Why Samson sent the animals out in pairs, rather than as three hundred on their own is not entirely clear. Likely what prompted him was the fact that two foxes joined together will pull this way and that in panic over their flaming tils, and so move in a zigzag fashion, acting as efficient agents for burning an entire harvest. Samson, therefore, shows he is far from unintelligent. While he is foolish when it comes to women, in other ways he is sharp! He has a real flair for what we call today unconventional warfare. His plans call for a limited strike that will cause maximal economic damage and real pain. It is the harvest season, and this is the current Philistine weak point.
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4 So Samson went and caught 300 foxes and took torches. And he turned them tail to tail and put a torch between each pair of tails.