Samson Fighting Philistine Soldiers With a JawboneBible World
15:16Judges 15:16
And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men.
The men of Judah bound him with two new ropes and handed him over to the Philistines, and then the Spirit of Jehovah came mightily upon him so that the cords burst apart like flax burned in fire. Seizing the first weapon at hand, he was so empowered that the jawbone proved more effective than sword or spear. He smote the Philistines until a thousand men lay dead on the field and the rest fled in terror.
His extraordinary strength did not lie in his physical build but in his Nazarite condition, symbolized by his unshorn hair, which tied both his power and his role as Israel's deliverer to a divine mission. Despite that physical power, he was not strong in self-control, integrity, or firmness. His choices and ties with the Philistines and his failure to govern his passions corrupted his life and hindered his mission. That course set him on a path ending in shame, disaster, and death.
The victory over the Philistines could have freed Israel from its oppressors at that time if the Israelites had been ready to unite with him and follow it up. They failed to do so because they had become dispirited and cowardly. They had neglected God's command to dispossess the heathen and had united with them in degrading practices. They had tolerated their cruelty and even condoned their injustice so long as it was not directed against themselves, and had tamely submitted to an oppression that obedience to God could have escaped. They had deserted the deliverer God had raised up for them to side with their enemies.
The men of Judah bound him with two new ropes and handed him over to the Philistines, and then the Spirit of Jehovah came mightily upon him so that the cords burst apart like flax burned in fire. Seizing the first weapon at hand, he was so empowered that the jawbone proved more effective than sword or spear. He smote the Philistines until a thousand men lay dead on the field and the rest fled in terror.
His extraordinary strength did not lie in his physical build but in his Nazarite condition, symbolized by his unshorn hair, which tied both his power and his role as Israel's deliverer to a divine mission. Despite that physical power, he was not strong in self-control, integrity, or firmness. His choices and ties with the Philistines and his failure to govern his passions corrupted his life and hindered his mission. That course set him on a path ending in shame, disaster, and death.
The victory over the Philistines could have freed Israel from its oppressors at that time if the Israelites had been ready to unite with him and follow it up. They failed to do so because they had become dispirited and cowardly. They had neglected God's command to dispossess the heathen and had united with them in degrading practices. They had tolerated their cruelty and even condoned their injustice so long as it was not directed against themselves, and had tamely submitted to an oppression that obedience to God could have escaped. They had deserted the deliverer God had raised up for them to side with their enemies.