Judges 15:8

8 He struck them hard, taking their legs right out from under them. Then he traveled down and stayed in a cave in the rock at Etam.

Judges 15:8 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 15:8

And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter
Either smote them on their hips and thighs with his hands (for it does not appear he had any weapon of war), so that they were sadly bruised, and maimed, and lamed, that they could not stir, and of which blows and bruises multitudes died: or he smote them with his legs on their thighs, kicked them about at pleasure, which kicks numbers of them never got over; or the meaning of the proverbial expression is, he laid on them at a great rate, and smote them here and there, and any where, which issued in the death of many of them: the Targum is,

``he smote them horse and foot,''

their cavalry and infantry, destroyed them both; but it does not appear that they came out in an hostile manner unto him, and much less in the form of a regular army:

and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam.
Josephus says {e}, that Samson having slain many in the fields of the Philistines, went and dwelt at Etam, a strong rock in the tribe of Judah; and which agrees with ( 2 Chronicles 11:6 ) , where mention is made of the city Etam, along with Bethlehem and Tekoah, cities in that tribe, which had its name either from this rock, or the rock from that. The Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions read,

``in a cave of the rock of Etam;''

and the Syriac and Arabic versions, in Sahaph, which is on the rock of Etam, as if Sahaph was the name of a city there; hither Samson went, not through fear, or for safety, but to wait for another opportunity of further avenging the injuries of Israel on the Philistines.


FOOTNOTES:

F5 Ibid. (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 8.) sect. 8.

Judges 15:8 In-Context

6 The Philistines inquired, "Who did this?" So it was reported, "Samson the Timnite's son-in-law did it, because his father-in-law gave his wife in marriage to one of his companions." So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father to death.
7 Samson then responded to them, "If this is how you act, then I won't stop until I get revenge on you!"
8 He struck them hard, taking their legs right out from under them. Then he traveled down and stayed in a cave in the rock at Etam.
9 The Philistines marched up, made camp in Judah, and released their forces on Lehi.
10 The people of Judah asked, "Why have you marched up against us?" "We've marched up to take Samson prisoner," they replied, "and to do to him just what he did to us."

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Or struck them hip and thigh
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