Judges 15:6

6 The Philistines asked, "Who did this?" They were told, "Samson did. He's the son-in-law of the man from Timnah. Samson did it because his wife was given to his friend." So the Philistines went up and burned the woman and her father to death.

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 So he went out and caught 300 foxes. He tied them in pairs by their tails. Then he tied a torch to each pair of tails.

5 He lit the torches. He let the foxes loose in the fields of grain that belonged to the Philistines. He burned up the grain that had been cut and stacked. He burned up the grain that was still growing. He also burned up the vineyards and olive trees.

6 The Philistines asked, "Who did this?" They were told, "Samson did. He's the son-in-law of the man from Timnah. Samson did it because his wife was given to his friend." So the Philistines went up and burned the woman and her father to death.

7 Samson said to them, "Is that how you act? Then I won't stop until I pay you back."

8 He struck them down with heavy blows. He killed many of them. Then he went down and stayed in a cave. It was in the rock of Etam.