| Back to Home Page | Back to Book Index
|
Judges Chapter
Fifteen
Judges 15
Chapter Contents
Samson is denied his wife, He smites the Philistines.
(1-8) Samson kills a thousand of the Philistines with a jaw-bone. (9-17) His
distress from thirst. (18-20)
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.
Commentary on Judges 15:9-17
(Read Judges 15:9-17)
Sin dispirits men, it hides from their eyes the things
that belong to their peace. The Israelites blamed Samson for what he had done
against the Philistines, as if he had done them a great injury. Thus our Lord
Jesus did many good works, and for those the Jews were ready to stone him. When
the Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson, his cords were loosed: where the
Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty, and those are free indeed who are thus
set free. Thus Christ triumphed over the powers of darkness that shouted
against him, as if they had him in their power. Samson made great destruction
among the Philistines. To take the bone of an ass for this, was to do wonders
by the foolish things of the world, that the excellency of the power might be
of God, not of man. This victory was not in the weapon, was not in the arm; but
it was in the Spirit of God, which moved the weapon by the arm. We can do all
things through Him that strengtheneth us. Seest thou a poor Christian, who is
enabled to overcome a temptation by weak, feeble counsel, there is the
Philistine vanquished by a sorry jaw-bone.
Commentary on Judges 15:18-20
(Read Judges 15:18-20)
So little notice did the men of Judah take of their
deliverer, that he was ready to perish for want of a draught of water. Thus are
the greatest slights often put upon those who do the greatest services. Samson
prayed to God in this distress. Those that forget to attend God their praises,
may be compelled to attend him with their prayers. Past experiences of God's
power and goodness, are excellent pleas in prayer for further mercy. He pleads
his being exposed to God's enemies; our best pleas are taken from God's glory.
The Lord sent him seasonable relief. The place of this action was, from the
jaw-bone, called Lehi. And in the place thus called, God caused a fountain
suddenly and seasonably to open, close by Samson. We should be more thankful
for the mercy of water, did we consider how ill we can spare it. Israel
submitted to him whom they had betrayed. God was with him; henceforward they
were directed by him as their judge.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Judges》
Judges 15
Verse 1
[1] But
it came to pass within a while after, in the time of wheat harvest, that Samson
visited his wife with a kid; and he said, I will go in to my wife into the chamber.
But her father would not suffer him to go in.
Wheat harvest —
Which was the proper season for what follows.
With a kid — As
a token of reconciliation.
Into the chamber —
Into her chamber, which the women had separate from the mens.
Verse 2
[2] And her father said, I verily thought that thou hadst utterly hated her;
therefore I gave her to thy companion: is not her younger sister fairer than
she? take her, I pray thee, instead of her.
Hated her —
Because thou didst desert her: but this was no sufficient cause; for he should
have endeavored a reconciliation, and not have disposed of another man's wife
without his consent.
Verse 3
[3] And
Samson said concerning them, Now shall I be more blameless than the
Philistines, though I do them a displeasure.
Now shall I, … —
Because they have first provoked me by an irreparable injury: but although this
may look like an act of private revenge; yet it is plain Samson acted as a
judge (for so he was) and as an avenger of the publick injuries of his people.
Verse 4
[4] And
Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned
tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails.
Foxes — Of
which there were great numbers in Canaan. But it is not said that Samson caught
them all, either at one time, or by his own hands; for being so eminent a
person, and the judge of Israel, he might require assistance of as many persons
as he pleased. And it must be allowed, that the God who made the world, and by
his singular providence watched over Israel, and intended them deliverance at
this time, could easily dispose things so that they might be taken. He chose to
do this not by his brethren, whom he would preserve from the hatred and
mischief which it might have occasioned them, but by brute creatures, thereby
to add scorn to their calamity, and particularly by foxes; partly, because they
were fittest for the purpose, being creatures very fearful of fire; and having
such tails as the fire-brands might most conveniently be tied to; and not going
directly forward, but crookedly, whereby the fire would be dispersed in more
places.
Fire-brands —
Made of such matter as would quickly take fire, and keep it for a long time;
which was easy to procure.
And put, … —
That the foxes might not make too much haste, nor run into their holes, but one
of them might delay another, and so continue longer in the places where they
were to do execution.
Verse 5
[5] And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing
corn of the Philistines, and burnt up both the shocks, and also the standing
corn, with the vineyards and olives.
Let them go —
Successively at several times; and in divers places, so that they might not
hinder one another, nor all run into the same field; but being dispersed in all
parts, might spread the plague farther; and withal might be kept at a distance
from the fields and vineyards of the Israelites.
Verse 6
[6] Then
the Philistines said, Who hath done this? And they answered, Samson, the son in
law of the Timnite, because he had taken his wife, and given her to his
companion. And the Philistines came up, and burnt her and her father with fire.
Burnt her —
For the mischief which she had occasioned them; thus she brought upon herself
that mischief which she studied to avoid. The Philistines had threatened to
burn her and her father's house with fire. To avoid this she betrayed her
husband. And now the very thing she feared comes upon her!
Verse 8
[8] And
he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and dwelt
in the top of the rock Etam.
Hip and thigh — It
seems to be a phrase, to express a desperate attack, attended with the utmost
hurry and confusion: and perhaps intimates, that they all fled before him. So
he smote them in the hinder parts.
Rock Etam — A
natural fortress, where he waited to see what steps the Philistines would take.
Verse 11
[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.
Unto us —
Thou hast by these actions punished not them only, but us, who are sure to
smart for it.
Verse 12
[12] And
they said unto him, We are come down to bind thee, that we may deliver thee
into the hand of the Philistines. And Samson said unto them, Swear unto me,
that ye will not fall upon me yourselves.
Bind thee —
Why not rather, to fight under thy banner? Because sin dispirits men, nay, it
infatuates them, and hides from their eyes the things that belong to their
peace.
Swear —
Not that he feared them, or could not as easily have conquered them, as he did
the host of the Philistines; but because he would be free from all temptation
of doing them harm, though it were in his own defence.
Verse 13
[13] And
they spake unto him, saying, No; but we will bind thee fast, and deliver thee
into their hand: but surely we will not kill thee. And they bound him with two
new cords, and brought him up from the rock.
And they bound him —
Thus was he a type of Christ, who yielded himself to be bound, yea and led as a
lamb to the slaughter. Never were men so besotted as these men of Judah, except
those who thus treated our blessed Saviour.
The rock —
That is, from the cave in the rock, in which he had secured himself, out of
which he was first brought up, and then carried down from the rock to the
plain.
Verse 14
[14] And
when he came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him: and the Spirit of
the LORD came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became
as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands.
Shouted —
Because they had now their enemy, as they supposed, in their hands.
Loosed —
Heb. were melted; that is, were dissolved, as things which are melted in the
fire. This typified the resurrection of Christ, by the power of the Spirit of
holiness. In this he loosed the bands of death, it being impossible he should
be holden of them. And thus he triumphed over the powers of darkness, which had
shouted against him.
Verse 15
[15] And
he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew
a thousand men therewith.
New jaw-bone —
And therefore the more tough and strong.
Verse 16
[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.
Slain a thousand men — What could be too hard for him to do, on whom the Spirit of the Lord
came mightily? It was strange the men of Judah did now at least come in to his assistance.
But he was to be a type of him, who trod the wine-press alone.
Verse 17
[17] And
it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking, that he cast away the
jawbone out of his hand, and called that place Ramathlehi.
Ramath-Lehi —
That is, the lifting up of the jaw-bone; by contraction Lehi, verse 14, as Salem is put for Jerusalem.
Verse 18
[18] And
he was sore athirst, and called on the LORD, and said, Thou hast given this great
deliverance into the hand of thy servant: and now shall I die for thirst, and
fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?
Sore a thirst — A
natural effect of the great pains he had taken. And perhaps there was the hand
of God therein, to chastise him for not making mention of God in his song, and
to keep him from being proud of his strength. One would have thought that the
men of Judah would have met him with bread and wine: but they so little
regarded him, that he is fainting for want of a draught of water! Thus are the
greatest slights often put upon those that do the greatest services! Shall I
die - Wilt thou not finish what thou hast begun? Wilt thou undo what thou hast
done.
Verse 19
[19] But
God clave an hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water thereout;
and when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived: wherefore he
called the name thereof Enhakkore, which is in Lehi unto this day.
In the Jaw —
Either causing the jaw-bone to send forth water, as the rock formerly did,
causing a spring to break forth in that Lehi, mentioned verse 14, for Lehi is both the name of a place, and a
jaw-bone.
En-hakkore —
That is, the fountain of him that cried for thirst; or, that called upon God
for deliverance; that is, the fountain which was given in answer to my prayer.
In Lehi —
According to this translation, Lehi is the name of a place.
Verse 20
[20] And
he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.
He judged —
That is, he pleaded their cause, and avenged them against the Philistines.
Of the Philistines —
That is, whilst the Philistines had the power and dominion, from which he was
not fully to deliver, but only to begin to deliver them. From this place it is
manifest, that in the computation of the times of the judges, the years of
servitude or oppression are not to be separated from the years of the judges,
but added to them, and are comprehended within them; which proposition is of
great importance for clearing this difficult part of scripture-chronology.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Judges》
15 Chapter 15
Verses 1-20
I verily thought that thou hadst utterly hated her.
Wrong-doers naturally seek to justify themselves
This spirit of self-justification, which is generally associated
with wrong-doing, appeared very early in the history of our race (Genesis 3:12-13). And the same spirit is
commonly found still amongst all ranks and classes of wrong-doers. Frank and
full acknowledgment of a wrong is exceedingly rare. In most cases the
wrong-doer through self-love aims at making the wrong appear right, or as near
to right as one may expect from fallible men; and in this endeavour to
exonerate himself he is in great danger of blinding the eye of his conscience
and tampering with the sanctities of truth. Hence it behoves us, in the
interests of our moral nature, to abhor that which is evil and cleave to that
which is good; and, when we have done wrong through weakness or the stress of
temptation, frankly and at once to confess it. The person who does wrong and
seeks to justify it, is morally on the down-grade. (Thomas Kirk.)
Now shall I be more
blameless than the Philistines.
Infliction of wrong is sometimes overruled for the good of the
sufferer
In the providence of God this great wrong freed Samson from the
meshes of an unworthy alliance, and awoke him to the responsibilities of his
position as the divinely-chosen champion of his people. And wrongs, even great
and heartrending wrongs, are often permitted by God, sometimes for the purpose
of rescuing Satan’s slaves from his servitude, and sometimes for the purpose of
rescuing His own people from the enslaving power of some unworthy passion. The
injustice which abounds in the world is not an unmixed evil. Tyrants,
extortioners, dishonest merchants, and all sorts of wrong-doers to their
fellow-men, are used by God for beneficent ends. They often constrain those who
groan under the wrongs which they inflict to think of God and the things unseen
and eternal, and to enter on a new and a divine life. Great wrongs from men
often lead the sufferers to see and repent of the great wrongs which they have
done against God. They have often been the means of breaking their moral and
spiritual slavery, and bringing them into the liberty wherewith Christ makes
His people free. And great wrongs have been the means not only of giving
freedom to the slaves of sin and Satan, but also of purifying and ennobling the
people of God. The great wrongs of the Babylonian captivity burnt out of the Jewish people the
besetting sin of idolatry. The great wrongs which the apostles and the early
Church had to endure at the hands of their wicked persecutors were, like the
furnace to silver or gold, the means of their moral or spiritual refinement (Romans 5:3-4; 2 Corinthians 4:17). We may deplore
and abhor the wrongs which are perpetrated in the world and on the Church; but
let us also gratefully behold this silver lining in the cloud, which comes from
the gracious overruling providence of God. (Thomas Kirk.)
Samson went and caught
three hundred foxes.--
Three hundred foxes in the corn
Surely it is not so unheard of and incredible a thing, to have
collected such a number of these animals in ancient times, as to destroy the
credibility and literality of our story, because it contains this statement
about the foxes. Did not Sylla show at one time to the Romans one hundred
lions? And Caesar four hundred, and Pompey six hundred? The history of Roman pleasures,
according to the books, states that the Emperor Probus let loose into the
theatre at one time one thousand wild boars, one thousand does, one thousand
ostriches, one thousand stags, and a countless multitude of other wild animals.
At another time he exhibited one hundred leopards from Libya, one hundred from
Syria, and three hundred bears. When the caviller settles his hypercriticism
with Vopiscus’s Life of Probus, and with Roman history generally, we shall then
consider whether our story should be rejected as incredible because of its
three hundred foxes. It has also been proved by learned men that the Romans had
the custom, which they seem to have borrowed from the Phoenicians, who were
near neighbours of the Philistines--if they were not Philistines themselves--of
letting loose, in the middle of April (the feast of Ceres)--the very time of
wheat-harvest in Palestine, but not in Italy--in the circus, a large number of
foxes with burning torches to their tails. Is Samson’s the original, or did he
adopt a common custom of the country? The story of the celebrated Roman
vulpinaria, or feast of the foxes, as told by Ovid and others, bears a
remarkable similarity to the history before us, ascribing the origin of this
Roman custom to the following circumstance: A lad caught a fox which had stolen
many fowls, and having enveloped ‘his body with straw, set it on fire and let
it run loose. The fox, hoping to escape from the fire, took to the thick
standing corn which was then ready for the sickle; and the wind blowing hard at
the time, the flames soon consumed the crop. And from this circumstance ever
afterwards a law of the city of Rome required that every fox caught should be
burnt alive. This is the substance of the Roman story, which Bochart and others
insist took its rise from the burning of the cornfields of the Philistines by
Samson’s foxes. The Judaean origin of the custom is certainly the most
probable, and in every way the most satisfactory. (W. A. Scott, D. D.)
The Philistines . . . burnt her and her father.--
The fate of Samson’s wife an illustration of retributive justice
Samson’s wife in trying to avoid Scylla fell into Charybdis. She
betrayed her husband, because she feared her brethren would burn her and her
father’s house with fire, and yet by their hands she was burned with fire and
her father also. It is still the rule of Providence, that as men measure to
others so it shall be measured to them again. It should be eternally before our
minds that true principle is the only expediency. All history, both sacred and
profane, shows that the evil that men do in trying to escape by continuing to
sin--by doing wrong to correct a wrong--always meets them sooner or later in
their flight. Sin added to sin only enhances guilt. Those that hasten to be
rich, by resorting to dishonest means, and have accumulated property by fraud,
do not generally long enjoy it. They seldom retain their gains, and if they do,
how can they enjoy them haunted with a guilty conscience? It is a singular and
significant providence that so many of the inventors of means for taking the
life of their fellow-men should have perished by their own inventions,
Gunpowder was the death of its inventor; Phalaris was destroyed by his own
“brazen bull” The regent Morton who first introduced the “Maiden,” a Scottish
instrument of decapitation, like the inventor of the guillotine, perished by
his own instrument. Danton and Robespierre conspired the death of Vergniaud and
of his republican covertures, the noble Girondists, and then Robespierre
lived only long enough to see the death of Danton before perishing himself by
the same guillotine. (W. A. Scott, D. D.)
The Spirit of the Lord
came mightily upon him.--
How we may burst the bonds of sin
The descent of the Spirit of the Lord upon us is the grand power
by which we may burst asunder the strongest cords of sinful habit with which we
may be bound. These cords, with which men freely bind themselves, increase in
strength as they advance in years. By an inexorable law of our moral nature,
sinful habits become the more binding the more they are indulged. The drunkard
of two years’ standing is more enslaved by the love of drink than the drunkard
of one year’s standing, and less them the drunkard of five or ten. And the same
is true of every evil habit. The longer men continue in sin, they strengthen
the chains of their own enslavement. Men may be able, in their own strength of
will, to free themselves from this and the other evil habit; the drunkard may
become sober, the licentious chaste, the dishonest upright, and so on. There
can be no doubt that many, by their unaided exertions, have reformed
themselves, and become respectable and useful members of society. But even with
regard to such moral reformation it is sometimes--may I not say
frequently?--true, that men of themselves are unable to secure it. There are
many drunkards, e.g., who seem to lack the power of bursting the fetters
with which the love of drink has bound and enslaved them. And what seems to be
true of some in reference to particular vices is true of all in reference to
the spirit of insubordination to the Divine will. All men are naturally
rebellious; and this insubordination grows with our growth, and strengthens
with our strength. But what is impossible to man in his own strength, in reference
both to this spirit of rebellion and particular vices, is possible to man in
the strength of the Spirit of God. Any man, the most enslaved, the most
powerfully bound with the cords and fetters of sin and vice, may obtain his
spiritual freedom. What he needs is that the Spirit of the Lord come mightily
upon him, as He did upon Samson, and any man who sincerely prays for this
wondrous endowment shall obtain it. This is the grand hope which Jesus Christ
has brought to our race. (Thomas Kirk.)
The jawbone of an ass.--
The rudest weapon not to be despised in God’s service
When God has work for you to do, a conquest for you to make, a
deliverance of others for you to effect, He will not leave you without a
weapon; it may not always be a very promising one, but still a weapon. Samson
might, no doubt, have slain more with a sword if he had had one; and so it is
well that in all you do for God you provide yourself with as likely weapons as
you can possibly get. But sometimes you find yourself, like Samson, in
circumstances where you must act quickly, and where you cannot provide yourself
with what you might think the best weapon, but must take the first that comes
to hand. You are, e.g., suddenly prompted by your conscience to say a
word of rebuke to some profane or wicked person, or a word of warning to some
one who is, as you know, casting off even ordinary restraints, and giving way
to evil passions; but you feel your want of wisdom and fluency; you know you
can never say a thing as it ought to be said--you wish you could, you wish you
were well enough equipped for this, which you feel to be really a desirable
duty. Now in such circumstances it is more than half the battle to attempt the
duty with such weapon as we have, in the faith that God will help us. A rude weapon,
wielded by a vigorous arm, and by one confident in God, did more than the fine
swords of these men of Judah, who had no spirit in them; and in very much of
the good that we are all called upon to do to one another in this world it is
the spirit in which we do it that tells far more than the outward thing we do.
And it is a good thing to be reduced to reliance, not on the weapon you use,
but on the Spirit who uses you. Samson found it so, and gave a name to that
period of his history where he learned this; and so does every one look back
gratefully to the time when he distinctly became aware that efficiency in duty
depends on God’s taking us and using us as His weapons. (Marcus Dods, D. D.)
Samson’s weapon
I. Samson fought
the battle single-handed against three thousand men. It is a feature of God’s
heroes in all ages that they fight whether they are in the minority or the
majority. God has wrought His greatest works through single champions.
II. Samson fought
without the usual weapons of warfare. The Philistines were armed, but he had no
sword. Well, now, what did Sampson do? A man that is raised by God for special
work has keen eyes, as a rule. He sees what there is about him and to what use
everything can be put. This moist bone had all its natural strength in it.
Samson laid hold of that. He knew what he was about, and what he could do with
that weapon, and he turned it to terrible uses.
III. Samson won the
victory with a poor weapon. He was not one of those who excused himself for bad
work by complaining about the tool he used. I have known some little boys at
school, over whose copy books I have looked. When I have said, “Oh, here is a
blot,” they have replied, “Yes, but the ink bottle was too full.” And so in
many other instances I have noticed that bad writers blame the pens, and bad
workers blame the instruments they have had to work with. If you see a bad
carpenter, the plane is always wrong. On the other hand, if you see a good
workman, he never blames his tools, but makes the best of them. (D. Davies.)
Shall I die for thirst?--
The fainting hero
My drift is the comforting of God’s saints, especially in coming
to the table of their Lord.
I. You have
already experienced great deliverances. Happy is it for you that you have not
had the slaying of a thousand men, but there are “heaps upon heaps” of another
sort upon which you may look with quite as much satisfaction as Samson, and
perhaps with less mingled emotions than his, when he gazed on the slaughtered
Philistines.
1. See there the great heaps of your sins, all of them giants, and
any one of them sufficient to drag you down to the lowest hell. But they are
all slain; there is not a single sin that speaks a word against you.
2. Think, too, of the heaps of your doubts and fears. Do you not
remember when you thought God would never have mercy upon you? “Heaps upon
heaps” of fears have we had; bigger heaps than our sins, but there they
lie--troops of doubters. There are their bones and their skulls, as Bunyan
pictured them outside the town of Mansoul; but they are all dead, God having
wrought for us a deliverance from them.
3. Another set of foes that God has slain includes our temptations.
Some of us have been tempted from every quarter of the world, from every corner
of the compass. There has not been a bush behind which an enemy has not lurked,
no inch of the road to Canaan which has not been overgrown with thorns. But
look back upon them. Your temptations, where are they? Your soul has escaped
like a bird out of the snare of the fowler.
4. So, let me say, in the next place, has it been with most of your
sorrows. Like Job’s messengers, evil tidings have followed one another, and you
have been brought very low. But, in Christ Jesus, you have been delivered.
“Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of
them all.”
II. Yet fresh
troubles will assail you, and excite your alarm. Thus Samson was thirsty. This
was a new kind of want to him. He was so thirsty that he was near to die. The
difficulty was totally different from any that Samson had met before. Now I
think there may be some of you who have been forgiven, saved, delivered, and
yet you do not feel happy. God has done great things for you, whereof you are
glad, yet you cannot rejoice; the song of your thanksgiving is hushed. Let me
say two or three words to you. It is very usual for God’s people, when they
have had some great deliverance, to have some little trouble that is too much
for them. Look at Jacob; he wrestles with God at Peniel, and overcomes
Omnipotence itself, and yet he goes “halting on his thigh!” Strange, is it not,
that there must be a touching of the sinew whenever you and I win the day? It
seems as if God must teach us our littleness, our nothingness, in order to keep
us within bounds.
III. If you are now feeling
any present trouble pressing so sorely that it takes away from you all power to
rejoice in your deliverance, remember that you are still secure. God will as
certainly bring you out of this present little trouble as He has brought you
out of all the great troubles in the past.
1. He will do this because if He does not do it your enemy will
rejoice over you. If you perish, the honour of Christ will be tarnished, and
the laughter of hell will be excited. What! a Child of God forsaken of his
Father! God will never permit the power of darkness to triumph over the power
of light.
2. That is one reason for confidence, but another reason is to be
found in the fact that God has already delivered you. I asked you just now to
walk over the battlefield of your life, and observe the heaps of slaughtered
sins, and fears, and cares, and troubles. Do you think He would have done all
that He has done for you if He had intended to leave you? The God who has so
graciously delivered you hitherto has not changed; He is still the same as He
ever was. Bethink you if He does not do so He will lose all that He has done.
When I see a potter making a vessel, if he is using some delicate clay upon
which he has spent much preliminary labour to bring it to its proper fineness,
and if I see him again and again moulding the vessel--if I see, moreover, that
the pattern is
coming out--if I know that he has put it in the oven, and that the colours are beginning
to display themselves--I bethink me were it common delf ware I could understand
his breaking up what he had done, because it would be worth but little; but
since it is a piece of rich and rare porcelain upon which months of labour had
been spared , I could not understand his saying, “I will not go on with it,”
because he would lose so much that he has already spent. Look at some of those
rich vessels by Bernard de Palissy, which are worth their weight in gold, and
you can hardly imagine Bernard stopping when he had almost finished, and
saying, “I have been six months over this, but I shall never take the pains to
complete it.” Now, God has spent the blood of His own dear Son to save you; He
has spent the power of the Holy Spirit to make you what He would have you be,
and He will never stay His mighty hand till His work is done. “Hath He said,
and shall He not do it? Hath He begun, and shall He not complete?” (C.
H. Spurgeon.)
Samson’s prayer
There are two facts in the prayer which Samson recognises and
pleads with God.
1. One is that he is the Lord’s servant he describes himself as “Thy
servant.” Samson, in all his hostile acts against the Philistines, evidently
regarded himself as doing the work for which God raised him up.
2. The other is, that his recent glorious victory, which was a
wonderful deliverance not only to Samson but to his country, was due to God:
“Thou hast given this great deliverance.” And after stating these two facts, he
uses them as a plea for the relief of his present distresses: “And now shall I
die for thirst . . . ?” Surely God cannot allow such a disgraceful end to
happen to His own servant, for whom He had wrought such a wonderful
deliverance! (Thomas Kirk.)
He revived.--
Spiritual renewal in answer to prayer
In this incident we may see an illustration of the
principle on which God has acted towards His people in all ages. His promise
is, “As thy days, so shall thy strength be.” The strength for to-day, like the
manna of old, is only sufficient for the necessities of to-day; and if we would
be equal to the duties of the morrow, or to any emergency that may arise, we
must get fresh strength from the Lord. Without spiritual renewal, after
exhausting labour or conflict, we shall become faint and ready to perish; so it
is always with the mightiest spiritual warriors; but if we cry unto the Lord in
our times of faintness, He will hear us, as He did Samson, and He will open up
for us, not in the hollow of some desert place outside, but in the depths of
our own parched souls, a spring whose pure living waters will gladden and
revive our languid hearts. (Thomas Kirk.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》