Bible Commentaries

But it came to pass within a while after, in the time of wheat harvest, that Samson visited his wife with a kid; and he said, I will go in to my wife into the chamber. But her father would not suffer him to go in.

But it came to pass within a while after. — When Samson had now digested the wrong his wife had done by disclosing his secrets, as Fulvia did Catiline’s. Married couples must either not fall out, or not go long unreconciled -

“ Qum modo pugnarant iungant sua rostra columbae. ” - Ovid.

Visited his wife with a kid. — As a token of his kindness. So Isaac feasted Abimelech and his company, Genesis 26:30 to show that there was no rancour, or purpose of revenge. Feasting together hath, as Athenaeus saith of wine, ελκυστικον τι προς φιλιαν a force to make men friends.

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And her father said, I verily thought that thou hadst utterly hated her; therefore I gave her to thy companion: [is] not her younger sister fairer than she? take her, I pray thee, instead of her.

I verily thought. — But he should have made sure of that; which because he did not, it cost him and his daughter their lives.

“ Differ: habent parvae commoda magna morae. ”

Is not her younger sister fairer? — Heb., Better: but never the better for her beauty, if, with Aurelia Orestilla, the Roman lady, she had nothing else to commend her. Sallust.

“ Forma bonum fragile est. ” - Ovid.

Take her, I pray thee, instead of her. — This man made nothing of incest: the Pope frequently dispenseth with it, Lege nimirum canina: but Samson abhorred the motion, according to Leviticus 18:18 .

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And Samson said concerning them, Now shall I be more blameless than the Philistines, though I do them a displeasure.

Now shall I be more blameless than the Philistines. — Who all were in fault, because they either approved, or at least inhibited not this injury done to Samson; wherefore he proclaimeth open war against them all, vowing revenge.

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And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails.

And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes. — Whereof that country was full, Song of Solomon 2:15 Psalms 63:10 and he might herein use the help of his friends. The Philistines vulpinando had got away his wife from him, as Herod that fox had done his brother Philip’s: by foxes therefore they are fitly plagued.

And put a firebrand in the midst between two tails. — Putting something else also between them, saith Lyra, which might not burn asunder; and which might keep the fire from burning the foxes, through the space betwixt tail and tail; heretics and schismatics are like these foxes with fire at their tails: for striving to run farthest one from another, they set the Church in a combustion. Eutyches fell into the other extreme of Nestorius: so did Osiander of Stancarus, and Illyricus of Strigelius, to the great disturbance of the Church. Evag., lib. i. cap. 9. Schluss., de Stanc., p. 87. Schluss., de Sect. Manich.

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And when he had set the brands on fire, he let [them] go into the standing corn of the Philistines, and burnt up both the shocks, and also the standing corn, with the vineyards [and] olives.

With the vineyards and olives. — How this could be is hard to conceive: but in these things we must silence our reason, and exalt our faith. He that is scholar to carnal reason, hath a fool to his master.

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Then the Philistines said, Who hath done this? And they answered, Samson, the son in law of the Timnite, because he had taken his wife, and given her to his companion. And the Philistines came up, and burnt her and her father with fire.

Burnt her and her father with fire. — Thus the fear of the wicked cometh upon them, Proverbs 10:24 and justly, when they prefer iniquity before affliction, as Samson’s wife had done. See Judges 14:15 . Josephus saith that together with her they burned all her kindred. She should have been of his mind who said, Potius in ardentem rogue insiluero quam ullum peccatum in Deum commisero. I will leap into a bonfire, rather than sin against God.

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And Samson said unto them, Though ye have done this, yet will I be avenged of you, and after that I will cease.

Though ye have done this, yet, … — Here he protesteth that he was no way satisfied with, what they had done to his wife and her father; because not in a way of justice, but out of rage and fury for the loss of their grain. He would further have his pennyworths of them as a public person set up by God for the purpose to take vengeance upon an ungodly nation. "And after that," saith he, "I will cease," viz., till next time: and till I see good to begin again. Tremelius rendereth it, Siccine facturi estis? Is this your manner of dealing? q.d., You would surely serve me in like sort if I were in your hands: but I will be on the bones of you shortly. They are an angry man’s words, and therefore short and cutted.

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And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam.

And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter, — i.e., Wherever he hit them, he gave them their passport, as we say: he beat them back and belly, as the French proverb hath it; he peppered them, and paid them to some tune, as ours. He hurled them to the ground with spurns and thrusts with his knees saith Diodat. Wherever his blows fell, they mauled them, and made them sure for stirring any more, saith another interpreter. Here we see that veriverbium of Solomon exemplified, "One sinner destroyeth much good." Ecclesiastes 9:18 As also, what a deal of mischief and bloodshed many times followeth upon adulteries, rapes, or other violations of wedlock: the Trojan war, for instance, waged much about this time: according to that prophecy of Cassandra to her brother Paris.

“ Grain iuvenca venit quae te, patriamque domumque

Perdet; io prohibe; Graia iuvenca venit. ” - Ovid’s Epist.

The Scots paid dear for the dishonour they did to our Edward VI, whom they denied his espoused wife, their then Queen, and married her to the Dauphin of France. This occasioned that great loss they sustained at Musselburgh field. Life of Edward VI.

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