Judges 15:11-15

Judges 15:11

Then three thousand men of Judah went to the top of the rock Etam, and said to Samson, Knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us? what is this that thou hast done unto us? And he said unto them, As they did unto me, so have I done unto them.

 

Now that the people of Judah were threatened by the Philistines, they tried to appease them by going to Samson and reminding him that they rule over the house of Judah.  They knew that revenge against them was coming because of what Samson did to them but he reminds them that he only did to them what they had done to him and that was kill his wife and father-in-law, so he killed many of them.

 

Judges 15:12

And they said unto him, We are come down to bind thee, that we may deliver thee into the hand of the Philistines. And Samson said unto them, Swear unto me, that ye will not fall upon me yourselves.

 

The men of Judah had come to Samson for the purpose of taking him into custody and delivering him to the Philistines so they would not attack and kill them.  Then Samson made them swear that they themselves would not harm him.  There were three thousand men and they knew that high numbers of opposition meant nothing to Samson so they swore that they would not fall on him or else they knew he could do them some serious damage.  This was no doubt the Lord’s plan to get Samson back in the camp of the Philistines so he could begin to exact the final deliverance of Israel.

 

Judges 15:13

And they spake unto him, saying, No; but we will bind thee fast, and deliver thee into their hand: but surely we will not kill thee. And they bound him with two new cords, and brought him up from the rock.

 

They assured Samson that they would not kill him instead they would just bind him and bring him into the camp of the Philistines.  So they bound him with two cords and then took him from the rock of Etam into the Philistine camp.   They used two cords because they knew he had tremendous strength and the cords were new so there was no chance of them being weakened by prior usage.  The chief priests did the same thing to the Lord Jesus Christ and then delivered Him to Pilate.  And when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor.  (Matthew 27:2, KJV)

 

Judges 15:14

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.

 

Then once they delivered Samson into the hands of the Philistines, God began to work and caused His Spirit to come upon Samson and the cords which bound him became as weak as if they were burnt in a fire and they fell off his hands.  It is a principle we see in the Christian life.  When a person becomes saved, the Holy Spirit indwells that person and the sin that binds us becomes weak in our lives and falls away and we can even be delivered from a besetting sin which has plagued us for many years.

 

Judges 15:15

And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith.

 

Once Samson was free from those cords, he had found a new jawbone of an ass which was probably from a donkey that had just died which means that it was still strong and was not dried out as if it laid in the sun for many days.  He took this jawbone and used it as an offensive weapon and killed a thousand Philistines.  He was so strong at this point that the jawbone became a deadly weapon probably killing one man with each blow.

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