Bible Commentary

And Samson said unto her, If they bind me with seven green withes that were never dried, then shall I be weak, and be as another man. 7. seven green withes ] Follow marg.; similarly LXX and Vulgate The cords (cf. Psa 11:2; Psa 21:12) were to be made of fresh or moist gut. Elsewhere … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Judges 16:7”

And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength [lieth], and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee. Wherein thy great strength lieth; what is the cause of this prodigious strength, or wherein doth it consist? She seems to ask merely out of curiosity, to understand the state of … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Judges 16:6”

And the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and said unto her, Entice him, and see wherein his great strength [lieth], and by what [means] we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him: and we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred [pieces] of silver. 5. … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Judges 16:5”

And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name [was] Delilah. 4 31. Samson and Dellah: his ruin and famous end 4 . the valley of Sorek ] Now Wdi e-arr, a broad valley narrowing as it rises towards the Judaean highlands; the railway from Jaffa … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Judges 16:4”

And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and put [them] upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of a hill that [is] before Hebron. 3. plucked them up … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Judges 16:3”

[And it was told] the Gazites, saying, Samson is come hither. And they compassed [him] in, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, In the morning, when it is day, we shall kill him. 2. And it was told the Gazites ] … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Judges 16:2”

Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there a harlot, and went in unto her. Ch. Jdg 16:1-3. Samson at Gaza 1 . Gaza ] The most southerly of the Philistine cities, and far from the scene of Samson’s other adventures. Long before the Philistines arrived Gaza is mentioned in Egyptian lists (e.g. in the … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Judges 16:1”

And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years. 20. The Dtc. editor’s formula, usually at the close of a judge’s history, comes curiously here before the end; perhaps because the editor felt that the end was not a suitable place for a statement of this kind. The words now standing in … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Judges 15:20”

But God cleaved a hollow place that [was] in the jaw, and there came water therefrom; and when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived: wherefore he called the name thereof En-hakkore, which [is] in Lehi unto this day. 19. the hollow place that is in Lehi ] the Mortar which is … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Judges 15:19”

And he was sore athirst, and called on the LORD, and said, Thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of thy servant: and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised? 18. Samson becomes religious when he is in straits; cf. Jdg 16:28. great deliverance ] Cf. … Continue reading “Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Judges 15:18”