Judges 15:10

10 The men of Judah asked them, "Why have you come here to fight us?" They answered, "We have come to make Samson our prisoner, to pay him back for what he did to our people."

Judges 15:10 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 15:10

And the men of Judah said
To the Philistines, very probably by a deputation, which they sent unto them, to know the reason of this formidable appearance:

why are ye come up against us?
in this hostile manner, with such a number of forces, since they were not conscious to themselves that they had done anything to offend them; they had not attempted to cast off their yoke, they quietly submitted to their government, and had paid their whole tribute, as Josephus ^F6 represents them saying; they could not imagine what should be the meaning of all this:

and they answered, to bind Samson are we come up;
that is, to oblige them to bind him, and deliver him into their hands:

to do to him as he hath done to us:
to put him to death, as he had slain many of their people in the last rencounter with them.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F6 Ut supra. (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 8. sect. 8.)

Judges 15:10 In-Context

8 Samson attacked the Philistines and killed many of them. Then he went down and stayed in a cave in the rock of Etam.

9 The Philistines went up and camped in the land of Judah, near a place named Lehi.

10 The men of Judah asked them, "Why have you come here to fight us?" They answered, "We have come to make Samson our prisoner, to pay him back for what he did to our people."

11 Then three thousand men of Judah went to the cave in the rock of Etam and said to Samson, "What have you done to us? Don't you know that the Philistines rule over us?" Samson answered, "I only paid them back for what they did to me."

12 Then they said to him, "We have come to tie you up and to hand you over to the Philistines." Samson said to them, "Promise me you will not hurt me yourselves."