EXPOSITION. eventual overthrow of the Philistine domin- CHAPTER XIV. ion is in exact accordance with other decla.r- Ver. 1. -Timnath, or,1 more correctly, ations of Holy Scripture (cf. e. g. Exod. vii Thimnathah, as in Josh. xix. 43, a town in 3, 4; Josh. xi. 20 ; l Sam. ii. 25 ; 1 Kings the tribe of Dan, the no.me of which sur- xii. 15; 2 Chron. x. 15; xxii. 7; =v. 20). vives in the modem Tilmeh, about three An occa.aion. The noun only occurs here ; miles south-west of Zorah (eh. xiii. 2, note). but the verb, in its several conjugations, It may or may not be identical with Timnath means, ro happ,m at the right time; to bring a in Gen. xxxviii. 12-14, and with Timnah pers()'fl, or thing at the right time (Exod. xxi. in Josh. xv. 10. It appears to have been in 13, deliver, A. V.); ro be bruught at the right tho possession of the Philistines at this time, time (Prov. xii. 21, happen, A. V.); ro seek Ver. 2.-Get her, &c. Rather, take her. the right time for injuring any one (2 Kings It is the technical phrase (1) fora man taking v. 7, seeketh, a IJIUI,rrel, A. V.). o. wife for himself, as Gen. iv. 19; vi. 2; l Ver. 6.-Went down, showing tha.t Tim- Sam. xxv. 39, 43, and vers. 3, 8 of this chap- nath was on lowor ground than Zore.h; it ter ; (2) for a man's parents taking a wife for was in fact in the Shephelah. The vineyards him, as Exod. xxxiv. 16 ; N eh. x. 30. The of Timnath. The valley of Sorek (eh. xvi. parents of the bridegroom J!aid the dowry 4), so famous for its vines (Isa. v. 2; Jer. ii. agreed upon (see Gen. x.xxiv. 12; 1 Sam. 21), from which it derived its name (Sorek, xviii. 26). transhlted in the above passages the choue.st Ver. 3.-Uncircu.mcised. Cf. Gen. xxxiv. vine, and a noble .rine), is thought to have 14. A term of reproach here added to deter been in the immediate neighbourhood. Samson from the marriage. ·1t is particu- Probably the whole district under the hills larly applied to the Philistines (seo eh. xv. was o. succession of vineyards, like the coun- 18 ; 1 Sam. xvii. 26, 36 ; xviii. 29; xxxi. 4; try round Bordeaux. Samson haJ left the 2 Sam. i. 20, &c.). road along which his father and mother were Ver. 4.-ItwasoforfromtheLord. Itwas walking, at a. pace, perhn ps, too slow for his the method decreed by God's providence for youthful energy, and had plunged into the bringing about a. rupture with the Philistines. vineyards. Of a. sudden a young lion, -a term That he sought. Rather, because he suught. designating a. lion between the age of a cub The writer explains the purpose of the pro- and a full-grown lion,-brought there, per- vidence. It is doubtful whether "he" refers haps, in pursuit of the foxes or jackals, to Samson or to the Lord. Most comment- which often had their holes in vineyards ators refer it to Samson; but it is contrary (Cant. ii. 15), ronred against him. to the whole tenor of Samson's impetuous Ver. 6.-The Spirit of the Lord, &c.-as course, nod to all probability, that he should a spirit of dauntless courage and irresistible have asked for the Timne.thite damsel merely strength of body. Came mightily. Hebrew, for the sake of quarrelling with the Philis- fell up()'fl, him, or passed O'IJeT up()'fl, him, as in tines; whereas the statement that Samson's ver. 19; xv. 14; 1 Sam. x. 6, 10; xviii. 10, obstinate determination to take o. Philistine &c. He rent him, &c. He "had nothing in wife was the means which God's secret pur- his hnnd," no weapon or knife, nor even 11 pose had fixed upon for bl'ingiug about the stick; but he rent him with us mucll ease aa 150 THE BOOK OF JUDGES. [err. XIV. 1-9.
the kid is rent. The Hebrew hn,s (he kid, pRrents had travelled by before, 1tnd, re- with the definite articlet which is not pre- membering his feat in killing the lion, very fixed unless some particn1ar kid is meant, as naturally turned aside to see what had be- in Gen. xxxviii, 23. Perhaps the kid means come of the carcase. And, behold, there was the one about to be served, which the cook a swarm of beea, &c. Thie has been ob- rends open either before or after it is cooked. jected to as improbable, becnuse bees are Unless some such operation is alluded to, it very dainty, and would not e.pproach a. is not easy to understand what the rending putrefying body. But as a considerable of the lid means. He told not his father time had elapsed, it is very possible that &c. This is mentioned to explain ver. 16; either the mere skeleton was left, or that but it shows that Samson had wandered the heat of the sun had dried up the body some distance from his parents among the a~d reduced it to the state of e. mummy nneyards (see note to ver. 5). witho1;1t decomposition, as is said to ho.ppen Ver. 7.-Went down, as in ver. 1, where often 1n the desert of Arabia.. see note. Ver. 9.-And . .. he went on eating, &c. Ver. 8.-He returned to take her. All Compare the e.ccount of Jonathan finding the preliminaries being settled between the and e.a._ting the wild honey (1 Sam. xiv. 25, parents, he returned to Timnath to take his and following verses). bride by the same road which he o.nd his