151 And it cometh to pass, after 'some' days, in the days of wheat-harvest, that Samson looketh after his wife, with a kid of the goats, and saith, 'I go in unto my wife, to the inner chamber;' and her father hath not permitted him to go in, 2 and her father saith, I certainly said, that thou didst certainly hate her, and I give her to thy companion; is not her sister—the young one—better than she? Let her be, I pray thee, to thee, instead of her.' 3 And Samson saith of them, 'I am more innocent this time than the Philistines, though I am doing with them evil.' 4 And Samson goeth and catcheth three hundred foxes, and taketh torches, and turneth tail unto tail, and putteth a torch between the two tails, in the midst, 5 and kindleth fire in the torches, and sendeth 'them' out into the standing corn of the Philistines, and burneth 'it' from heap even unto standing corn, even unto vineyard—olive-yard. 6 And the Philistines say, 'Who hath done this?' And they say, 'Samson, son-in-law of the Timnite, because he hath taken away his wife, and giveth her to his companion;' and the Philistines go up, and burn her and her father with fire. 7 And Samson saith to them, 'Though ye do thus, nevertheless I am avenged on you, and afterwards I cease!' 8 And he smiteth them hip and thigh—a great smiting, and goeth down and dwelleth in the cleft of the rock Etam.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Judges 15:1-8
Commentary on Judges 15:1-8
(Read Judges 15:1-8)
When there are differences between relations, let those be reckoned the wisest and best, who are most forward to forgive or forget, and most willing to stoop and yield for the sake of peace. In the means which Samson employed, we must look at the power of God supplying them, and making them successful, to mortify the pride and punish the wickedness of the Philistines. The Philistines threatened Samson's wife that they would burn her and her father's house. She, to save herself and oblige her countrymen, betrayed her husband; and the very thing that she feared, and by sin sought to avoid, came upon her! She, and her father's house, were burnt with fire, and by her countrymen, whom she thought to oblige by the wrong she did to her husband. The mischief we seek to escape by any unlawful practices, we often pull down upon our own heads.