And Samson said, With the jawbone of a donkey, heaps upon heaps, with the jawbone of a donkey have I slain a thousand men.
Read Chapter 15
Ambrose of Milan
AD 397
When he had received their pledge, Samson left the cave and abandoned his rocky fortification. When he saw the strong Philistines approaching to take him, although he was bound with double cords, he groaned in spirit and broke his bonds. Then, seizing the jawbone of an ass lying there, he struck a thousand men and put the rest to flight in a magnificent display of strength, while battle lines of armed men fell back before a single defenseless man. Any and all who dared to approach him were slain with easy effort. Flight staved off death for the rest. Thus, even today, the place is called Agon, because there Samson won a great victory by his overwhelming strength.
I wish that he had been as controlled in victory as he was strong against the enemy! But, as usually happens, a soul unused to good fortune, which ought to have attributed the outcome of the engagement to God’s favor and protection, attributed it to himself, saying, “With the jawbone of an ass I have destroyed … a thousand men...
Now when Samson destroyed a thousand men with a jawbone from the body of an ass, the Gentiles were prefigured in the ass; for thus Scripture speaks concerning both Jews and Gentiles: “An ox knows its owner, and an ass its master’s manger.” Before the coming of Christ all the Gentiles were torn to pieces by the devil and lay scattered like dry bones from the ass’s body, but when Christ the true Samson came, he seized them all in his holy hands. He restored them by the hands of his power, and with them overcame his and our adversaries. Thus, we who had given our members to the devil before so that he might kill us, were seized by Christ and became instruments of justice unto God. - "Sermon 119.4"
