Judges 15:10

10 And the men of the tribe of Juda said to them: Why are you come up against us? They answered: We are come to bind Samson, and to pay him for what he hath done against us.

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.

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FOOTNOTES:

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

Judges 15:10 In-Context

8 And he made a great slaughter of them, so that in astonishment they laid the calf of the leg upon the thigh. And going down he dwelt in a cavern of the rock Etam.

9 Then the Philistines going up into the land of Juda, camped in the place which afterwards was called Lechi, that is, the Jawbone, where their army was spread abroad.

10 And the men of the tribe of Juda said to them: Why are you come up against us? They answered: We are come to bind Samson, and to pay him for what he hath done against us.

11 Wherefore three thousand men of Juda went down to the cave of the rock Etam, and said to Samson: Knowest thou not that the Philistines rule over us? Why wouldst thou do thus? And he said to them: As they did to me, so have I done to them.

12 And they said to him: We are come to bind thee, and to deliver thee into the hands of the Philistines. And Samson said to them: Swear to me, and promise me that you will not kill me.