Betrayed by His Own

In response to Samson’s slaughter after the murder of his wife and her father, the Philistines muster their armies and come against the Judahite city of Lehi. This is the first traditional military action by the Philistines that we have seen, and the Judahites’ question—“ ‘Why have you come up against us?’ ”—suggests that it is a rare occurrence. Apparently the Philistines exercise their oppression of Israel through more loosely organized military forces. As to their intent, the Philistines foreswear any quarrel with Lehi—they only want Samson.

At this point, the Judahites should come to their champion’s defense or at least stonewall the enemy. But to their everlasting shame, they go after Samson themselves in order to turn him over to the Philistines, an offering designed to keep the peace. Finding Samson at “the cleft of the rock of Etam,” probably a natural fortress in the hill country, his countrymen scold him, saying, “ ‘Do you not know that the Philistines rule over us? What is this you have done to us?’ ” Samson’s simple reply is that he has done to the Philistines only as they did to him, but the Israelites are so sunk in sin, so comfortable under their oppression, that the pains of throwing off the yoke are undesirable to them, and they regard Samson’s efforts toward that end as an affront. “Of Judah were they?” Matthew Henry writes. “Degenerate branches of that valiant tribe!… If their spirits had not been perfectly cowed and broken by their sins and troubles, and they had not been given up to a spirit of slumber, they would have taken this fair opportunity to shake off the Philistines’ yoke.… Cowardly unthankful wretches!”

Samson agrees to go with the Judahites if they will not kill him themselves, and they promise that they will turn him over to the Philistines alive. But as he is brought into Lehi, the Philistines come toward him roaring in triumph, much like the lion (14:5), and God’s Spirit comes upon him again. He breaks his bonds and, seizing a “fresh jawbone of a donkey” (perhaps another violation of his Nazirite vows), he wades into the Philistine ranks and kills a thousand of them. When it is all over, he celebrates with a song and renames the place “Jawbone Height.” This is his greatest triumph yet, but there is no record that the Judahites assist him, celebrate with him, or show any inclination to follow him. He is still a one-man resistance movement.