Judges 15:11 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Judges 15:11
Then three thousand men of Judah went to the top of the rock Etam, and said to Samson, Knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us? what is this that thou hast done unto us? And he said unto them, As they did unto me, so have I done unto them.
three · noun, common both genders singular construct
thousand
אֲלָפִ֨ים'a.la.Fim
H505
hence (the ox's head being the first letter of the alph… · noun, common both genders plural absolute
men
אִ֜ישׁ'ish
H376
a man as an individual or a male person · noun, common masculine singular absolute
Judah
מִֽיהוּדָ֗הmi.hu.Dah
H3063
Jehudah (or Judah) · preposition + proper noun, a place name
went
וַיֵּרְד֡וּvai.ye.re.Du
H3381
to descend (literally · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
top
סְעִיף֮se.'If
H5585
a fissure (of rocks) · noun, common masculine singular construct
rock
סֶ֣לַעSe.la'
H5553
a craggy rock · noun, common masculine singular construct
Etam
עֵיטָם֒'ei.Tam
H5862
Etam · proper noun, a place name
said
וַיֹּאמְר֣וּvai.yo.me.Ru
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
Samson
לְשִׁמְשׁ֗וֹןle.shim.Shon
H8123
Shimshon · preposition + proper noun, a man's name
Knowest
יָדַ֙עְתָּ֙ya.Da'.ta
H3045
to know (properly · verb, qal perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
Philistines
פְּלִשְׁתִּ֔יםpe.lish.Tim
H6430
a Pelishtite or inhabitant of Pelesheth · noun, gentilic masculine plural absolute
rulers
מֹשְׁלִ֥יםmo.she.Lim
H4910
to rule · verb, qal active participle, masculine plural absolute
done
עָשִׂ֣יתָ'a.Si.ta
H6213
to do or make · verb, qal perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
said
וַיֹּ֣אמֶרvai.Yo.mer
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
did
עָ֣שׂוּ'A.su
H6213
to do or make · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
done
עָשִׂ֥יתִי'a.Si.ti
H6213
to do or make · verb, qal perfect, 1st person common singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Judges 13:1 And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the LORD; and the LORD delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years…
Judges 14:4 But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Phi…
Psalms 106:40-42 Therefore was the wrath of the LORD kindled against his people, insomuch that he abhorred his own inheritance.
Deuteronomy 28:13 And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken u…
Deuteronomy 28:47-48 Because thou servedst not the LORD thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, for the abundance of all things;
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Judges 15:9-17
Here is, I. Samson violently pursued by the Philistine. They went up in a body, a more formidable force than they had together when Samson smote them hip and thigh; and they pitched in Judah, and spread themselves up and down the country, to find out Samson, who they heard had come this way, Jdg 15:9. When the men of Judah, who had tamely submitted to their yoke, pleaded that they had paid their tribute, and that none of their tribe had given them any offence, they freely own they designed nothing in this invasion but to seize Samson; they would fight neither against small nor great, but only that judge of Israel (Jdg 15:10), to do to him as he has done to us, that is, to smite his hip and t…
HE IS BOUND BY THE MEN OF JUDAH, AND DELIVERED TO THE PHILISTINES. (Jdg 15:9-13)
Then the Philistines went up--to the high land of Judah.
and spread themselves in Lehi--now El-Lekieh, abounding with limestone cliffs; the sides of which are perforated with caves. The object of the Philistines in this expedition was to apprehend Samson, in revenge for the great slaughter he had committed on their people. With a view of freeing his own countrymen from all danger from the infuriated Philistines, he allowed himself to be bound and surrendered a fettered prisoner into their power. Exulting with joy at the near prospect of riddance from so formidable an enemy, they went to meet him. But he exert…
Then three thousand of Judah went up to the top of the rock of Etam,.... Or "went down" (g); that is, into the cave of the rock of Etam, as the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions; and so it is taken by David de Pomis (h) for a cave dug in the rock: this was a large number that went to take one man; the reason is, they knew his great strength:
and said to Samson, knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us? and therefore it must be a very unwise thing to disoblige and provoke them, when it lay in their power to oppress them yet more and more, to increase their tribute, and make their burdens heavier, and even take away their lives:
what is this that thou hast done unto us? t…
The Church Fathers
These terms being imposed upon them, the men of Judah gathered together three thousand of their tribe and went up to him, and premising that they were subject to the Philistines, and obliged to obey them, not willingly but by terror, they thus sought to turn away from themselves the odium of their act, throwing it upon those by whom they were constrained. Wherefore he thus replied, What kind of Justice is it, O children of Abraham, that the satisfaction I have taken for my bride first over-reached and then torn from me should be injurious to me, and that I may not safely avenge this private injury? Have ye so turned your minds to the low offices of slaves, as to become the ministers of the insolence of others, and to turn your arms against yourselves? If I must perish, because I gave free vent to my grief, I had rather perish by the hand of the Philistines. My home has been attempted, my wife tampered with, if I have not been allowed to live without harm from them, at least let my own countrymen be free from the guilt of my death. I did but requite the injury I had received, I did not inflict one. Judge ye whether it was an equal return. They complain of the loss of their home, I of the loss of my wife; compare the sheaves of corn, with a companion of the marriage bed. They have sanctioned my grief by avenging my injuries. Consider to what an office they have appointed you. They desire you to put to death that man, whom they themselves have judged worthy to be avenged on those who wronged him, and to whose vengeance they ministered. But if your necks are thus bowed down to these proud men, deliver me into the hand of the enemy, slay me not yourselves; I refuse not to die, but I shrink from implicating you in my death. If from fear ye comply with their insolence, bind my hands with chains: though unarmed they will break their bonds and find a weapon for themselves. They will assuredly consider that you have satisfied the imposed condition, if you deliver me alive into their hands.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Etam — Eyrie. (1.) A village of the tribe of Simeon (1 Chr. 4:32). Into some cleft (“top,” A.V.,; R.V., “cleft”) of a rock here Samson retired after his slaughter of the Philistines (Judg. 15:8, 11). It was…
Etam, The Rock — a cliff or lofty rock, into a cleft or chasm of which Samson retired after his slaughter of the Philistines. (Judges 15:8,11) This natural stronghold was in the tribe of Judah; and near it, probably…
Philistines — (Gen. 10:14, R.V.; but in A.V., “Philistim”), a tribe allied to the Phoenicians. They were a branch of the primitive race which spread over the whole district of the Lebanon and the valley of the…
Etam · 4. A rock where Sam — 4. A rock where Sam
Jabneel · General references — General references
Lehi · with the jawbone of a donkey — with the jawbone of a donkey
Samson · His great strength — His great strength
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
Samson is delivered up to the Philistines, and smites them with the jaw-bone of an Ass.
Jdg 15:9
The Philistines came ("went up," denoting the advance of an army: see at Jos 8:1) to avenge themselves for the defeat they had sustained from Samson; and having encamped in Judah, spread themselves out in Lechi (Lehi). Lechi (לחי, in pause לחי, i.e., a jaw), which is probably mentioned again in Sa2 23:11, and, according to Jdg 15:17, received the name of Ramath-lechi from Samson himself, cannot be traced with any certainty, as the early church tradition respecting the place is utterly worthless. Van de Velde imagines that it is to be found in the flattened rocky hill el Lechieh, or Lekieh, upon w…
