“With the jawbone of a donkey
I left heaps piled on heaps!
With the jawbone of a donkey
I killed a thousand men!”
-Judges 15:16
Samson has been delivered to the Philistines.
And he’s firmly tied up in ropes.
But not for long.
In that instant the Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson and gave him an unprecedented measure of strength and boldness.
Samson burst through the ropes as though they were burnt flax.
He then picked up a fresh jawbone of a donkey.
Note the word “fresh”.
We’re given certain details for a reason.
Saying the jawbone was “fresh” meant it hadn’t been lying out in the sun for a long time.
In other words, it wasn’t brittle and to the point where it could be easily broken.
Samson now held a devastating weapon in his hand.
And he began swinging it at the heads of the Philistine soldiers.
One by one they were toppled.
Another full-fledged massacre began to unfold.
Now there’s an interesting Hebrew word play that Samson uses here to describe this incident.
You know how we have many words in English have two different meanings?
We call them homonyms.
For example, the word “bark” can mean the sound a dog makes or it can be the outer layer of a tree.
Or the word “bat” can mean an implement used to hit a ball or a nocturnal flying animal.
Well, the very same phenomenon exists in the Hebrew language.
A lot of English Bible translators possess little familiarity with Hebrew homonyms…
That’s why we often come across some ridiculously nonsensical verses and phrases in the Bible.
In this particular case, the exact same word is being used to refer to both “donkey” or “ass” and “heap”.
They both use the following Hebrew word as their root:
CHAMOR or חמור
I think the Complete Jewish Bible captures the correct nuance when it says…
“I left heaps piled on heaps!”
Samson had killed so many Philistines that their corpses began to pile up in heaps.
And we’re not just talking about one heap here.
Samson had also pursued the other Philistines who started to flee in terror.
When he killed them he created another whopping heap of dead bodies.
According to the nuance of the Hebrew language, we could actually be talking about several heaps here, not just two.
Afterwards, the area where this slaughter took place came to be called RAMATH-LECHI.
Literally translated it means “jawbone hill”…
Which is quite an appropriate description I would say.
So at this point, Samson is both exhausted and dehydrated.
He had no time to catch his breath during the battle…
Because he had taken the life of one Philistine after another with that donkey jawbone.
So in a rare and touching moment, Samson reaches out to the Lord and says…
“You accomplished this great rescue
through your servant.
But am I now to die from thirst
and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?”
Samson humbled himself and acknowledged that it was NOT by his might but by the Lord’s that he had won this battle.
As strong as he was, Samson realized there’s no way he would have prevailed unscathed against 1,000 men.
Just sit back and think about that for a moment.
It was ONE man against a THOUSAND…
And that one man won!
Samson even used the word “servant”.
This was a rare moment for Samson indeed.
While I hate to say that Samson was probably the most unfaithful of the Judges, he was aware of his calling as a Nazarite…
That’s why he referred to himself as “God’s servant” here.
He was also aware that in his current state of physical exhaustion, if another fresh round of Philistines came around, there’s no way he’d be able to fight them off.
So as the Lord had done for His people when they were still dwelling in the wilderness, He springs forth water from a nearby rock and Samson is able to revive himself.
The big takeaway I’m getting today is as profound as it is inspiring.
It doesn’t matter if you’re only ONE man fighting against a multitude.
It doesn’t matter how outnumbered you are…
It doesn’t matter how bleak the circumstances seem…
It doesn’t matter if even the whole world seems to be against you…
Heck, the Scripture prophesies that the day is coming (I believe soon) when ALL the nations (goyim) in the world are gonna line up against Israel just like these Philistines lined up against Samson.
The situation is going to seem as hopeless as can be.
But don’t fear or fret.
Because one with God is ALWAYS a majority.
So hold firm to your FAITH!
NEXT TIME WE BEGIN JUDGES CHAPTER 16
Leave a Reply