Power of the Prophets: Shoftim 15:9-15:20

The Philistines came up, pitched camp in Judah and spread out over Lehi. The men of Judah asked, “Why have you come up against us?” They answered, “We have come to take Samson prisoner, and to do to him as he did to us.”

Why have you ascended against us. Are we not enslaved by you?

Thereupon three thousand men of Judah went down to the cave of the rock of Etam, and they said to Samson, “You knew that the Philistines rule over us; why have you done this to us?” He replied, “As they did to me, so I did to them.”

It was stated: “A group of people on the road were met by Gentiles who said to them, give us one of you that we may kill him, otherwise we shall kill all of you; even if all of them are killed they should not hand over a Jewish person. If they designated one, like Sheba ben Bikhri, they should hand him over so as not to be killed.” Rebbi Simeon ben Laqish said, on condition that he be guilty of a capital crime like Sheba ben Bikhri; but Rebbi Joḥanan said, even if he is not guilty of a capital crime like Sheba ben Bikhri. Ulla bar Qoshav was proscribed by the government. He fled and went to Lydda to Rebbi Joshua ben Levi. They came and surrounded the city. They said to them, if you do not hand him over to us, we shall destroy the city. Rebbi Joshua ben Levi went to him and talked him into being handed over to them. Elijah, may be be remembered for good things, used to appear to him; he stopped appearing. He fasted may fasts; he appeared to him and said, do I appear to informers? He said to him, did I not act according to a baraita? He said to him, is that a statement for the pious?

If idolaters will demand one of a group of women, saying: "Yield us one of among you and we will defile her, if not we will defile you all", let all be defiled, rather than surrender to them one soul in Israel. Likewise, if idolaters will say to a group of men: "Yield us one of you and we will kill him, if not we will kill you all", let all of them be killed rather than surrender to them one soul in Israel. If, however, they single out the one, saying: "Give us that man, if not we will kill you all", if he be guilty of a capital crime, as, for example, Sheba son of Bichri, they may surrender him to them, but it is not commendable to advise them to do so; if he be not guilty of a capital crime, they all must submit rather than surrender them one soul in Israel.

Shulchan Aruch: All of the transgressions which are in the Torah, with the exception of idolatry, sexual prohibitions, and murder: If someone is told to transgress them or he will be killed, so long as he is in private, he should transgress and not be killed. If he wants to be stringent upon himself and be killed, he may do so if the idolater intends to make him violate his religion. Rama: If he can save himself with all he has, he must give it all rather than transgress one of the negative commandments (Ran in Sukkah, Perek Lulav haGazul, and Rashba and Raavad and Rivash Siman 387). When they [Chazal] said that anyone who has the ability to protest and does not, he is seized in the same sin - here, where there is a chance of danger, he does not need to give up his money over this (Mahariv Siman 156). Shulchan Aruch: If he is in public - that is, in front of ten Jews - he must allow himself to be killed rather than transgress, providing the idolater intends to make him violate his religion (even if this is over a minhag such as the way one ties one’s shoes) (Beis Yosef). But if he [the idolater] intends only for his own benefit, he [the Jew] should transgress rather than be killed. If, however, it is a time of legislation (only against Jews) (Beis Yosef in the name of the Nimukei Yosef), even about the strap of one’s shoes he should be killed rather than transgress. Rama: And this is only if they wish to make him violate a negative commandment; if they made a law that one should not fulfill positive commandments, however, he does not need to fulfill it if he will be killed (Ran Shabbos Perek BaMeh Tomnin and Nimukei Yosef Sanhedrin Perek Sorer uMoreh). Nonetheless, if the hour requires it and he wishes to fulfill it and be killed, he may do so (Maharik Shoresh 88). Shulchan Aruch: And by idolatry, sexual prohibitions, and murder, even in private and not a time with legislation and even if the idolater intends it only for his own benefit, he must be killed rather than transgress. Rama: And this is only when they tell him to do an action: for instance, if they tell a man to transgress a sexual prohibition or he will be killed. If they force a woman to have sex or throw him over a child to murder it or he is already erect and they force him to have forbidden sex, he need not be killed (Beis Yosef in the name of Tosfos and Ran Psachim Perek Kol Sha’ah). All prohibitions of idolatry and sexuality and murder - even if they are not punishable by death, just prohibitions without explicit punishment - he must be killed rather than transgress. On the prohibition of “Do not put a stumbling block before the blind” he may transgress rather than be killed (Ran Psachim Perek Kol Sha’ah and Sanhedrin Perek Ben Sorer uMoreh). An idolater sleeping with a Jewish woman is not included as a sexual prohibition (Beis Yosef in the name of the Ramban and the authorities cited above). Idolaters who told a Jew, “Give us one of you so we may kill him” - they may not give him over unless they [the idolaters] singled him out and said, “Give us Ploni” (Mishnah Trumos 8, Rambam Yesodei haTorah 5). There are those who say that even in this case, one should not give him over unless he is already liable for death like Sheva ben Bichri (Beis Yosef in the name of Rashi and the Ran). Likewise, women who were told by idolaters, “Give us one of you so we may rape [lit. make impure] her” - they must all be raped rather than hand over one Jewish life (Rambam ibid). Any place where it is said, “Be killed rather than transgress,” if he transgressed and was not killed, even though he has desanctified the Name, nonetheless he is considered forced and is not liable. This is only where he could not have fled - if he could have fled, and did not do so, he is like a dog sitting on his vomit and is considered to have transgressed deliberately (Beis Yosef in the name of the Rambam Yesodei haTorah 5).

“We have come down,” they told him, “to take you prisoner and to hand you over to the Philistines.” “But swear to me,” said Samson to them, “that you yourselves will not attack me.”

“We won’t,” they replied. “We will only take you prisoner and hand you over to them; we will not slay you.” So they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock.

When he reached Lehi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him. Thereupon the spirit of the LORD gripped him, and the ropes on his arms became like flax that catches fire; the bonds melted off his hands.

He came upon a fresh jawbone of an ass and he picked it up; and with it he killed a thousand men.

He was very thirsty and he called to the LORD, “You Yourself have granted this great victory through Your servant; and must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?”

Dan shall be a serpent by the road,
A viper by the path,
That bites the horse’s heels
So that his rider is thrown backward.
I wait for Your deliverance, O יהוה !

'לישועתך קויתי ה, “I hope for Your salvation Hashem!” When Yaakov in his prophetic vision of future events saw Shimshon the mighty warrior and what he accomplished, he felt forced to exclaim that Israel’s future would not be in the hands of human warriors but would be secured only by Hashem. In the Book of Judges 15,16, where Shimshon is related as having killed one thousand Philistines with the bone of a donkey as his only weapon, that immediately afterwards he threw that bone to the ground and acknowledged G–d as the source of his success. (verse 18 there). This is also hinted at in his blessing of Dan where the point is made that though Dan will be successful in attacking his adversaries like a snake lying in ambush, he will do so confident of G–d’s salvation.

So God split open the hollow which is at Lehi, and the water gushed out of it; he drank, regained his strength, and revived. That is why it is called to this day “En-hakkore of Lehi.”

How superior is the degree of repentance! But yesterday was this sinner separated from the Lord God of Israel, even as it is said:" But your iniquities have separated between you and your God" (Is. 59.2); cries, but received no answer, even as it is said:" "Yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear" (Ibid. 1.15); does obey commandments, but they are thrown back in his face, even as it is said: "Who hath required this at your hand, to trample My courts"? (Ibid.–12), and, "Oh that there were even among you that would shut the doors, that ye might not kindle fire on Mine altar in vain!" (Mal. 1.10). But to-day he is connected with the Shekinah, even as it is said: "But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day" (Deut. 4.4); he cries and receives answer momentarily, even as it is said: "And it shall come to pass that before they call, I will answer" (Is. 65.24); he observes commandments, and they are received with pleasure and joy, even as it is said: "For God hath already accepted thy works" (Ecc. 9.7); moreover, his works are pleasurably anticipated, even as it is said: "Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in ancient years" (Mal. 3.4).

He led Israel in the days of the Philistines for twenty years.

When the LORD raised up chieftains for them, the LORD would be with the chieftain and would save them from their enemies during the chieftain’s lifetime; for the LORD would be moved to pity by their moanings because of those who oppressed and crushed them. But when the chieftain died, they would again act basely, even more than the preceding generation^-f—following other gods, worshiping them, and bowing down to them; they omitted none of their practices and stubborn ways.