(8) Hip and thigh.--There is no doubt that the expression intensifies the words "with a great slaughter;" but the origin of the phrase is a matter of conjecture. It may be purely general, like the German expression "Arm und Bein," or "er hieb den Feind in die Pfanne," or "in Kochstcke" ("A blow strikes a fugitive on the hip, and that would be enough; another blow on the thigh ends him"). "Hence," says Ewald, "it means thigh over and above"--i.e., besides the hip. It cannot possibly mean "cavalry and infantry," as the Chaldee renders it, or be a reference to wrestling (Greek, huposkelizein); nor is it likely to have a sacrificial origin ("good and bad pieces"). It is hard to see what St. Jerome means by his gloss "ita ut slupentes suram femori imponerent." Literally it is, thigh upon hip, or leg upon thigh (LXX., ?????? ??? ?????). May it not have had its origin in some such fierce custom as that known to the Greeks as akroteriasmos, or maschalismos, in which the extremities of a corpse were cut off and placed under the arm-pits? ('sch. Cho. 439; Soph. El. 445.) Thus in Hesychius and Suidas maschalismata means "mutilated limbs," and also "the flesh of the shoulders laid on the haunches at sacrifices."

With a great slaughter.--It is not said, nor is it necessarily implied (any more than in the case of Shamgar), that Samson was absolutely alone in these raids. There is nothing either in the narrative or in the ordinary style of Hebrew prose which makes any such inference necessary, nor, indeed, is there any such inference drawn in many similar passages (e.g., Judgesi. 20, &c.).

In the top of the rock Etam.--It should undoubtedly be in a ravine (or cave) of the cliff Etam. For instance, in Judges 15:11 the men of Judah could not go down to the top of a rock, and the same word is rendered "cleft" in Isaiah 57:5, and should be so rendered for "top" in Isaiah 3:21 (LXX., "in a hole of the rock," and "in the cave of Etam;" Vulg., in spelunca petrae). This explains the expression "went down" in this verse, and "brought him up" in Judges 15:13. Such cliff-caves are the natural refuge of oppressed peoples (Judges 6:2; 1Samuel 13:6; 1Kings 18:13). These caves, like the cave of Aduliam, are often supplied with water by natural springs, and one man may defend them against a multitude. The LXX. (Cod. A) add the words "by the torrent." The site of Etam is uncertain; but it is in the tribe of Judah, which Samson only enters once, or, possibly (Judges 16:3), twice, and then only as a fugitive.

Verse 8. - He smote them hip and thigh, etc. A proverbial expression, the origin of which is uncertain; it means, he smote them with a great and complete slaughter. It is reasonable to suppose that he had gathered a few Hebrews round him to help him. He went down, etc. This shows that Etam must have been situated lower than Tinmath, and seems to preclude its identification with Urtas, in the hill country of Judah, between Bethlehem and Tekoah, which apparently represents the Etam of 2 Chronicles 11:6. But there is another Etam in the tribe of Simeon (1 Chronicles 4:32), which may possibly be the Etam of our text. In the top of the rock. Rather, the cleft or fissure of the rock - some narrow and inaccessible ravine. The site has not been identified.

CHAPTER 15:9-20

15:1-8 When there are differences between relations, let those be reckoned the wisest and best, who are most forward to forgive or forget, and most willing to stoop and yield for the sake of peace. In the means which Samson employed, we must look at the power of God supplying them, and making them successful, to mortify the pride and punish the wickedness of the Philistines. The Philistines threatened Samson's wife that they would burn her and her father's house. She, to save herself and oblige her countrymen, betrayed her husband; and the very thing that she feared, and by sin sought to avoid, came upon her! She, and her father's house, were burnt with fire, and by her countrymen, whom she thought to oblige by the wrong she did to her husband. The mischief we seek to escape by any unlawful practices, we often pull down upon our own heads.And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter,.... Either smote them on their hips and thighs with his hands (for it does not appear he had any weapon of war), so that they were sadly bruised, and maimed, and lamed, that they could not stir, and of which blows and bruises multitudes died: or he smote them with his legs on their thighs, kicked them about at pleasure, which kicks numbers of them never got over; or the meaning of the proverbial expression is, he laid on them at a great rate, and smote them here and there, and any where, which issued in the death of many of them: the Targum is,"he smote them horse and foot,''their cavalry and infantry, destroyed them both; but it does not appear that they came out in an hostile manner unto him, and much less in the form of a regular army:

and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam. Josephus says (e), that Samson having slain many in the fields of the Philistines, went and dwelt at Etam, a strong rock in the tribe of Judah; and which agrees with 2 Chronicles 11:6, where mention is made of the city Etam, along with Bethlehem and Tekoah, cities in that tribe, which had its name either from this rock, or the rock from that. The Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions read,"in a cave of the rock of Etam;''and the Syriac and Arabic versions, in Sahaph, which is on the rock of Etam, as if Sahaph was the name of a city there; hither Samson went, not through fear, or for safety, but to wait for another opportunity of further avenging the injuries of Israel on the Philistines.

(e) Ibid. (Antiqu. l. 5. c. 8.) sect. 8.