639 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he went down, and talked with the woman,.... Entered into a conversation with her, that he might the better judge of her other qualifications, besides that of outward form and beauty, whether she would be a suitable yoke fellow for him; and he talked with her about marriage, and proposed it to her, or talked about her to her father and near...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And after a time he returned to take her,.... Matters being agreed on, and settled on both sides, and the espousals made, he and his parents returned, and, at the proper usual time for the consummation of the marriage, he went again to Timnath for that purpose. It is in the Hebrew text, "after days" (c), which sometimes signifies a year, see...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he took thereof in his hands, and went on eating,.... Josephus (k) says he took three honeycombs, he means three pieces of the honeycomb, and ate the honey as he went along to Timnath; which he might do without touching the carcass of the lion, and defiling himself thereby, which, as a Nazarite, he was more especially to be careful of: and...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So his father went down unto the woman,.... At Timnath, whom Samson had espoused; the Targum is, "about the business of the woman;'' about the consummation of the marriage with her; they all three went, the father, the mother, and the son, as appears from the preceding verse: for Samson made a feast, for so used the young men to do; at the time of...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it came to pass; when they saw him,.... That is, the Philistines, the citizens of Timnath, when they saw that he was come to consummate his marriage: that they brought thirty companions to be with him; to be the bridegroom's men, or children of the bridechamber, as they are called, Matthew 9:15 or friends of the bridegroom, John 3:29 to keep...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Samson said unto them,.... His thirty companions, very likely on the first day of the feast: I will now put forth a riddle to you: a secret, hidden, abstruse thing, not easy to be understood; a dark saying, wrapped up in figurative terms; and this he proposed as an amusement to them, to exercise their wits, which it seems was usual to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But if ye cannot declare it unto me,.... Explain the riddle in the space of time allowed: then shall ye give me thirty sheets, and thirty change of garments; so many shirts and suits of apparel: and they said unto him, put forth thy riddle that we may hear it; not thereby to judge whether they would agree to his proposals, but hereby suggesting...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And he said unto them, out of the eater came forth meat,.... Out of a devouring eater, such as the lion is, came forth honey, or that was taken out of it, which Samson, and his father and mother, ate of, and which was the common food of some persons, as of John the Baptist: and out of the strong came forth sweetness: not only out of that which was...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it came to pass on the seventh day,.... Not on the seventh day of the feast, for some time before that they applied to his wife, and she pressed him hard to disclose it; but on the sabbath day, as Kimchi, and so Jarchi says, on the seventh day of the week, not on the seventh day of the feast, for it was the seventh day of the feast; this is so...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Samson's wife wept before him,.... When she came to him to get out of him the explanation of the riddle, thinking that her tears would move him to it: and said, thou dost but hate me, and lovest me not: another artifice she used, well knowing he could not bear to have his affection called in question, which was now very strong, as is usual...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And she wept before him the seven days, while the feast lasted,.... Those that remained of the seven days, from the fourth to this time, as Kimchi seems rightly to interpret it; though some think she began to beseech him with tears, on the first day of the feast, to impart the secret to her for her own satisfaction; and then, after the men had...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the men of the city said unto him, on the seventh day, before the sun went down,.... And so soon, enough to free them from the obligation they otherwise would have been under, to have given him the sheets and changes of raiment agreed unto: what is sweeter than honey? nothing, at least that was known, sugar not being invented. Julian the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him,.... The Spirit of might from the Lord, as the Targum; which filled him with zeal and courage, animating him to the following undertaking, and increased his bodily strength to perform it: and he went down to Ashkelon; one of the five principal cities of the Philistines; it lay near the Mediterranean sea,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But Samson's wife was given to his companion,.... By her father, and with her consent, both being affronted and provoked by Samson leaving her, who judged her not only to be injured, but hereby discharged from him, and free to marry another: and whom he had used as his friend; though there were thirty of them that were his companions, yet there...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Judges 15 This chapter relates, that Samson being denied his wife, did by a strange stratagem burn the corn fields, vineyards, and olives of the Philistines, Judges 15:1, and that because of their burning her and her father, he made a great slaughter of them, Judges 15:6, which brought the Philistines against the men of Judah, who...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
But it came to pass within a while after,.... Or "after days", a year after, the same phrase as in Judges 14:8 in the time of wheat harvest; which began at Pentecost, as barley harvest did at the passover; this circumstance is mentioned for the sake of the following piece of history: that Samson visited his wife with a kid; by this time his...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And her father said, I verily thought that thou hadst utterly hated her,.... Not only thought so, but said so, and had said it over and over again; for the words are, "saying I said" (t), affirmed it confidently and constantly, that "in hating thou hast hated her" (u), with an implacable hatred, that there was no hope of any reconciliation:...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And Samson said concerning them,.... His wife's father, and other relations, and the citizens of Timnath; this, which is what follows, he said either within himself respecting them, or he said it to them openly and publicly before them all: now shall I be more blameless than the Philistines, though I do them a displeasure; signifying, that if he...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
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...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And when he had set the brands on fire,.... Disposed as before related; and foxes being naturally fearful of, and frightened with fire, and especially so near them as at their tails, would run into the first place they could for shelter: he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines; which being ripe, as it was now wheat harvest, would...