--- title: "Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah" author: "Adam Clarke" languages: [en] shelf: "Commentaries" section: 265 of 914 url: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/265/ cite: "Adam Clarke, Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah, section 265. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/265/" --- # Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible · Volume 1: Genesis to Jeremiah *Adam Clarke* Clarke's learned notes on the Hebrew and Greek, verse by verse, from Genesis to Revelation: volume 1 of 2. ## 265. Judges · 21 of 29 Source: https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/265/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/adam-clarke-commentary-volume-1-genesis-to-jeremiah/265/#p-N [¶0] Day and night solve this enigma. [¶1] The following I have taken from Theognis: - Ηδη γαρ με κεκληκε θαλαττιος οικαδε νεκρος, Τεθνηκως, ζωῳ φθεγγομενος στοματι. [¶2] Theogn. Gnom., in fine. "A dead seaman calls me to his house; And, although he be dead, he speaks with a living mouth." [¶3] This dead seaman is a conch or large shellfish, of which the poet was about to eat. The mouth by which it spoke signifies its being used as a horn; as it is well known to produce, when opened at the spiral end and blown, a very powerful sound. ### Verse 17 [¶5] And she wept before him - Not through any love to him, for it appears she had none, but to oblige her paramours; and of this he soon had ample proof. ### Verse 18 [¶7] If ye had not ploughed with my heifer - If my wife had not been unfaithful to my bed, she would not have been unfaithful to my secret; and, you being her paramours, your interest was more precious to her than that of her husband. She has betrayed me through her attachment to you. Calmet has properly remarked, in quoting the Septuagint, that to plough with one's heifer, or to plough in another man's ground, are delicate turns of expression used both by the Greeks and Latins, as well as the Hebrews, to point out a wife's infidelities. Thus Theognis, Gnom. v. 581: - Εχθαιρω δε γυναικα περιδρομον, ανδρα τε μαργον. Ὁς την αλλονριην βουλετ' αρουραν αρουν. "I detest a woman who gads about, and also a libidinous man, who wishes to plough in another man's ground." [¶8] Fundum alienium arat, incultum familiarem deserit. [¶9] Plautus. "He ploughs another's farm, and leaves his own heritage uncultivated." [¶10] Milo domi non est, perepre at Milone profecto [¶11] Arva vacant, uxor non minus inde parit. [¶12] Martial. "Milo is not at home, and Milo being from home, his field lies uncultivated; his wife, nevertheless, continues to breed, and brings forth children." [¶13] There is the same metaphor in the following lines of Virgil: - [¶14] Hoc faciunt, nimo ne luxu obtusior usus, [¶15] Sit genitali arvo, sulcosque oblimet inertes. [¶16] Geor. l. iii., v. 135. [¶17] In this sense Samson's words were understood by the Septuagint, by the Syriac, and by Rabbi Levi. See Bochart, Hierozoic. p. 1, lib. ii., cap. 41, col. 406. The metaphor was a common one, and we need seek for no other interpretation of the words of Samson. ### Verse 19 [¶19] The Spirit of the Lord came upon him - "The spirit of fortitude from before the Lord." - Targum. He was inspired with unusual courage, and he felt strength proportioned to his wishes. [¶20] He - slew thirty men - and took their spoils - He took their hayks, their kumjas, and caftans, and gave them to the thirty persons who, by unfair means, had solved his riddle; thus they had what our version calls thirty sheets, and thirty changes of raiment. See the note on [Jdg 14:12]. ### Verse 20 [¶22] But Samson's wife was given to his companion - This was the same kind of person who is called the friend of the bridegroom, [Joh 3:29]. And it is very likely that she loved this person better than she loved her husband, and went to him as soon as Samson had gone to his father's house at Zorah. She might, however, have thought herself abandoned by him, and therefore took another; this appears to have been the persuasion of her father, [Jdg 15:2]. But her betraying his secret and his interests to his enemies was a full proof he was not very dear to her; though, to persuade him to the contrary, she shed many crocodile tears; see [Jdg 14:16]. He could not keep his own secret, and he was fool enough to suppose that another would be more faithful to him than he was to himself. Multitudes complain of the treachery of friends betraying their secrets, etc., never considering that they themselves have been their first betrayers, in confiding to others what they pretend to wish should be a secret to the whole world! If a man never let his secret out of his own bosom, it is impossible that he should ever be betrayed. ### Introduction [¶24] Samson, going to visit his wife, finds her bestowed on another, [Jdg 15:1], [Jdg 15:2]. He is incensed, vows revenge, and burns the corn of the Philistines, [Jdg 15:3-5]. They burn Samson's wife and her father, [Jdg 15:6]. He is still incensed, makes a great slaughter among them, [Jdg 15:7], [Jdg 15:8]. The Philistines gather together against Israel, and to appease them the men of Judah bind Samson, and deliver him into their hands, [Jdg 15:9-13]. The Spirit of the Lord comes upon him; he breaks his bonds, finds the jaw-bone of an ass, and therewith kills a thousand men, [Jdg 15:14-16]. He is sorely fatigued; and, being thirsty, God miraculously produces water from an opening of the ground in Lehi, and he is refreshed, [Jdg 15:17-19]. He judges Israel in the time of the Philistines twenty years, [Jdg 15:20]. ### Verse 1 [¶26] Visited his wife with a kid - On her betraying him, he had, no doubt, left her in great disgust. After some time his affection appears to have returned; and, taking a kid, or perhaps a fawn, as a present, he goes to make reconciliation, and finds her given to his brideman; probably, the person to whom she betrayed his riddle. ### Verse 2 [¶28] Thou hadst utterly hated her - As he was conscious she had given him great cause so to do. [¶29] Her younger sister - The father appears to have been perfectly sincere in this offer. ### Verse 4 [¶31] Went and caught three hundred foxes - There has been much controversy concerning the meaning of the term שועלים shualim, some supposing it to mean foxes or jackals, and others handfuls or sheaves of corn. Much of the force of the objections against the common version will be diminished by the following considerations: - [¶32] 1. Foxes, or jackals, are common and gregarious in that country. [¶33] 2. It is not hinted that Samson collected them alone; he might have employed several hands in this work. [¶34] 3. It is not said he collected them all in one day; he might have employed several days, as well as many persons, to furnish him with these means of vengeance. [¶35] 4. In other countries, where ferocious beasts were less numerous, great multitudes have been exhibited at once. [¶36] Sylla, in a public show to the Roman citizens, exhibited one hundred lions; Caesar, four hundred, and Pompey, nearly six hundred. The Emperor Probus let loose in the theater, at one time, one thousand ostriches, one thousand stags, one thousand wild boars, one thousand does, 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. - See Flavius Vopiscus in the Life of Probus, cap. xix., beginning with Dedit Romanis etiam voluptates, etc. [¶37] That foxes, or the creature called shual, abounded in Judea, is evident from their frequent mention in Scripture, and from several places bearing their name. It appears they were so numerous that even their cubs ruined the vineyards; see [Sol 2:15] : Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil our vines. Jeremiah complains that the foxes had occupied the mountains of Judea, [Lam 5:18]. They are mentioned as making incursions into enclosures, etc., [Neh 4:3]. Ezekiel compares the numerous false prophets to these animals, [Eze 13:4]. In [Jos 15:28] we find a place called Hazar Shual, "the court of the foxes:" and in [Jos 19:42] a place called Shaal-abbin, "the foxes;" no doubt from the number of those animals in that district. And mention is made of the land of Shual, or of the fox, [1Sam 13:17]. [¶38] The creature called shual is represented by travelers and naturalists who have been in Judea as an animal between a wolf and a fox. Hasselquist, who was on the spot, and saw many of them, calls it the little Eastern fox. They are frequent in the East, and often destroy infirm persons and children. [¶39] Dr. Kennicott, however, objects to the common interpretation; and gives reasons, some of which are far from being destitute of weight. "The three hundred foxes," says he, "caught by Samson, have been so frequently the subject of banter and ridicule, that we should consider whether the words may not admit a more rational interpretation: for, besides the improbability arising here from the number of these foxes, the use made of them is also very strange. If these animals were tied tail to tail, they would probably pull contrary ways, and consequently stand still; whereas a firebrand tied to the tail of each fox singly would have been far more likely to answer the purpose here intended. To obviate these difficulties it has been well remarked, that the word שועלים shualim, here translated foxes, signifies also handfuls, [Eze 13:19], handfuls of barley; if we leave out that one letter ו vau, which has been inserted or omitted elsewhere, almost at pleasure. No less than seven Hebrew MSS. want that letter here, and read שעלים shealim. Admitting this version, we see that Samson took three hundred handfuls or sheaves of corn, and one hundred and fifty firebrands; that he turned the sheaves end to end, and put a firebrand between the two ends in the midst; and then, setting the brands on fire, sent the fire into the standing corn of the Philistines. The same word is now used twice in one chapter, ([Eze 13:4], [Eze 13:19]); in the former verse signifying foxes, in the latter handfuls: and in [1Kgs 20:10], where we render it handfuls, it is αλωπεξι, foxes, in the Greek version." - Remarks on Select Passages. [¶40] The reasoning of Dr. Kennicott in the first part of this criticism has already been answered; other parts shall be considered below. Though there are seven MSS., which agree in the reading contended for by Dr. Kennicott, yet all the versions are on the other side. I see no improbability in the common version. [¶41] Turned tail to tail - Had he put a firebrand to each, which Dr. Kennicott thinks more reasonable, the creature, naturally terrified at fire, would have instantly taken to cover, and thus the design of Samson would have been frustrated. But, tying two of them together by their tails, they would frequently thwart each other in running, pull hither and thither, and thus make the greater devastation. Had he tied them all together, the confusion would have been so great that no execution could have been done. ### Verse 6 [¶43] Burnt her and her father - This was probably done to appease Samson: as they saw he had been unjustly treated both by his wife and her father; therefore they destroyed them both, that they might cause his wrath to cease from them. And this indeed seems intimated in the following verse: And Samson said - Though ye have done this, yet will I be avenged of you; that is, I am not yet satisfied: ye have done me great wrongs, I must have proportionate redress; then I shall rest satisfied.