me.” 4His father and mother did not know that this was from the LORD; for he was seeking a pretext to act against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.
5Then Samson went down with his father and mother to Timnah. When he came to the vineyards of Timnah, suddenly a young lion roared at him. 6The spirit of the LORD rushed on him, and he tore the lion apart barehanded as one might tear apart a kid. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done. 7Then he went down and talked with the woman, and she pleased Samson. 8After a while he returned to marry her, and h
e turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, and there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion, and honey. 9He scraped it out into his hands, and went on, eating as he went. When he came to his father and mother, he gave some to them, and they ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the carcass of the lion.
10His father went down to the woman, and Samson made a feast there as the young men were accustomed to do. 11When the people saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him. 12Samson said to them, “Let me now put a riddle to you. If you can explain it to me within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty festal garments. 13But if you cannot explain it to me, then you shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty festal garments.” So they said to him, “Ask your riddle; let us hear it.” 14He said to them,
“Out of the eater came something to eat.
Out of the strong came something sweet.”
But for three days they could not explain the riddle.
15On the fourthb day they said to Samson’s wife, “Coax your husband to explain the riddle to us, or we will burn you and your father’s house with fire. Have you invited us here to impoverish us?” 16So Samson’s wife wept before him, saying, “You hate me; you do not really love me. You have asked a riddle of my people, but you have not explained it to me.” He said to her, “Look, I have not told my father or my mother. Why should I tell you?” 17She wept before him the seven days that their feast lasted; and because she nagged him, on the seventh day he told her. Then she explained the riddle to her people. 18The men of the town said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down,
“What is sweeter than honey?
What is stronger than a lion?”
And he said to them,
“If you had not plowed with my heifer,
you would not have found out my riddle.”
19Then the spirit of the LORD rushed on him, and he went down to Ashkelon. He killed thirty men of the town, took their spoil, and gave the festal garments to those who had explained the riddle. In hot anger he went back to his father’s house. 20And Samson’s wife was given to his companion, who had been his best man.
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a Cn: Heb my
b Gk Syr: Heb seventh
14.1–20 The story of Samson’s first love.
14.1 Timnah, Hebrew, “Allotted Portion,” is probably Tell el-Batashi, four miles (six kilometers) north of Beth-she-mesh.
14.3 The parents’ hesitation is proper, for the coming together of families through marriage could bring about apostasy (Deut 7.3–4). Philistines, as far as we know, were the only uncircumcised people in Israel’s near vicinity. She pleases me, lit. “she is pleasing in my eyes” (similarly v. 7). The concept of acting rightly in one’s own eyes is reiterated in 17.6; 21.25 as the book draws to a close.
14.4 The narrator reveals that an action contrary to basic Israelite standards is actually part of a divine plan (cf. 9.24).
14.5–10a These verses are framed by an inclusio (a repetition signaling the beginning and end of a unit): first Samson and later his father went down.
14.5 The purpose of this initial visit to Timnah is a meeting of the couple (v. 7) and presumably negotiations between the parents.
14.6 The spirit of the LORD gave other judges a gift for military leadership (3.10; 6.34; 11.29), but equips Samson to face any physical threat (v. 19).
14.8 Samson’s second trip was to marry the Philistine woman, although she continues to live at home. Ancient Near Eastern evidence describes a type of marriage in which the bride continued to live with her parents rather than join her husband at his family or clan location. Perhaps the tale of Samson suggests such a marital arrangement. Honey was regarded as having the potential to enlighten and give courage (1 Sam 14.24–30).
14.10–20 How the marriage is providentially annulled.
14.11 Companions were a standard feature of marriage celebrations (Ps 45.14), but perhaps Samson’s impressive physical presence (when the people saw him) suggested to the Philistines the need for thirty of them to provide extra security.
14.14 In the ancient world, proposing and solving riddles was a popular pastime.
14.16–17 You do not really love me. Samson’s wife is similar to Delilah in her dogged determination (16.15).
14.18 The men’s solution contains its own riddle (What is…?). Another answer to their question about sweetness and strength could be “love”! Samson’s response also operates as a riddle. By taking advantage of his wife, they have plowed with his heifer.
14.19 Because the people of Ashkelon were also Philistines, Samson pays off his bet and still comes out ahead.
14.20 The best man, Samson’s companion, was presumably another Timnite.
JUDGES 15
Samson Defeats the Philistines
1After a while, at the time of the wheat harvest, Samson went to visit his wife, bringing along a kid. He said, “I want to go into my wife’s room.” But her father would not allow him to go in. 2Her father said, “I was sure that you had rejected her; so I gave her to your companion. Is not her younger sister prettier than she? Why not take her instead?” 3Samson said to them, “This time, when I do mischief to the Philistines, I will be without blame.” 4So Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took some torches; and he turned the foxesa tail to tail, and put a torch between each pair of tails. 5When he had set fire to the torches, he let the foxes go into the standing grain of the Philistines, and burned up the shocks and the standing grain, as well as the vineyards andb olive groves. 6Then the Philistines asked, “Who has done this?” And they said, “Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, because he has taken Samson’s wife and given her to his companion.” So the Philistines came up, and burned her and her father. 7Samson said to them, “If this is what you do, I swear I will not stop until I have taken revenge on you.” 8He struck them down hip and thigh with great slaughter; and he went down and stayed in the cleft of the rock of Etam.
9Then the Philistines came up and encamped in Judah, and made a raid on Lehi. 10The men of Judah said, “Why have you come up against us?” They said, “We have come up to bind Samson, to do to him as he did to us.” 11Then three thousand men of Judah went down to the cleft of the rock of Etam, and they said to Samson, “Do you not know that the Philistines are rulers over us? What then have you done to us?” He replied, “As they did to me, so I have done to them.” 12They said to him, “We have come down to bind you, so that we may give you into the hands of the Philistines.” Samson answered them, “Swear to me that you yourselves will not attack me.” 13They said to him, “No, we will only bind you and give you into their hands; we will not kill you.” So they bound him with two new ropes, and brought him up from the rock.
14When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him; and the spirit of the LORD rushed on him, and the ropes that were on his arms became like flax that has caught fire, and his bonds melted off his hands. 15Then he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, reached down and took it, and with it he killed a thousand men. 16And Samson said,
“With the jawbone of a donkey,
heaps upon heaps,
with the jawbone of a donkey
I have slain a thousand men.”
17When he had finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone; and that place was called Ramath-lehi.c
18By then he was very thirsty, and he called on the LORD, saying, “You have granted this great victory by the hand of your servant. Am I now to die of thirst, and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” 19So God split open the hollow place that is at Lehi, and water came from it. When he drank, his spirit returned, and he revived. Therefore it was named En-hakkore,d which is at Lehi to this day. 20And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.
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a Heb them
b Gk Tg Vg: Heb lacks and
c That is Th
e Hill of the Jawbone
d That is The Spring of the One who Called
15.1–8 Sometime later, Samson is in Timnah once again. The outraged father of the young woman explains that it had looked like divorce to him, but he tries to make the best of a bad situation by suggesting that the younger sister is better anyway.
15.1 Again, this marriage sounds like one in which the woman continued to live with her parents (see note on 14.8).
15.2 The father’s conclusion that Samson had rejected her (divorced her) was understandable in light of 14.19. Ancient readers would have seen the offer of her younger sister as a reasonable arrangement.
15.4 Foxes could spread the fire rapidly and extensively and would be difficult to catch.
15.6 Burned. Ironically, the very outcome that Samson’s wife had hoped to prevent (14.15).
15.8 Hip and thigh implies violent physical combat. The idiom, lit. “calf to thigh,” indicates that Samson beat their legs out from under them.
15.9–20 Samson’s single-handed victory against an entire Philistine military unit and his extreme thirst afterwards precipitate a direct confrontation with the Lord.
15.10 Men of Judah. This is the first hint given in the exploits of Samson that more is at stake than the situation of one man’s family. Samson has left home, plundered Philistines, and found a hideout in territory controlled by the tribe of Judah, which must handle the extradition.
15.11–13 Samson is the man in the middle, contending with Philistine belligerence and Judahite servility. He is willing to take his chances with the Philistines rather than exercise his great strength against his Israelite brothers.
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