Judges 15:16

Study note

Setting — Samson speaks immediately after striking down a thousand Philistines with a fresh donkey jawbone he found in Judges 15:15. He makes a public declaration before casting the weapon aside and naming the site Ramath-lehi in Judges 15:17.

The words — The Hebrew חֲמֹרָתָ֑יִם (cha.mo.ra.Ta.yim) literally means "two heaps" and shares the root חֲמ֔וֹר (cha.Mor), "donkey." This linguistic echo ties the weapon directly to the act of piling the slain.

The thread — The narrative returns to this object in Judges 15:17 when Samson discards it and establishes the place name Ramath-lehi. The structural repetition of the jawbone grounds the victory in a single, tangible event rather than abstract glory.

Why it lands — The text records a factual claim of mass slaughter using a scavenged animal bone, leaving the theological implication unadorned. It requires the reader to acknowledge the mechanism of the event exactly as reported before drawing any further conclusion.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.