SAB, Judges 15

Judges
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Dwindling in Unbelief
-Judges

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Drunk With Blood:
God's killings in the Bible
By Steve Wells

SAB: Judges

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Judges 15	(15:1) After the spirit of the Lord came upon Samson and he murdered 30 men for their clothes, he went to his wife's house for some sex. He even brought a young goat along to pay for her services. [The New Oxford Annotated Bible says that a young goat was "the usual gift for sexual intercourse." (Gen.38:17) OK, that may have been true for prostitutes, but did you have to give your wife a goat every time you had sex?] (15:1a) "Samson visited his wife with a kid; and he said, I will go in to my wife into the chamber." (15:1b-2) Then Samson's father-in-law had to tell him the bad news: he had given Samson's wife to one of his Philistine friends because he thought Samson "hated" her. He suggested that Samson take his younger daughter instead, saying the younger one's prettier anyway. (15:1b) "But her father would not suffer him to go in." (15:2) "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." (15:4-5) But Samson didn't want his wife's little sister. He wanted his wife back, because as you'll recall from God's last killing, "She pleased Samson well." So Samson had an idea, an idea that only one of God's special heroes could come up with. He'd catch 300 foxes, tie their tails together, light them on fire, and set them loose in the Philistine's grain fields. (15:4) *"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."* (15:5) *"And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go* into the standing corn of the Philistines." (15:6) But it didn't work out as planned. After the burning foxes destroyed the fields, the Philistines didn't give Samson his wife back; they burned her and her father to death. (15:6) "Then the Philistines said, Who hath done this? And they answered, Samson ... 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." (15:7-8) In response, Samson smote the Philistines "hip and thigh" wit a great slaughter. (I'm not including this killing on God's list, since the Bible doesn't tell us that "the Spirit of the Lord cam upon him" or otherwise imply that God was involved.) (15:7) "Samson said unto them, Though ye have done this, yet will I be avenged of you, and after that I will cease." (15:8) "And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter." (15:11-16) The Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson and he killed 1000 men with the jawbone of an ass. Then 3000 men of Judah came, tied him up, and took him to the Philistines. When they delivered Samson "the Spirit of the Lord came upon him" and he broke the ropes and killed 1000 men with the jawbone of an ass. God's 54th Killing (15:11-12) "Three thousand men of Judah ... said to Samson ... We are come down to bind thee, that we may deliver thee into the hand of the Philistines." (15:13) "And they bound him with two new cords." (15:14) *"The spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him,"* (15:15) *"And he found a new jawbone of an ass and slew a thousand men therewith."* (15:16) "And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men." (15:17-19) After Samson killed 1000 men with the jawbone of an ass, he was thirsty. So God created and filled a hollow in the very same jawbone and put water in it for Samson to drink. (15:17) "When he had made an end of speaking, that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand." (15:18) "And he was sore athirst, and called on the LORD," (15:19) "God clave an hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water thereout."
15:1 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.
15:2 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.
15:3 And Samson said concerning them, Now shall I be more blameless than the Philistines, though I do them a displeasure.
15:4 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.
15:5 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.
15:6 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.
15:7 And Samson said unto them, Though ye have done this, yet will I be avenged of you, and after that I will cease.
15:8 And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam.
15:9 Then the Philistines went up, and pitched in Judah, and spread themselves in Lehi.
15:10 And the men of Judah said, Why are ye come up against us? And they answered, To bind Samson are we come up, to do to him as he hath done to us.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
15:16 And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men.
15:17 And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking, that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand, and called that place Ramathlehi.
15:18 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?
15:19 But God clave an hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water thereout; and when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived: wherefore he called the name thereof Enhakkore, which is in Lehi unto this day.
15:20 And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.

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Samson commits arson

Samson slaughters 1000

Dwindling in Unbelief: Top 50 Bible stories for kids (Judges 15:4-5, 14-15); The Heroes of Faith (15:4-8, 14-15); The Bible's greatest massacres (15:14-15); Biblical Halloween Costumes: It's time to take it back from the pagans! (15:14-15); God's 54th Killing: The Spirit of the Lord comes upon Samson and he kills 1000 men with the jawbone of an ass (15:14-15)
Slate Blogs the Bible by David Plotz: Is Samson a hero?
Annotated Skeptic's Annotated Bible: They were burned with fire (Judges 15)