Judges 15: Fighting with Foxes, Fire, and a Jawbone

The Rev. John Shank, pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Edwardsville, IL, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study Judges 15.

Samson returns to Timnah to see his Philistine wife, but he arrives to discover that her father had already married her off to another man. Samson unleashed his fury on the Philistines, setting their crops on fire with foxes and torches. When they retaliated by killing his wife and father-in-law, he fought back with a donkey’s jawbone, killing a thousand of them.

The Book of Judges tells the story of Israel's descent into chaos and idolatry, and the subsequent rise of a series of judges, or redeemers, who deliver them from their enemies. The judges are flawed heroes, but they are also instruments of God's deliverance. The book ends with the Israelites in a state of moral and spiritual decay, but it also offers hope for a better future.