Judges 15:17

17 After that, he threw the jawbone away. The place where this happened was named Ramath Lehi.

Judges 15:17 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 15:17

And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking
Of delivering out the above song, which very probably consisted of much more than what is here expressed:

that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand;
which he held in his hand had wrought by him through the means of it, and so served to animate him to praise and thankfulness; but having no further use for it, he threw it away:

and called the place Ramathlehi;
that is, the casting away the jawbone, so Kimchi; but Ben Gersom thinks it was an high place where it was thrown, and so signifies the elevation or lifting up of the "jawbone", as the Septuagint version renders it.

Judges 15:17 In-Context

15 Then he found a jawbone of a donkey that had recently died. He reached down and picked it up, and killed a thousand men with it.

16 So Samson sang, "With the jawbone of a donkey I killed a thousand men; With the jawbone of a donkey I piled them up in piles."

17 After that, he threw the jawbone away. The place where this happened was named Ramath Lehi.

18 Then Samson became very thirsty, so he called to the Lord and said, "You gave me this great victory; am I now going to die of thirst and be captured by these heathen Philistines?"

19 Then God opened a hollow place in the ground there at Lehi, and water came out of it. Samson drank it and began to feel much better. So the spring was named Hakkore; it is still there at Lehi.

Footnotes

• [a]. ramath lehi: [This name in Hebrew means "Jawbone Hill."]