Judges 15:2

2 And her father spoke, saying, I said that thou didst surely hate her, and I gave her to one of thy friends: not her younger sister better than she? let her be to thee instead of her.

Judges 15:2 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 15:2

And her father said, I verily thought that thou hadst utterly
hated her
Not only thought so, but said so, and had said it over and over again; for the words are, "saying I said" ^F20, affirmed it confidently and constantly, that "in hating thou hast hated her" ^F21, with an implacable hatred, that there was no hope of any reconciliation:

therefore I gave her to thy companion;
this he said to excuse his daughter, and soften his resentment, that it was not his daughter's doing, but his, and that he had disposed of her not to anybody, but to a companion of Samson's; and what follows seems to be said with the same view, for he might be in some fear of Samson, knowing him to be a man of spirit and strength:

is not her younger sister fairer than she? take her, I pray thee,
instead of her;
that is, to wife; and two things he observes to recommend her, her youth and beauty, in which she was preferable to her sister. Such incestuous marriages were common with the old Canaanites, and it seems still continued; but were condemned by the law of God, and not allowed an Israelite, which Samson knew full well, and therefore listened not to the proposal; see ( Leviticus 18:3 Leviticus 18:18 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F20 (ytrma rma) "dicendo dixi", Pagninus, Montanus, Piscator.
F21 (htanv anv) "odiendo odires eam", Pagninus, Montanus; so Piscator.

Judges 15:2 In-Context

1 And it came to pass after a time, in the days of wheat harvest, that Sampson visited his wife with a kid, and said, I will go in to my wife even into the chamber: but her father did not suffer him to go in.

2 And her father spoke, saying, I said that thou didst surely hate her, and I gave her to one of thy friends: not her younger sister better than she? let her be to thee instead of her.

3 And Sampson said to them, Even for once am I guiltless with regard to the Philistines, in that I do mischief among them.

4 And Sampson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took torches, and turned tail to tail, and put a torch between two tails, and fastened it.

5 And he set fire to the torches, and sent into the corn of the Philistines; and every thing was burnt from the threshing floor to the standing corn, and even to the vineyard and olives.