Judges 15:10

10 and the men of Judah say, `Why have ye come up against us?' and they say, `To bind Samson we have come up, to do to him as he hath 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 And he smiteth them hip and thigh -- a great smiting, and goeth down and dwelleth in the cleft of the rock Etam.

9 And the Philistines go up, and encamp in Judah, and are spread out in Lehi,

10 and the men of Judah say, `Why have ye come up against us?' and they say, `To bind Samson we have come up, to do to him as he hath done to us.'

11 And three thousand men of Judah go down unto the cleft of the rock Etam, and say to Samson, `Hast thou now known that the Philistines are rulers over us? and what [is] this thou hast done to us?' And he saith to them, `As they did to me, so I did to them.'

12 And they say to him, `To bind thee we have come down -- to give thee into the hand of the Philistines.' And Samson saith to them, `Swear to me, lest ye fall upon me yourselves.'