The Skeptics Annotated Bible (244 page)

(15.1b)
“But her father would not suffer him to go in.”

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.

(15.2)
“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.”

3 And Samson said concerning them, Now shall I be more blameless than the Philistines, though I do them a displeasure.

(15.4-5) But Samson didn’t want his wife’s little sister. He wanted his wife back, because, as you’ll recall, “she pleased Samson well.” So Samson had an idea, an idea that only one of God’s special heroes could come up with. He’d catch 300 foxes, tie their tails together, light them on fire, and set them loose in the Philistine’s grain fields.

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.

(15.4)
“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.”

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.

(15.5)
“When he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines.”

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.

(15.6) But it didn’t work out as planned. After the burning foxes destroyed the fields, the Philistines didn’t give Samson his wife back; they burned her and her father to death.

(15.6)
“Then the Philistines said, Who hath done this? And they answered, Samson … 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.”

7 And
Samson
said unto them, Though ye have done this, yet will I be avenged of you, and after that I will cease.

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.

(15.7-8) In response, Samson smote the Philistines “hip and thigh” with a great slaughter. (I’m not including this killing on God’s list, since the Bible doesn’t tell us that “the Spirit of the Lord came upon him” or otherwise imply that God was involved.)

(15.7-8)
“Samson … smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter.”

9 Then the Philistines went up, and pitched in Judah, and spread themselves in Lehi.

10 And the men of Judah said, Why are ye come up against us? And they answered, To bind Samson are we come up, to do to him as he hath done to us.

(15.11-16)
The Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson and he killed 1000 men with the jawbone of an ass
Then 3000 men of Judah came, tied him up, and took him to the Philistines. When they delivered Samson “the Spirit of the Lord came upon him” and he broke the ropes and killed 1000 men with the jawbone of an ass.
God’s 54th Killing

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.

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.

(15.11-12)
“Three thousand men of Judah … said to Samson … We are come down to bind thee, that we may deliver thee into the hand of the Philistines.”