1. Judges 15:15 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

What is important to see in the reference to a “fresh” jawbone?

Judges 15:15 (ESV)

15 And he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and put out his hand and took it, and with it he struck 1,000 men.

The narrator goes out of his way to mention that the jawbone Samson picked up was fresh. So he is touching a freshly killed donkey. This is not so much to let us know that Samson picked a jawbone that would still be heavy and touch, with the teeth likely still fixed in place (as opposed to an old jawbone that has lain for a time in the sun and become dried out and brittle). We are given this detail to see that once again, Samson was violating his Nazirite vow; a Nazirite was not supposed to touch anything dead, whether animal or human. (See note at Judg 14:9 for more.)

But again, we see the Lord using a sinful instrument to achieve victory.