to catch (in a net · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
three
שְׁלֹשׁshe.losh-
H7969
three · noun, common both genders singular construct
hundred
מֵא֣וֹתme.'ot
H3967
a hundred · noun, common feminine plural absolute
foxes
שׁוּעָלִ֑יםshu.'a.Lim
H7776
a jackal (as a burrower) · noun, common masculine plural absolute
took
וַיִּקַּ֣חvai.yi.Kach
H3947
to take (in the widest variety of applications) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
firebrands
לַפִּדִ֗יםla.pi.Dim
H3940
a flambeau · noun, common masculine plural absolute
turned
וַיֶּ֤פֶןvai.Ye.fen
H6437
to turn · conjunction + verb, hiphil sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
tail
זָנָב֙za.Nav
H2180
the tail (literally or figuratively) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
tail
זָנָ֔בza.Nav
H2180
the tail (literally or figuratively) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
put
וַיָּ֨שֶׂםvai.Ya.sem
H7760
to put (used in a great variety of applications · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
a
אֶחָ֛ד'e.Chad
H259
properly · noun, common feminine singular absolute
firebrand
לַפִּ֥ידla.Pid
H3940
a flambeau · noun, common masculine singular absolute
midst
בַּתָּֽוֶךְba.Ta.vekh
H8432
a bisection · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
two
שְׁנֵ֥יshe.Nei
H8147
two · noun, common both genders dual construct
tails
הַזְּנָב֖וֹתha.ze.na.Vot
H2180
the tail (literally or figuratively) · definite article + noun, common feminine plural absolute
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
Lamentations 5:18 Because of the mountain of Zion, which is desolate, the foxes walk upon it.
Psalms 63:10 They shall fall by the sword: they shall be a portion for foxes.
Song of Solomon 2:15 Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Judges 15:1-8
Here is, I. Samson's return to his wife, whom he had left in displeasure; not hearing perhaps that she was given to another, when time had a little cooled his resentments, he came back to her, visited her with a kid, Jdg 15:1. The value of the present was inconsiderable, but it was intended as a token of reconciliation, and perhaps was then so used, when those that had been at variance were brought together again; he sent this, that he might sup with her in her apartments, and she with him, on his provision, and so they might be friends again. It was generously done of Samson, though he was the party offended and the superior relation, to whom therefore she was bound in duty to sue for peace…
went and caught three hundred foxes--rather, "jackals"; an animal between a wolf and a fox, which, unlike our fox, a solitary creature, prowls in large packs or herds and abounds in the mountains of Palestine. The collection of so great a number would require both time and assistance.
took firebrands--torches or matches which would burn slowly, retaining the fire, and blaze fiercely when blown by the wind. He put two jackals together, tail by tail, and fastened tightly a fire match between them. At nightfall he lighted the firebrand and sent each pair successively down from the hills, into the "Shefala," or plain of Philistia, lying on the borders of Dan and Judah, a rich and extensive cor…
And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes,.... Nor should this be thought at all incredible, since Canaan and Palestine abounded with foxes; hence several places therein had their names of Shual, which signifies a fox, Joshua 15:28. A traveller (w) in those parts says that foxes swarm there, and that there are very great numbers of them in the hedges, and ruins of buildings: and these creatures were very pernicious to vines, and so may reasonably be thought to be about Timnath in great numbers, because of the vineyards there, Judges 14:5, besides, there is no necessity of supposing that Samson took all these himself, he might employ others in catching them for him, nor that he took them…
The Church Fathers
Wherefore he took three hundred foxes, and in the heat of summer, when the corn was now ripe in the fields, he tied them together two and two by the tails, and fastened a burning firebrand between them, binding it with a firm knot, and by way of avenging his wrong turned them loose among the sheaves which the Philistines had cut. But the foxes, terrified by the fire, scattered flames whichever way they turned, and burnt the harvest.
Samson resistless because of his hair is attacked by a lion; When he killed the wild beast, from its mouth there flowed streams of honey, And from an ass's jawbone comes forth a fountain of water: Folly with water overflows and virtue with sweetness. Samson catches three hundred foxes and arms them with firebrands, Which he ties to their tails, and he lets them go into the cornfields Of the Philistines to burn their crops: thus the fox of false doctrine Cunningly scatters the flames of heresy over our vineyards.
Just as those who travel about in the pathless desert tremble at serpents on the ground, and those who travel on the pathways are also terrified of vipers that hide on the paths, so were the Philistines, who traveled on paths and in the pathless desert, terrified of Samson. "To bite the horse's heels and throw its rider backward." It was during the great famine, which God had brought upon the Philistines, that Samson burned their crops by means of foxes, for fire was carried on their bodies like a rider on its horse. Then the Philistines keeled over from lack of bread and then fell backwards from lack of nourishment.
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
Firebrand — Isa. 7:4, Amos 4:11, Zech. 3:2, denotes the burnt end of a stick (Heb. ‘ud); in Judg. 15:4, a lamp or torch, a flambeau (Heb. lappid); in Prov. 26:18 (comp. Eph. 6:16), burning darts or arrows (Heb.…
Fox — (Heb. shu’al, a name derived from its digging or burrowing under ground), the Vulpes thaleb, or Syrian fox, the only species of this animal indigenous to Palestine. It burrows, is silent and solitary…
Lamp — (1.) That part of the candle-sticks of the tabernacle and the temple which bore the light (Ex. 25:37; 1 Kings 7:49; 2 Chr. 4:20; 13:11; Zech. 4:2). Their form is not described. Olive oil was…
Arson · .By Sam — .By Sam
Fire · Characterised as: Consuming — Characterised as: Consuming
Firebrand · Used by Sam — Used by Sam
Fox, The · Abounded in Palestine — Abounded in Palestine
Philistines · Samson: Burned vineyards &c of — Samson: Burned vineyards &c of
Samson · Is avenged for the estrangement of his wife — Is avenged for the estrangement of his wife
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).
He therefore went and caught three hundred shualim, i.e., jackals, animals which resemble foxes and are therefore frequently classed among the foxes even by the common Arabs of the present day (see Niebuhr, Beschr. v. Arab. p. 166). Their European name is derived from the Persian schaghal. These animals, which are still found in great quantities at Joppa, Gaza, and in Galilee, herd together, and may easily be caught (see Rosenmller, Bibl. Althk. iv. 2, pp. 155ff.). He then took torches, turned tail to tail, i.e., coupled the jackals together by their tails, putting a torch between the two tails, set the torches on fire, and made the animals run into the fields of standing corn belonging to t…
Twisted. The tails, each into the next. וַיִפֶן implies that he himself turned, וַיֶפֶן that he turned, or twisted, others. This usage applies with every word whose verbal root ends with ה.1Such as גָלָה ,רָבָה ,פָנָה. "The people increased;"2Shemos, 1:20. "He increased, in the people of Yehudah, lamentation…."3Eichah, 2:5. Cf. Rashi there. "Yehudah went into exile from his homeland"4Melachim 2, 25:21.—went into exile. "The king [of Ashur] exiled Yisroel to Ashur" 5Melachim 2, 17:6.—exiled others.
