Judges 15

Read Judges 15 here (text coming …) or at Bible Gateway.

15:1-8 {p} Samson burned the harvests of the Philistines and slaughtered them with a great slaughter
15:9-20 {p} Samson slew 1000 Philistines with a donkey’s jawbone, and judged Israel 20 years

Judges 15:8-17 Chiastic Structure:

To come mightily upon is most commonly used to mean, to go over or through as a river, according to Gesenius’ Hebrew Lexicon; and a river in flood is a powerful force nothing can stand against. Secondly also to mean, to attack, to fall upon, used of the Spirit of YHVH falling upon a man. It is in Hebrew Strong’s H6743, צלח tsalach, a primitive verb meaning “to advance, to prosper.” The ancient pictographs are tsadey + lamed + chet:

tsadey צ, ץ = the trail, thus a man concealed, journey, chase, hunt
lamed ל = the shepherd’s staff, thus teach, yoke, to, bind
chet ח = the wall, thus outside, divide, half

The parable being told by the Hebrew Root Word is of concealed (tsadey) authority (lamed) advancing despite barriers (chet). The verb was originally a military term used in connection with a stealth military party progressing in its objective despite barriers such rivers, walls, or enemy opposition. Derivatives of the root include shadow, shade, as an army takes advantage of the concealment keeping to the shadows affords; spear, as the weapon wielded by an army; and even bowl, as the clay is so formed so that it sides advance upward from the base.