Judges 15:10

10 The men of Yehudah said, Why are you come up against us? They said, To bind Shimshon are we come up, to do to him as he has done to 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 He struck them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and lived in the cleft of the rock of `Etam.

9 Then the Pelishtim went up, and encamped in Yehudah, and spread themselves in Lechi.

10 The men of Yehudah said, Why are you come up against us? They said, To bind Shimshon are we come up, to do to him as he has done to us.

11 Then three thousand men of Yehudah went down to the cleft of the rock of `Etam, and said to Shimshon, "Don't you know that the Pelishtim are rulers over us? What then is this that you have done to us?" He said to them, As they did to me, so have I done to them.

12 They said to him, We have come down to bind you, that we may deliver you into the hand of the Pelishtim. Shimshon said to them, Swear to me that you will not fall on me yourselves.