Grasp the Gospel — Bible Comprehension Quizzes

Judges 15 Devotional

Strength That Still Gets Thirsty

“So God opened up the hollow place in Lehi, and water came out of it. When Samson drank, his strength returned, and he was revived. That is why he named it En-hakkore, and it remains in Lehi to this day.”Judges 15:19 (BSB)

Chapter 15 is a spiral of revenge. Samson burns the Philistines' grain, vineyards, and olive groves (15:4-5). The Philistines burn his wife and her father (15:6). Samson strikes back with a great slaughter (15:8), and both sides call their violence payback (15:10-11). Judah would rather keep peace with its oppressors, so they bind Samson and hand him over (15:11-13).

At Lehi the Spirit of the LORD comes on him, the ropes fall away, and with a donkey's jawbone he kills a thousand men (15:14-15). He celebrates in a song about what he has done (15:16). Then, desperately thirsty, he prays for the first time in his story. He credits the LORD with the deliverance and asks not to die of thirst and fall to his enemies (15:18). God opens a hollow place at Lehi, water flows out, and Samson revives (15:19). The strongest man in Israel could not make water. Strength from God never ends our need of him, and thirst is often where we learn to call on him.

To think about: What need in your life right now might be God's invitation to stop relying on your strength and call on him?

About Judges 15: Samson's Revenge and the Jawbone

Denied his wife, Samson burns the Philistine harvest with foxes and torches, and the Philistines retaliate by killing the woman and her father. Judah hands him over bound, but empowered by God's Spirit he kills a thousand with a jawbone; God answers his thirsty prayer with a spring, and he judges Israel twenty years.

Take the Judges 15 quiz →Study notes

Get the next chapter and its devotional in your inbox each morning

One short email a day, no account needed. Stop anytime.