Judges 15:6

6 And the Philistines said, Who these things? and they said, Sampson the son-in-law of the Thamnite, because he has taken his wife, and given her to one of his friends; and the Philistines went up, and burnt her and her father's house with fire.

Judges 15:6 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 15:6

Then the Philistines said, who hath done this?
&c.] They asked and inquired one of another, who they thought could be the author of such mischief:

and they answered, Samson, the son in law of the Timnite;
this they said either by conjecture, which might be the case of some; and others more confidently asserted it, having heard what he said, ( Judges 15:3 ) and they assign a very good reason for it,

because he had already taken away his wife, and given her to his
companion,
which had provoked him to do such an action as this; and perhaps the very same persons that were very well pleased before that Samson was so served, yet now were full of wrath and indignation at the Timnite, having suffered so much in their property on his account:

and the Philistines came up, and burnt her and her father with fire;
Josephus ^F4 says, her and her relations; they set fire to her father's house, where she was, and burnt them both in it, whereby that evil came upon her she thought to avoid by getting the secret of the riddle out of Samson, and telling it to his companion, ( Judges 14:15 ) and suffered the proper punishment for her adultery; the people that did this were those that lived in the towns adjacent, from whence they came up to Timnath, whose fields, vineyards, and oliveyards, had been destroyed by the foxes with their firebrands.

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FOOTNOTES:

F4 Antiqu. l. 5. c. 8. sect. 7.

Judges 15:6 In-Context

4 And Sampson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took torches, and turned tail to tail, and put a torch between two tails, and fastened it.

5 And he set fire to the torches, and sent into the corn of the Philistines; and every thing was burnt from the threshing floor to the standing corn, and even to the vineyard and olives.

6 And the Philistines said, Who these things? and they said, Sampson the son-in-law of the Thamnite, because he has taken his wife, and given her to one of his friends; and the Philistines went up, and burnt her and her father's house with fire.

7 And Sampson said to them, Though ye may have dealt thus with her, verily I will be avenged of you, and afterwards I will cease.

8 And he smote them leg on thigh a great overthrow; and went down and dwelt in a cave of the rock Etam.