Judges · Chapter 16

V. 1. And saw-Going into an house of publick entertainment to refresh himself. He there saw this harlot accidentally; and by giving way to look upon her, was ensnared, Genesis 3:6.

Verse 1. Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there a harlot] The Chaldee, as in the former case, renders the clause thus: Samson saw there a woman, an inn-keeper. Perhaps the word hnwz zonah is to be taken here in its double sense; one who keeps a house for the entertainment of travellers, and who also prostitutes her person.

Gaza was situated near the Mediterranean Sea, and was one of the most southern cities of Palestine. It has been supposed by some to have derived its name from the treasures deposited there by Cambyses, king of the Persians; because they say Gaza, in Persian, signifies treasure; so Pomponius Mela and others. But it is more likely to be a Hebrew word, and that this city derived its name, hz[ azzah, from zz[ azaz, to be strong, it being a strong or well fortified place.

The Hebrew [ ain in this word is, by the Septuagint, the Arabic, and the Vulgate, rendered G; hence instead of azzah, with a strong guttural breathing, we have Gaza, a name by which this town could not be recognized by an ancient Hebrew.

Verse 1. And saw there a harlot — Although the Hebrew word hnwz, zoneh, here rendered harlot, also means a woman that keeps an inn, it seems evident, on the face of the story, that this woman really was what our translators have taken her to have been, a harlot. Samson, it seems, going into a house of public entertainment to refresh himself, saw there this woman, and by giving way to look upon her was insnared.

Verse 1. A harlot, at Gaza, one of the five strong cities of Philistia. The Hebrew is the same as Joshua 2., hostess, as some would read, but our version follows the other opinion.

SAMSON’S EXPLOIT AT GAZA, 1-3.

1. Gaza — A very ancient city, mentioned as early as Genesis 10:19, and situated in the extreme southern portion of the Philistine plain. It stood upon a low round hill that rises some fifty or sixty feet above the surrounding plain. Its modern name is Ghuzzeh. It was the most celebrated city of the Philistine pentarchy, and was the scene of Samson’s last triumph and death.

V. 2. In the morning-This they chose to do, rather than to seize upon him in his bed by night; either, because they knew not certainly in what house he was; or, because they thought that might cause great terror, and confusion, and mischief among their own people; whereas in the day-time they might more fully discover him, and more certainly use their weapons against him. O that all who indulge any unholy desire, might see themselves thus surrounded, and marked for destruction by their spiritual enemies! The more secure they are, the greater is their danger.

Verse 2. They compassed him in] They shut up all the avenues, secured the gates, and set persons in ambush near them, that they might attack him on his leaving the city early the next morning.

Verse 2. It was told the Gazites, Samson is come hither — The arrival of so extraordinary a man could not be long concealed. And his enemies were willing to improve so favourable an opportunity to destroy him. They compassed him in, &c. — They either beset the house, or lay in wait at the gate of the city; saying, In the morning we will kill him — This, it is probable, they chose to do, rather than to seize upon him in his bed by night; either, because they knew not certainly in what house he was; or, because they thought to do that might cause great terror, and confusion, and mischief among their own people; whereas in the day-time they might more fully discover him, and more certainly use their weapons against him. O that all who indulge any unholy desire might see themselves thus surrounded, and marked for destruction by their spiritual enemies! The more secure they are, the greater is their danger.

2. Samson is come hither — Samson may have thought to pass unrecognized in that large town, but his fame was too extended, and too many Philistine eyes had seen him before. His stalwart form and long growth of hair would also, probably, anywhere attract attention. Compassed him in — Probably, compassed the city about with spies to guard against a sudden and sly departure of their foe. Quiet all the night — After night set in they supposed he would not be likely to leave the harlot before the morning, and so the watchmen gave so little heed to the gate of the city that Samson carried it off without their knowledge.

V. 3. Arose-Perhaps warned by God in a dream; or rather by the checks of his own conscience. Went away-The watch-men not expecting him ‘till morning, and therefore being now retired into the sides, or upper part of the gate-house, as the manner now is, to get some rest, to fit themselves for their hard service intended in the morning: nor durst they pursue him, whom they now again perceived to have such prodigious strength, and courage; and to be so much above the fear of them, that he did not run away with all speed, but went leisurely. Hebron-Which was above twenty miles from Gaza. And Samson did this not out of vain ostentation, but as an evidence of his great strength, for the encouragement of its people to join with him vigorously; and for the greater terror and contempt of the Philistines. It may seem strange that Samson immediately after so foul a sin should have courage and strength from God, for so great a work. But first, it is probable, that Samson had in some measure repented of his sin, and begged of God pardon and assistance. 2.This singular strength and courage was not in itself a grace, but a gift, and it was such a gift as did not so much depend on the disposition of his mind, but on the right ordering of his body, by the rule given to him, and others of that order.

Verse 3. Took the doors of the gate] Though Samson was a very strong man, yet we do not find that he was a giant; consequently we may conjecture that the gates of the city were not very large, as he took at once the doors, the two posts, and the bar, with him. The cities of those days would appear to disadvantage among modern villages.

A hill-before Hebron.] Possibly there were two Hebrons; it could not be the city generally understood by the word Hebron, as that was about twenty miles distant from Gaza: unless we suppose that חברונ פני l[ al peney Chebron is to be understood of the road leading to Hebron: he carried all to the top of that hill which was on the road leading to Hebron.

Verse 3. Samson arose at midnight — Perhaps warned by God in a dream, or rather by the checks of his own conscience; and took the doors of the gate, &c. — The watchmen not expecting him till the morning, and therefore being now retired into the sides or upper part of the gate-house to get some rest; and went away with them, bar and all — Nor durst they pursue him, whom they now again perceived to have such prodigious strength and courage, and to be so much above the fear of them, that he did not run away with all speed, but went leisurely. And carried them to the top of the hill — It is uncertain how far he carried them; but it seems to have been to a great distance, as it is said this hill was before Hebron, which was above twenty miles from Gaza. And Samson did this, not out of vain ostentation, but as an evidence of his great strength, for the encouragement of his people to join with him vigorously; and for the great terror and contempt of the Philistines. It may seem strange that Samson, immediately after so foul a sin, should have courage and strength from God for so great a work. But, 1st, It is probable that Samson had, in some measure, repented of his sin, and begged of God pardon and assistance; 2d, This singular strength and courage was not in itself a grace, but a gift, and it was such a gift as did not so much depend on the disposition of his mind, as on the right ordering of his body, by the rules given to him, and others of that order.

Ver. 3. Took away the doors of the gate, and carried them about seven miles, as stated by a German traveller.

3. Lay till midnight — He, perhaps, knew or suspected what his enemies were doing, and his humour took occasion again to make them the butt of ridicule. Doors of the gate — The two leaves, or double folding doors. Two posts — The two sideposts to which the doors were hung, being fastened either by hinges or by sockets. Bar and all — Better, as in the margin, with the bar. The bar was a large heavy crosspiece or bolt of wood or iron, sometimes reaching across the entire breadth of the two doors, and fastened in sockets in the sideposts or walls, and

sometimes merely sliding backward and forward like an ordinary bolt. Samson tore away the whole gateway — doors, posts, and bar — and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of a hill that is before Hebron. “The present town of Gaza has no gates, being like an open village; yet the places of the former ones remain, and are pointed out around the hill. One of these, at the foot of the slope on the southeast, is shown as the gate whose doors and bars were carried off by Samson.” — Robinson. About half an hour’s walk southeast of the town is a partially isolated hill, (el-Muntar,) from which the mountains of Hebron are visible, and also a wide view over all the surrounding country. An old tradition calls it “Samson’s Mount,” and points it out as the hill to which he carried the gates of Gaza; and Dr. Robinson says, “There is nothing improbable in the supposition.” The expression before Hebron does not mean in the immediate vicinity of Hebron, but is better rendered towards or over against, as in Deuteronomy 32:49, where Mount Nebo is said to be over against Jericho, though it was many miles away, and on the other side of Jordan.

V. 4. Loved-Probably as an harlot: because the dreadful punishment now inflicted upon Samson for this sin, whom God spared for the first offence, is an intimation, that this sin was not inferior to the former.

Verse 4. He loved a woman in the valley of Sorek] Some think Samson took this woman for his wife; others, that he had her as a concubine. It appears she was a Philistine; and however strong his love was for her, she seems to have had none for him. He always matched improperly, and he was cursed in all his matches. Where the valley or brook of Sorek was, is not easy to be ascertained. Eusebius and Jerome say it lay southward of Eleutheropolis; but where was Eleutheropolis? Ancient writers take all their measurements from this city; but as it is nowhere mentioned in the Scriptures, it is impossible to fix its situation for we know not its ancient name.

Verse 4. He loved a woman in the valley of Sorek — Through which passed the river of the same name. This place, famous for its vines, was about a mile and a half from Eshcol, whence the spies brought their bunch of grapes. Here Samson met with Delilah, who, whether she was a Jewess or a Philistine, was probably a harlot, and not, as Chrysostom and some others have asserted, a woman of reputation married by Samson; because the dreadful punishment now inflicted upon him for his intercourse with her, after God had spared him for the first offence, certainly manifests that this sin was not inferior to the former.

Ver. 4. Delilah, a woman of Philistia. Some rabbins say, she was his wife; others, only his concubine. She was a woman of strong understanding, for none else can be consummately wicked.

SAMSON AND DELILAH, 4-20.

4. Loved a woman… Delilah — She was, doubtless, a Philistine woman, and it comports well with Samson’s history that among the daughters of that people he found his earliest and his latest love. The name Delilah — languishing, or enfeebling — suggests, says Cassel, how “sensuality sings and lulls the manly strength of the hero to sleep.” The valley of Sorek — Sorek means a vine or vine plantation, and probably took its name from the extensive cultivation of the grape. No trace of any town of this name has been found; but just south of Zorah runs the Wady-es-Surar, a wide and fertile valley, which, at least, bears some resemblance to the name, and is admirably adapted to the cultivation of the vine.

V. 5. The lords-The lords of their five principal cities, who were leagued together against him as their common enemy. Afflict-To chastise him for his injuries done to us. They mean to punish him severely, but they express it in mild words, lest it might move her to pity him. Pieces of silver-Shekels, as that phrase is commonly used.

Verse 5. See wherein his great strength lieth] They saw that his stature was not remarkable: and that, nevertheless, he had most extraordinary strength; therefore they supposed that it was the effect of some charm or amulet. The lords of the Philistines were the five following: Gaza, Gath, Askelon, Ekron, and Ashdod. All these considered Samson as a public enemy; and they promised this bad woman a large sum of money if she would obtain from him the important secret wherein his strength lay, that, depriving him of this supernatural power, they might be able to reduce him to bondage.

Verse 5. The lords of the Philistines came unto her — The lords of their five principal cities, which were leagued together against him as their common enemy. See wherein his great strength lieth — They probably imagined that Samson attained his great strength by the use of some magic art; that we may bind him to afflict him — To chastise him for his injuries to us. They meant to punish him severely, but they expressed it in mild words, lest it might move her to pity him. Every one eleven hundred pieces of silver — That is, shekels, as that phrase commonly signifies.

5. Entice him — The same demand put upon his first female betrayer. Judges 14:15. The lords of the Philistines well knew wherein Samson’s great weakness lay, and by taking advantage of that knowledge they at last found out wherein his great strength lay; but the secret of his strength was yet to them a mystery. They thought, perhaps, that it arose from some amulet or charm which he wore about him. Eleven hundred pieces of silver — The silver shekel was worth about sixty-two cents of our currency, and eleven hundred shekels would be six hundred and eighty-two dollars. This amount from each of the five lords would make three thousand four hundred and ten dollars. Surely a tempting bribe.

Verses 6-8. Wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee — This seems rather to express the sum of what Delilah aimed at than her very words. For it is scarcely credible that she put this question so openly to Samson, which would have discovered that she had some design against him. But, rather, she wormed it out of him by degrees, and in such an artful manner as gave him no cause of suspicion. Samson said, &c. — Samson was guilty both of the sin of lying, and of great folly, in encouraging her inquiries, which he should at first have checked: but as he had forsaken God, so God had now forsaken him, otherwise the frequent repetition and vehement urging of this question might easily have raised suspicion in him. With seven green withs — Probably osiers. The lords of the Philistines brought — Or rather sent; for it is not to be supposed they came themselves with these things.

6. Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth — We shall better understand both the words and conduct of Delilah and Samson if we regard her questions and persuasion touching the secret of his strength as the price she laid on Samson for the privilege of intercourse with her. Instructed by the Philistine lords, she demands of Samson that he shall, before he gratifies his love with her, tell her this great secret of his life.

V. 7. Samson said-Samson is guilty both of the sin of lying, and of great folly in encouraging her enquiries, which he should at first have checked: but as he had forsaken God, so God had now forsaken him, otherwise the frequent repetition and vehement urging of this question might easily have raised suspicion in him.

Verse 7. Seven green withs] That is, any kind of pliant, tough wood, twisted in the form of a cord or rope. Such are used in many countries formed out of osiers, hazel, &c. And in Ireland, very long and strong ropes are made of the fibres of bog-wood, or the larger roots of the fir, which is often dug up in the bogs or mosses of that country. But the Septuagint, by translating the Hebrew לחים יתרים yetharim lachim by neuraiv ugraiv, and the Vulgate by nerviceis funibus, understand these bonds to be cords made of the nerves of cattle, or perhaps rather out of raw hides, these also making an exceedingly strong cord. In some countries they take the skin of the horse, cut it lengthwise from the hide into thongs about two inches broad, and after having laid them in salt for some time, take them out for use. This practice is frequent in the country parts of Ireland; and both customs, the wooden cord, and that made of the raw or green hide, are among the most ancient perhaps in the world. Among the Irish peasantry this latter species of cord is called the tug and is chiefly used for agricultural purposes, particularly for drawing the plough and the harrow, instead of the iron chains used in other countries.

Verses 6-8. Wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee — This seems rather to express the sum of what Delilah aimed at than her very words. For it is scarcely credible that she put this question so openly to Samson, which would have discovered that she had some design against him. But, rather, she wormed it out of him by degrees, and in such an artful manner as gave him no cause of suspicion. Samson said, &c. — Samson was guilty both of the sin of lying, and of great folly, in encouraging her inquiries, which he should at first have checked: but as he had forsaken God, so God had now forsaken him, otherwise the frequent repetition and vehement urging of this question might easily have raised suspicion in him. With seven green withs — Probably osiers. The lords of the Philistines brought — Or rather sent; for it is not to be supposed they came themselves with these things.

7. Seven green withs — Or, seven moist cords. The rendering withs comes from Josephus’s statement that these cords were twisted of a vine, and the well-known fact that strings were often made of tough and pliant wood twisted in the form of a rope. Samson was too shrewd not to see Delilah’s possible designs, and he thrice deceived her. The question of his veracity and morality need not be entertained, for if he was not too good to go in unto a harlot, he was not too good to practice deception on his wily mistress.

Verses 6-8. Wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee — This seems rather to express the sum of what Delilah aimed at than her very words. For it is scarcely credible that she put this question so openly to Samson, which would have discovered that she had some design against him. But, rather, she wormed it out of him by degrees, and in such an artful manner as gave him no cause of suspicion. Samson said, &c. — Samson was guilty both of the sin of lying, and of great folly, in encouraging her inquiries, which he should at first have checked: but as he had forsaken God, so God had now forsaken him, otherwise the frequent repetition and vehement urging of this question might easily have raised suspicion in him. With seven green withs — Probably osiers. The lords of the Philistines brought — Or rather sent; for it is not to be supposed they came themselves with these things.

SAMSON AND DELILAH, 4-20.

4. Loved a woman… Delilah — She was, doubtless, a Philistine woman, and it comports well with Samson’s history that among the daughters of that people he found his earliest and his latest love. The name Delilah — languishing, or enfeebling — suggests, says Cassel, how “sensuality sings and lulls the manly strength of the hero to sleep.” The valley of Sorek — Sorek means a vine or vine plantation, and probably took its name from the extensive cultivation of the grape. No trace of any town of this name has been found; but just south of Zorah runs the Wady-es-Surar, a wide and fertile valley, which, at least, bears some resemblance to the name, and is admirably adapted to the cultivation of the vine.

V. 9. With her-That is, in a secret chamber within her call. Nor is it strange that they did not fall upon him in his sleep, because they expected an opportunity for doing their work more certainly, and with less danger.

Verse 9. Men lying in wait] They probably did not appear, as Samson immediately broke his bonds when this bad woman said, The Philistines be upon thee.

Verse 9. There were men abiding with her in the chamber — In some closet, probably, or adjoining room; for it cannot be well imagined, that they could be in the very same chamber without being discovered by Samson. It appears the Philistines were rather desirous of taking him alive than killing him. Probably they thought to employ him in some laborious works for the public, wherein his great strength might be of use to them, if they could but take him alive. Otherwise the liers in wait might have taken the opportunity of killing him while he was asleep, if their orders had not been to take him alive.

9. Men lying in wait — Hebrew, the lier in wait. She had a spy lying in ambush in an adjoining apartment, ready to take care of the fettered giant when it became evident that he was helpless. It is not likely that she went so far as to betray her real purposes by having this spy rush out upon Samson when she uttered her alarm cry. The Philistines be upon thee, Samson — This she uttered to awake him in fright, and see what he would do.

10. Told me lies — This charge would have little effect coming on one from the lips of a harlot. My moral character, Samson might have said, will compare well with yours.

Verse 11. If they bind me fast with new ropes] Samson wishes to keep up the opinion which the Philistines held; viz., that his mighty strength was the effect of some charm; and therefore he says, Seven green withs which had not been dried; new ropes that were never occupied; weave the seven locks of my hair with the web, &c.; the green withs, the new ropes, and the number seven, are such matters as would naturally be expected in a charm or spell.

11. New ropes that were never occupied — Never used for any other purpose; ropes of the very firmest description.

SAMSON AND DELILAH, 4-20.

4. Loved a woman… Delilah — She was, doubtless, a Philistine woman, and it comports well with Samson’s history that among the daughters of that people he found his earliest and his latest love. The name Delilah — languishing, or enfeebling — suggests, says Cassel, how “sensuality sings and lulls the manly strength of the hero to sleep.” The valley of Sorek — Sorek means a vine or vine plantation, and probably took its name from the extensive cultivation of the grape. No trace of any town of this name has been found; but just south of Zorah runs the Wady-es-Surar, a wide and fertile valley, which, at least, bears some resemblance to the name, and is admirably adapted to the cultivation of the vine.

V. 13. Web-Or, thread which is woven about a weaver’s loom: or, with a weaver’s beam. If my hair, which is all divided into seven locks, be fastened about a weaver’s beam; or interwoven with weaver’s threads: then I shall be weak as another man.

Verse 13. The seven locks of my head] Probably Samson had his long hair plaited into seven divisions, and as his vow of a Nazarite obliged him to wear his hair, so, seven being a number of perfection among the Hebrews, his hair being divided into seven locks might more particularly point out the perfection designed by his Nazarite state. Every person must see that this verse ends abruptly, and does not contain a full sense. Houbigant has particularly noticed this, and corrected the text from the Septuagint, the reading of which I shall here subjoin: Ean ufanhv tav epta seirav thv kefalhv mon aun tw diasmati, kai egkroushv tw passalw eiv ton toicon, kai esomai wv eiv twn anqrwpwn asqenhv, Kai egeneto en tw koimasqai auton, kai elabe Dalida tav epta seirav thv kefalhv autou, kai ufanen en tw diasmati, kai ephxe tw passalw eiv ton toicon; “If thou shalt weave the seven locks of my head with the web, and shalt fasten them with the pin in the wall, I shall become weak like other men: And so it was that, when he slept, Dalida took the seven locks of his head, and wove them with the web, and fastened it with the pin to the wall and said unto him,” &c. All the words printed here in italic, are wanting in the present Hebrew copies; but are preserved in the Septuagint, and are most obviously necessary to complete the sense; else Delilah appears to do something that she is not ordered to do, and to omit what she was commanded.

Verse 13. If thou weavest the seven locks of my head — If my hair, which is all divided into seven locks, be fastened about a weaver’s beam, or interwoven with weavers’ threads, then I shall be weak as another man. It is probable there was some loom or instrument of weaving in the room where Samson now was, which put him upon saying this to Delilah, to get rid of her importunity.

Ver. 13, 14. If thou weavest the seven locks of my head with the web. The Vulgate here supplies a defect which seems to be in the Hebrew. It adds, And wrappest them round upon a pin, and drivest the pin on which they are wrapped into the earth [or floor] I shall be weak. It is difficult to say whether there was a loom in the room or not.—From this history, the fable of Nisus is thought to have been derived. He was king of the Megarians; and being allied with the Athenians, was besieged by Minos king of Crete, their enemy. But the efforts of the invader had proved abortive, had not Sylla, daughter of Nisus, fallen in love with Minos; and to accomplish her wishes, she betrayed her father and her country by cutting off from his head a purple or golden lock, on which the happiness of his kingdom depended. Ovid, lib. 8.

13. The seven locks — He probably wore his long Nazarite hair in seven braids or flowing tresses. If thou weavest… with the web — The meaning is, that she should weave his seven braids of hair fast into the warp of the cloth which was upon her loom. “This time,” says Kitto, “he approached dangerously near his great secret. His infatuation was like that of the moth, approaching gradually nearer and nearer to the flame which destroys it at last. This device was suggested by the presence of the small loom in which the women of these days wove their household stuffs — a kind of industry from which it would seem that females even of Delilah’s stamp did not hold themselves exempt. These looms, as shown in Egyptian sculptures, and as still subsisting in the East, are very simple and comparatively light, and must by no means be confounded with the ponderous apparatus of our own hand-loom weavers.”

Verse 14. She fastened it with a pin — She took the first opportunity when he was asleep of trying the experiment, and the weaving instrument being near the head of the bed where he lay, she interwove the locks of his hair with the web or woof, and fastened it with some pin or peg that belonged to the loom. She then alarmed him with the cry of the Philistines being upon him, when Samson, awaking and raising up his head, plucked out the pin that his hair was fastened with, and tore out, together with it, the web from the loom.

Ver. 13, 14. If thou weavest the seven locks of my head with the web. The Vulgate here supplies a defect which seems to be in the Hebrew. It adds, And wrappest them round upon a pin, and drivest the pin on which they are wrapped into the earth [or floor] I shall be weak. It is difficult to say whether there was a loom in the room or not.—From this history, the fable of Nisus is thought to have been derived. He was king of the Megarians; and being allied with the Athenians, was besieged by Minos king of Crete, their enemy. But the efforts of the invader had proved abortive, had not Sylla, daughter of Nisus, fallen in love with Minos; and to accomplish her wishes, she betrayed her father and her country by cutting off from his head a purple or golden lock, on which the happiness of his kingdom depended. Ovid, lib. 8.

14. She fastened it with the pin — This was an effort to make him still more secure. Not only did she weave his hair fast in her woof and warp, but made it faster still in some way by the pin of the beam. The meaning of this latter expression is doubtful. Some think that this pin was a large nail by which she fastened the web to the wall or floor; others, that it was the roller or beam to which the threads of the warp were fastened, and round which the cloth was rolled when woven. Keil thinks it was “the comb or press itself, which was fastened to the loom, so that it could only be torn out by force.” Whatever it was, when he was again suddenly aroused by the startling cry, The Philistines be upon thee! he tore out with his hair both the web and the pin, and went off with them. Perhaps, as Bush suggests, “he took away the whole apparatus together.”

V. 15. Not with me-Not open to me.

Verses 15, 16. Thy heart is not with me — Not open to me. His soul was vexed unto death — Being tormented by two contrary passions, desire to gratify her, and fear of betraying himself. So that he had no pleasure of his life.

SAMSON AND DELILAH, 4-20.

4. Loved a woman… Delilah — She was, doubtless, a Philistine woman, and it comports well with Samson’s history that among the daughters of that people he found his earliest and his latest love. The name Delilah — languishing, or enfeebling — suggests, says Cassel, how “sensuality sings and lulls the manly strength of the hero to sleep.” The valley of Sorek — Sorek means a vine or vine plantation, and probably took its name from the extensive cultivation of the grape. No trace of any town of this name has been found; but just south of Zorah runs the Wady-es-Surar, a wide and fertile valley, which, at least, bears some resemblance to the name, and is admirably adapted to the cultivation of the vine.

V. 16. Vexed-Being tormented by two contrary passions, desire to gratify her, and fear of betraying himself. So that he had no pleasure of his life.

Verse 16. His soul was vexed unto death] What a consummate fool was this strong man! Might he not have seen, from what already took place, that Delilah intended his ruin? After trifling with her, and lying thrice, he at last commits to her his fatal secret, and thus becomes a traitor to himself and to his God. Well may we adopt the sensible observation of Calmet on this passage: La foiblesse du cæur de Samson, dans torte cette histoire, est encore plus etonnante que la force de son corps; “The weakness of Samson’s heart in the whole of this history, is yet more astonishing than the strength of his body.”

Verses 15, 16. Thy heart is not with me — Not open to me. His soul was vexed unto death — Being tormented by two contrary passions, desire to gratify her, and fear of betraying himself. So that he had no pleasure of his life.

16. She pressed him daily — We are not to suppose that her efforts to find out his secret and the three acts of binding him followed close upon one another on a single day. Weeks, perhaps, intervened between his visits to her, and now, after having been mocked three times, she will not admit him to her embrace unless he tells her all his heart. Daily he comes, and vainly says, I love thee. She refuses to receive him, and torments him by such words as are given in verse 15, yet still urging him to reveal his secret, and so, being long hindered from indulging his lustful love with her, his soul was vexed unto death. So fierce was the conflict between his passions and his better sense.

V. 17. If I be shaven-Not that his hair was in itself the cause of his strength, but because it was the chief condition of that covenant, whereby God was pleased to ingage himself to fit him for, and assist him in that great work to which he called him: but upon his violation of the condition, God justly withdraws his help. (EFN Isaiah 40:31 Psalm 29:11)

Verse 17. If I be shaven, then my strength will go from me] The miraculous strength of Samson must not be supposed to reside either in his hair or in his muscles, but in that relation in which he stood to God as a Nazarite, such a person being bound by a solemn vow to walk in a strict conformity to the laws of his Maker. It was a part of the Nazarite’s vow to permit no razor to pass on his head; and his long hair was the mark of his Nazirate, and of his vow to God. When Samson permitted his hair to be shorn off, he renounced and broke his Nazir vow; in consequence of which God abandoned him, and therefore we are told, in Judges 16:20, that the Lord was departed from him.

Verse 17. There hath not come a razor upon my head — Though we have no account of it before, yet it seems from this, that it had been revealed by God to Samson, either by a dream or in some other manner, that his supernatural strength should continue as long as he continued in a Nazarite state, and did not suffer a razor to come upon his head to take off his hair. If I be shaven — Not that his hair was in itself the cause of his strength, but because it was the chief condition of that covenant whereby God was pleased to engage to fit him for and assist him in that great work to which he had called him. But upon his violation of the condition, God justly withdraws his help.

17. Told her all his heart — Lust and love conquered at last. “Samson, when strong and brave,” says St. Ambrose, “strangled a lion, but could not strangle his own love. He burst the fetters of his foes, but not the cords of his own lust. He burned up the crops of others, and lost the fruit of his own virtue when burning with the flame enkindled by a single woman.”

V. 18. And brought money in their hand-See one of the bravest men then in the world bought and sold, as a sheep for the slaughter. How does this instance sully all the glory of man, and forbid the strong man ever to boast of his strength!

Verse 18. When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart — From the seriousness and solemnity with which he spoke, she concluded that she was at length mistress of the important secret. The lords of the Philistines brought money in their hands — See one of the bravest men then in the world bought and sold as a sheep for the slaughter! How does this instance sully all the glory of man, and forbid the strong man ever to boast of his strength!

18. Delilah saw — She perceived from the character of what he said, and his solemn behaviour, and perhaps agitation, that now he had told her the fatal secret.

V. 19. Sleep-By some sleepy potion. Knees-Resting his head upon her knees. To weaken or hurt, tho’ he felt it not.

Verse 19. She began to affect him] She had probably tied his hands slyly, while he was asleep, and after having cut off his hair, she began to insult him before she called the Philistines, to try whether he were really reduced to a state of weakness. Finding he could not disengage himself, she called the Philistines, and he, being alarmed, rose up, thinking he could exert himself as before, and shake himself, i.e., disengage himself from his bonds and his enemies: but he wist not that the Lord was departed from him; for as Delilah had cut off his locks while he was asleep, he had not yet perceived that they were gone.

Verses 19, 20. She made him sleep — By some sleepy potion; upon her knees — Resting his head upon her knees. She began to afflict him — To humble and bring him low, in which sense the original word is often used. For, it seems, as soon as the razor touched his head, his strength began to be diminished, which she perceived by some means or other. He awoke and said, within himself, I will go out as at other times — Samson probably did not find, immediately after he was awake, that his hair was shaven, which made him speak in this manner. He wist not that the Lord was departed — That he was not present with him as he had formerly been; that he no longer supplied him with that extraordinary and supernatural strength with which he had before endowed him. And justly, indeed, did God depart and withdraw his presents and gifts from a man who put it into the power of a harlot to rob him of that which he knew had been appointed the tenure whereby he was to hold them. For he hereby plainly showed that he regarded the caresses of a harlot more than the divine favour, and the preservation of such extraordinary endowments. Alas! how many have lost the favourable presence of God, and are not aware of it! They have provoked him to withdraw from them, but are not sensible of their loss!

19. She called for a man — “Probably a barber. The business of eastern barbers lies in shaving the head rather than the beard, and they do it so skilfully and gently that, so far from a sleeping man being awaked, a waking man is lulled to sleep under the operation. Considering the great mass of hair of which Samson had to be deprived, he would probably have been roused by inexperienced hands, which may be the reason why Delilah herself did not operate upon the recumbent Nazarite, as painters falsely represent that she did.” — Kitto. She began to afflict him — In what particular way is told in the next verse.

V. 20. Said-Within himself. Shake myself-That is, put forth my strength. Knew not-Not distinctly feeling the loss of his hair, or not considering what would follow. Many have lost the favourable presence of God, and are not aware of it. They have provoked God to withdraw from them; but are not sensible of their loss.

Verses 19, 20. She made him sleep — By some sleepy potion; upon her knees — Resting his head upon her knees. She began to afflict him — To humble and bring him low, in which sense the original word is often used. For, it seems, as soon as the razor touched his head, his strength began to be diminished, which she perceived by some means or other. He awoke and said, within himself, I will go out as at other times — Samson probably did not find, immediately after he was awake, that his hair was shaven, which made him speak in this manner. He wist not that the Lord was departed — That he was not present with him as he had formerly been; that he no longer supplied him with that extraordinary and supernatural strength with which he had before endowed him. And justly, indeed, did God depart and withdraw his presents and gifts from a man who put it into the power of a harlot to rob him of that which he knew had been appointed the tenure whereby he was to hold them. For he hereby plainly showed that he regarded the caresses of a harlot more than the divine favour, and the preservation of such extraordinary endowments. Alas! how many have lost the favourable presence of God, and are not aware of it! They have provoked him to withdraw from them, but are not sensible of their loss!

20. Shake myself — Alluding to his former shaking himself loose from fetters. She perhaps bound him in some way to ascertain if his strength had left him, and, not readily breaking himself loose, he proposes not to embarrass himself with apparently vain efforts in her presence, but to go out and do it. In the confusion and drowsiness of the time he was not conscious of the awful fact that the Lord was departed from him, and before he fully realized it he was a hopeless captive.

V. 21. His eyes-Which was done both out of revenge and policy, to disable him from doing them harm, in case he should recover his strength; but not without God’s providence, punishing him in that part which had been instrumental to his sinful lusts. Gaza-Because this was a great and strong city, where he would be kept safely; and upon the sea-coast, at sufficient distance from Samson’s people; and to repair the honour of that place, upon which he had fastened so great a scorn. God also ordering things thus, that where he first sinned, Judges 16:1, there he should receive his punishment. Grind-As slaves use to do. He made himself a slave to harlots, and now God suffers men to use him like a slave. Poor Samson, how art thou fallen! How is thine honour laid in the dust! Wo unto him, for he hath sinned! Let all take warning by him, carefully to preserve their purity. For all our glory is gone, when the covenant of our separation to God, as spiritual Nazarites, is profaned.

Verse 21. Put out his eyes] Thus was the lust of the eye, in looking after and gazing on strange women, punished. As the Philistines did not know that his strength might not return, they put out his eyes, that he might never be able to plan any enterprise against them.

He did grind in the prison-house.] Before the invention of wind and water-mills, the grain was at first bruised between two stones, afterwards ground in hand-mills. This is practiced in China and in different parts of the East still; and women and slaves are the persons who are obliged to turn these mills.

Such instruments were anciently used in this country, and called querns, from the Anglo-Saxon [A.S.] and [A.S.] cweorn and cwyrn, which has the signification of a mill; hence [A.S.] cweorn stan, a millstone: and as quern conveys the notion of grinding, hence [A.S.], cweornteth, the dentes molares or grinders in the jaws of animals. This clause of the verse is thus translated in the Saxon Octateuch: [—Anglo-Saxon—] “And the Philistines laid their fangs, (seized) him soon, and led him away to their burgh, (city,) and shut him up in prison, and made him grind at their hand-querne.” So late as half a century ago I have seen these querns or hand-mills in these kingdoms.

Verse 21. The Philistines put out his eyes — Which was done both out of revenge and policy, to disable him from doing them harm, in case he should recover his strength; but not without God’s providence, punishing him in that part which had been instrumental to his sinful lusts. Brought him to Gaza — Because this was a great and strong city, where he could be kept safely; and upon the sea coast, at a sufficient distance from Samson’s people, and to repair the honour of that place, upon which he had fastened so great a scorn. God also ordered things thus, that where he first sinned, (Judges 16:1,) there he should receive his punishment. Grind — As slaves used to do. He made himself a slave to harlots, and now God suffers men to use him like a slave. Poor Samson, how art thou fallen! How is thine honour laid in the dust! Wo unto him, for he hath sinned! Let all take warning by him, carefully to preserve their purity. For all our glory is gone when the covenant of our separation to God, as spiritual Nazarites, is profaned.

Ver. 21. Put out his eyes. His passions having done this first to his mind, God permitted it to fall on his body.

SAMSON’S IMPRISONMENT AND DEATH, 21-31.

21. The Philistines took him — He probably was seized at once, and did not succeed in getting out of Delilah’s chamber free. Put out his eyes — The Hebrew verb means to bore, and indicates that they thrust his eyes out by very violent means. This they did as soon as they had secured him, and thus rendered his case apparently helpless and hopeless. Brought him down to Gaza — Because it was the chief city of the nation, and far removed from the vicinity of Israelites who might seek to rescue him, and there was their great State prison. How changed from that Samson who so recently departed in scoffing triumph from that city with its gates upon his shoulder! Then he left at midnight, when the eyes of the men of Gaza were closed in slumber; now he is brought back with a deeper than midnight darkness on his eyes, while is broad daylight they laugh at his calamities. Bound him with fetters of brass — Literally, for the word is dual, with double brass, so called, perhaps, because both of his hands or feet were fettered. Fetters for both hands and feet are represented on the Assyrian monuments. He did grind — Literally, he became a grinder. He was reduced to the basely low condition of a public slave, the most miserable of all the grades of slavery. Some may wonder that the Philistines did not at once kill their great enemy, and thus put him thoroughly out of the way; but to keep him alive in such a slavery, and with his eyes put out, was worse to him than death, and a magnifying of their triumph. “In itself grinding was very suitable for prison labour, being performed by hand-mills, the uppermost of which, called the rider by the Hebrews, was made to revolve upon the other by strength of hand. Being usually performed by females, the Philistines, studious of insult, regarded it as well suited to disgrace a man, and particularly such a man as Samson had been; while by providing stones of sufficient size and weight the work might be made laborious even for him.” — Kitto. See cut of mill and women grinding at Matthew 24:41.

V. 22. The hair-This circumstance, though in itself inconsiderable, is noted as a sign of the recovery of God’s favour, and his former strength, in some degree, upon his repentance, and renewing his vow with God, which was allowed for Nazarites to do.

Verse 22. The hair of his head began to grow again] And may we not suppose that, sensible of his sin and folly, he renewed his Nazir vow to the Lord, in consequence of which his supernatural strength was again restored?

Verse 22. The hair of his head began to grow — This circumstance, though in itself inconsiderable, is noted as a sign of the recovery of God’s favour, and his former strength, in some degree, upon his repentance, and renewing his vow with God, which was allowed for Nazarites to do.

22. Hair… began to grow again — We must not suppose that Samson’s great strength lay in his hair, and yet beneath that hair was the secret of his power. Not the hair, but the Nazarite consecration which it represented, was his glory before God; and when his locks were shaven Jehovah was basely dishonoured, and at once departed from him. Verse 20. Nor would he return to bless the dishonoured Nazarite until the symbol of his Nazarite vow appeared again.

V. 23. Dagon-An idol, whose upper part was like a man, and whose lower part was like a fish: probably one of the sea-gods of the Heathens.

Verse 23. Unto Dagon their god] Diodorus Siculus describes their god thus: To men proswpon ecei gunaikov, to dJ allo swma pan icqouv; “It had the head of a woman, but all the rest of the body resembled a fish.” Dagon was called Dorceto among the heathens. Horace, in the following lines, especially in the third and fourth, seems to have in view the image of Dagon:—

Humano capiti cervicem pictor equinam Pingere si velit; et varias inducere plumas, Undique collatis Inembris; ut turpiter atrum Desinat in piscem mulier formosa superne; Spectatum admissi risum teneatis amici? DE ART. POET., V. 1.

“Suppose a painter to a human head

Should join a horse’s neck; and wildly spread The various plumage of the feather’d kind O’er limbs of different beasts, absurdly join’d; Or if he gave to view a beauteous maid, Above the waist with every charm array’d, Should a foul fish her lower parts infold, Would you not smile such pictures to behold?” FRANCIS.

Verse 23. To offer a great sacrifice — They assembled to render honour to their idol, for their triumph over a man who as much detested their idolatry as he did their barbarous oppression of his countrymen. Unto Dagon their god — Whose image is supposed to have been, in the upper part, of the human form, and in the lower part like a fish; probably one of the sea-gods of the heathen. The Philistines foolishly attributed to this idol what had come to pass by the will of the God of Israel, to punish Samson for his sins.

Ver. 23. Dagon. Eusebius, Præp. lib. 1., refers this to Zeus or Jove. Others describe the figure as a demi-woman, with the posterior of a fish; for gd dag signifies a fish. So Horace.

Desinit in piscem mulier formoso supernè.

23. Dagon their god — The name is derived from the Hebrew gd, dag, a fish, and the diminutive ending on with the sense of endearment — “dear little fish,” (Gesenius.) According to Kimchi and most scholars this idol had a human head and arms and the body of a fish. He was the great national deity of the Philistines, but was worshipped under modified forms and names by other nations. He was the representative or symbol of all those life-giving forces of nature which produce their effects through the medium of water. Kindred to Dagon were the Atargatis of the Syrians and the Babylonian Oannes or Odakon, who, according to Berosus, had the body of a fish, but the head, hands, feet and voice of a man, (see cut and note on 1 Samuel 5:4,) and from the very beginnings of their history had taught the people arts, religion, law, and agriculture. Among the Assyrian ruins have been found several representations of this fish-god.

24. When the people saw him — In all his apparent misery and helplessness. Praised their god — They ascribed to Dagon the glory of making this great national enemy a blind and helpless captive. They gazed and wondered at the spectacle of one who had been so great a terror to all Philistia brought to the low condition of a blind and insulted prison slave. None but a god could, in their view, have wrought a victory like this, and they very naturally recognised, with festal rejoicings, the superiority of their national marine god over Jehovah, the national god of the Hebrews.

V. 25. Made sport-Either being made by them the matter of their sport and derision, of bitter scoffs, and other indignities: or, by some proofs of more than ordinary strength yet remaining in him, like the ruins of a great and goodly building: whereby he lulled them asleep, until by this complaisance he prepared the way for that which he designed.

Verse 25. Call for Samson, that he may make us sport] What the sport was we cannot tell; probably it was an exhibition of his prodigious strength. This seems to be intimated by what is said, Judges 16:22, of the restoration of his hair; and the exertions he was obliged to make will account for the weariness which gave him the pretence to ask for leave to lean against the pillars. Some think he was brought out to be a laughing-stock, and that he was variously insulted by the Philistines; hence the version of the Septuagint: kai errapizon auton, and they buffeted him. Josephus, Antiq. Jud. lib. v., cap. 8, s. 12, says: He was brought out, opwv enubriswsin auton para ton poton, that they might insult him in their cups.

Verse 25. Call for Samson, that he may make us sport — May be the subject of our mirth and derision. Thus Christ was made the subject of the sport and derision of the chief priests and elders, Matthew 26:67, 68, and of the Roman soldiers, 27:29. No doubt they loaded him with bitter scoffs and indignities, and perhaps required of him some proofs of the more than ordinary strength yet remaining in him, like the ruins of a great and goodly building. By this, it seems, he lulled them asleep, until, through this complaisance, he prepared the way for that which he designed.

25. When their hearts were merry — By songs and dances, eating and drinking. “They were in high spirits over a victory for which they had not fought.” — Cassel. Made them sport — Probably by exhibitions of strength, but especially by the awkward movements caused by his blindness, and exhibitions of his natural wit and buffoonery. “The closing scenes of his life,” observes Stanley, who gives special prominence to this characteristic of Samson, “breathe throughout the same terrible yet grotesque irony. When the captive warrior is called forth, in the merriment of his persecutors, to exercise for the last time the well known raillery of his character, he appears as the great jester or buffoon of the nation; the word employed expresses alike the roars of laughter and the wild gambols with which he made them sport; and as he puts forth the last energy of his vengeance, the final effort of his expiring strength, it is in a stroke of broad and savage humour that his indignant spirit passes away. ‘Strengthen me now, only this once, O God, that I may be avenged of the Philistines (not for both of my lost eyes — but) for one of my two eyes.’ That grim playfulness, strong in death, lends its paradox even to the act of destruction itself, and overflows into the touch of triumphant satire with which the pleased historian closes the story: ‘The dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life.’” Set him between the pillars — To rest awhile from the fatigue of his exertions.

V. 26. Whereon the house standeth-Whether it were a temple, or theatre, or some slight building run up for the purpose.

Verse 26. The pillars whereon the house standeth — It is probable that this house, whether it were a temple or theatre, was no more than a wooden building, raised for the present occasion, much in the form of an amphitheatre, in the midst of which were two large wooden pillars, on which the main beams of the roof rested, so that if these should be pulled away, the building must necessarily fall. Pliny, in the fifteenth chapter of the thirty-sixth book of his Natural History, speaks of two theatres, built by C. Curio, in Julius Cesar’s time, each of which was supported only by one pillar, though many thousands of people sat together in it; and mentions the fall of an amphitheatre, by which fifty thousand people were killed or wounded.

26. The lad that held him — The blind man needs a lad to show him the way, and how humiliating this alone, leaving out other considerations, that the once mighty Samson is now led about by a lad! The pillars whereupon the house standeth — This passage shows the existence in that early time of pillars or columns in Philistine architecture. In Egypt, Syria, and the farther East, they were doubtless common long before this, and not a few of the broken columns still found in the ruined cities of Palestine probably belong to the same period. It has been a question how such a large building could have been torn down by merely pulling out two pillars. But the possibility of such a thing is hardly to be questioned. The plan of the building and the style of its architecture are now unknown, but from the known plans of many partially ruined temples and palaces of the East we may at least infer that, whatever else it comprised, this house at Gaza had a spacious court or hall, on which rested several rows of columns, supporting an equally spacious roof above. The roof was covered and the great hall filled with men and women, and under such a pressure it is in the highest degree probable that the sudden removal of two central pillars would precipitate the whole house into a heap of ruins. Dr. Thomson, who made observations on the spot, finds a further explanation in the peculiar topography of Gaza. “Most of it,” he writes, “is built on hills, which, though comparatively low, have declivities exceedingly steep. The temple was erected over one of these beyond a doubt, for such was and is the custom in the East. There is such a steep declivity on the northeast corner of the present city, near the old dilapidated castle and palace, and the houses in that vicinity have fragments of columns wrought into the walls, and laid down as sills for their gates. I am inclined to believe,” he adds, “that the immense roof which rested upon these columns was sustained by arches. If this were so, and the centre columns stood on the brow of the declivity, near the old castle, the whole edifice would be precipitated down the hill merely by tearing away those centre supports.”

V. 27. The roof-Which was flat, and had window’s through which they might see what was done in the lower parts of the house.

Verse 27. Now the house was full of men] It was either the prison-house, house of assembly, or a temple of Dagon, raised on pillars, open on all sides, and flat-roofed, so that it could accommodate a multitude of people on the top.

Verse 27. There were upon the roof, &c. — The roof was flat, and had windows, through which they might see what was done in the lower parts of the house.

Ver. 27. The house. The temple was full of men and women, besides three thousand on the roof, so that five thousand at least must have perished, while mocking a fallen prince. They did not know that his hair had grown in prison. It is dangerous to mock a fallen professor, while suffering the visitation of God for his sins. Samson died by divine permission, about the age of forty years: his sun went down at noon.

27. Upon the roof about three thousand — A roof one hundred and fifty feet square would afford a space of nearly a square yard for each one of these, and probably the roof of this building was still larger than this.

V. 28. Samson called-This prayer was not an act of malice and revenge, but of faith and zeal for God, who was there publickly dishonoured; and justice, in vindicating the whole common-wealth of Israel, which was his duty, as he was judge. And God, who heareth not sinners, and would never use his omnipotence to gratify any man’s malice, did manifest by the effect, that he accepted and owned his prayer as the dictate of his own Spirit. And that in this prayer he mentions only his personal injury, and not their indignities to God and his people, must be ascribed to that prudent care which he had, upon former occasions, of deriving the rage of the Philistines upon himself alone, and diverting it from the people. For which end I conceive this prayer was made with an audible voice, though he knew they would entertain it only with scorn and laughter.

Verse 28. Samson called unto the Lord] It was in consequence of his faith in God that he should be strengthened to overthrow his enemies and the enemies of his country, that he is mentioned, Hebrews 11:32, among those who were remarkable for their faith.

Verse 28. Samson called unto the Lord — This prayer proceeded not from malice and revenge, but from faith in, and zeal for, God, who was there publicly dishonoured, and from a concern to vindicate the whole commonwealth of Israel, which it was his duty to do to the uttermost of his power, as he was judge. And God, who heareth not sinners, and would never exert his omnipotence to gratify any man’s malice, manifested by the effect that he accepted and owned Samson’s prayer as the dictate of his own Spirit. And although, in this prayer, he mentions only the personal injuries done by the Philistines to himself, and not the indignities which they had offered to God and his people, yet that may be ascribed to the prudent care which he had manifested upon former occasions, to draw the rage of the Philistines upon himself alone, and divert it from the people. For which end, it is supposed that this prayer was made by him with an audible voice, though he knew the Philistines would entertain it only with scorn and laughter. “We must always consider Samson,” says Dr. Dodd, “in the light of an extraordinary person, immediately raised up by God for the chastisement of the Philistines. In this view, his death was heroic, as he voluntarily sacrificed himself, by the only means in his power, to the service of his country, in the destruction of those who had, in a base manner, insulted him and his God, and who, holding Israel in bondage, vainly imagined their Dagon superior to the eternal Jehovah.” Indeed, as the same author observes further, “Samson was unquestionably a very singular type of the Messiah; called and sanctified in and from the womb; set apart to deliver his people out of the hands of all their enemies; performing all by his own personal strength alone, without assistant, and almost without weapons, (Isaiah 63:1, 3; Hosea 1:7,) and in his death evidently doing more than in his life, thereby destroying the power of the devil, and triumphing over all his enemies,” Hebrews 2:14.

28. Only this once — Samson does, upon attempting this last act of his life, what he is not said to have done before when he undertook his great feats of strength — invokes the help of Jehovah. The ancient expositors raise the question whether Samson, by his last act, committed suicide. This prayer and its context answer in the negative. Samson no more committed suicide than does a brave general when, with certain death before him, he rushes into the thickest battle, confident that his fall will save his country from a hated foe. For my two eyes — Hebrew: for one of my two eyes. See Stanley’s note above, on verse 25. But instead of viewing, as he does, this expression as an instance of grim humour in the very moment of death, we may see a deeper meaning. Samson may have felt that the utmost vengeance could not requite him for the loss of both his eyes, and, with profoundest earnestness and emotion, he prayed that the present destruction might be great enough to measurably answer for the loss of at least one of his eyes.

Verse 29. The two middle pillars upon which the house stood] Much learned labour has been lost on the attempt to prove that a building like this might stand on two pillars. But what need of this? There might have been as many pillars here as were in the temple of Diana at Ephesus, and yet the two centre pillars be the key of the building; these being once pulled down, the whole house would necessarily fall.

Ver. 29. The two middle pillars on which the house stood. Sir Christopher Wren, our great architect, thinks that this building was an oval amphitheatre. The scene in the middle was a vast roof of cedar beams, resting round upon the walls, centered all upon one short architrave that united the cedar pillars in the middle; one pillar would not be sufficient to unite at least one hundred beams which tended to the centre.—Now if Samson, by his miraculous strength pressing upon one of those pillars, moved it from its base, the whole roof must of necessity fall. Perentalia, p. 359.

SAMSON’S IMPRISONMENT AND DEATH, 21-31.

21. The Philistines took him — He probably was seized at once, and did not succeed in getting out of Delilah’s chamber free. Put out his eyes — The Hebrew verb means to bore, and indicates that they thrust his eyes out by very violent means. This they did as soon as they had secured him, and thus rendered his case apparently helpless and hopeless. Brought him down to Gaza — Because it was the chief city of the nation, and far removed from the vicinity of Israelites who might seek to rescue him, and there was their great State prison. How changed from that Samson who so recently departed in scoffing triumph from that city with its gates upon his shoulder! Then he left at midnight, when the eyes of the men of Gaza were closed in slumber; now he is brought back with a deeper than midnight darkness on his eyes, while is broad daylight they laugh at his calamities. Bound him with fetters of brass — Literally, for the word is dual, with double brass, so called, perhaps, because both of his hands or feet were fettered. Fetters for both hands and feet are represented on the Assyrian monuments. He did grind — Literally, he became a grinder. He was reduced to the basely low condition of a public slave, the most miserable of all the grades of slavery. Some may wonder that the Philistines did not at once kill their great enemy, and thus put him thoroughly out of the way; but to keep him alive in such a slavery, and with his eyes put out, was worse to him than death, and a magnifying of their triumph. “In itself grinding was very suitable for prison labour, being performed by hand-mills, the uppermost of which, called the rider by the Hebrews, was made to revolve upon the other by strength of hand. Being usually performed by females, the Philistines, studious of insult, regarded it as well suited to disgrace a man, and particularly such a man as Samson had been; while by providing stones of sufficient size and weight the work might be made laborious even for him.” — Kitto. See cut of mill and women grinding at Matthew 24:41.

V. 30. Two pillars-Instances are not wanting of more capacious buildings than this, that have been supported only by one pillar. Pliny in the 15th chapter of the 36th Book of his Natural History, mentions two theatres built by C. Curio, in Julius Caesar’s time; each of which was supported only by one pillar, tho’ many thousands of people sat in it together. Let me die-That is, I am content to die, so I can but contribute to the vindication of God’s glory, and the deliverance of God’s people. This is no encouragement to those who wickedly murder themselves: for Samson did not desire, or procure his own death voluntarily, but by mere necessity; he was by his office obliged to seek the destruction of these enemies and blasphemers of God, and oppressors of his people; which in these circumstances he could not effect without his own death. Moreover, Samson did this by Divine direction, as God’s answer to his prayer manifests, and that he might be a type of Christ, who by voluntarily undergoing death, destroyed the enemies of God, and of his people. They died, just when they were insulting over an Israelite, persecuting him whom God had smitten. Nothing fills up the measure of the iniquity of any person or people faster, than mocking or misusing the servants of God, yea, tho’ it is by their own folly, that they are brought low. Those know not what they do, nor whom they affront, that make sport with a good man.

Verse 30. So the dead which he slew] We are informed that the house was full of men and women, with about three thousand of both sexes on the top; now as the whole house was pulled down, consequently the principal part of all these were slain; and among them we find there were the lords of the Philistines. The death of these, with so many of the inferior chiefs of the people, was such a crush to the Philistine ascendancy, that they troubled Israel no more for several years, and did not even attempt to hinder Samson’s relatives from taking away and burying his dead body.

Verse 30. Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines — That is, I am content to die, so I can but contribute to the vindication of God’s glory, and the deliverance of God’s people. This is no encouragement to those who wickedly murder themselves: for Samson did not desire or procure his own death voluntarily, but by mere necessity; he was by his office obliged to seek the destruction of these enemies and blasphemers of God, and oppressors of his people; which in these circumstances he could not effect without his own death. Moreover, Samson did this by divine direction, as God’s answer to his prayer manifests, and that he might be a type of Christ, who, by voluntarily undergoing death, destroyed the enemies of God and of his people. They died just when they were insulting over an Israelite, persecuting him whom God had smitten. Nothing fills up the measure of the iniquity of any person or people faster than mocking or misusing the servants of God; yea, though it is by their own folly that they are brought low. Those know not what they do, nor whom they affront, that make sport with the Lord’s servants.

30. More than they which he slew in his life — All that he slew in his life, as far as we know, were the thirty men of Ashkelon, (Judges 14:19,) the thousand at Lehi, (Judges 15:15,) and the unnamed number of the great slaughter mentioned Judges 15:8. He probably slew more than these, but all together would not amount to five or six thousand — the number that perished by the fall of this temple. If three thousand were on the roof, there were doubtless as many more below.

V. 31. Buried-While the Philistines were under such grief, and consternation, that they had neither heart nor leisure to hinder them.

Verse 31. He judged Israel twenty years.] It is difficult to ascertain the time of Samson’s magistracy, and the extent of country over which he presided. His jurisdiction seems to have been very limited, and to have extended no farther than over those parts of the tribe of Dan contiguous to the land of the Philistines. This is what our margin intimates on Judges 15:20. Many suppose that he and Eli were contemporaries, Samson being rather an executor of the Divine justice upon the enemies of his people, than an administrator of the civil and religious laws of the Hebrews. Allowing Eli and Samson to have been contemporaries, this latter part might have been entirely committed to the care of Eli.

1. SAMSON does not appear to have left any posterity. His amours with the different women mentioned in the history were unproductive as to issue. Had he married according to the laws of his country, he would have been both a more useful and a more happy man, and not have come to a violent death.

2. We seldom find much mental energy dwelling in a body that in size and bulk greatly surpasses the ordinary pitch of man; and wherever there are great physical powers, we seldom find proportionate moral faculties. Samson was a man of a little mind, a slave to his passions, and the wretched dupe of his mistresses. He was not a great though he was a strong man; and even his muscular force would have been lost, or spent in beating the air, had he not been frequently under the impulse of the Divine Spirit. He often got himself into broils and difficulties from which nothing but supernatural interposition could have saved him. His attacks upon the Philistines were never well planned, as he does not appear to have asked counsel from God; indeed, he seems to have consulted nothing but his own passions, particularly those of inordinate love and revenge; and the last effort of his extraordinary strength was, not to avenge his people for the oppressions which they had suffered under the Philistinian yoke, nor to avenge the quarrel of God’s covenant against the enemies of his truth, but to be avenged of the Philistines for the loss of his two eyes.

3. Samson is a solemn proof how little corporeal prowess avails where judgment and prudence are wanting, and how dangerous all such gifts are in the hands of any man who has not his passions under proper discipline, and the fear of God continually before his eyes.

4. A parallel has been often drawn between Samson and our blessed Lord, of whom he has been supposed to be a most illustrious type. By a fruitful imagination, and the torture of words and facts, we may force resemblances everywhere; but that not one will naturally result from a cool comparison between Jesus Christ and Samson, is most demonstrable. A more exceptionable character is not to be found in the sacred oracles. It is no small dishonour to Christ to be thus compared. There is no resemblance in the qualities of Samson’s mind, there is none in his moral conduct, that can entitle him even to the most distant comparison with the chaste, holy, benevolent, and immaculate Jesus. That man dishonours the law of unchangeable righteousness, who endeavours to make Samson a type of any thing or person that can be called holy, just, and pure.

5. Those who compare him to Hercules have been more successful. Indeed, the heathen god of strength appears to have been borrowed from the Israelitish judge; but if we regard what is called the choice of Hercules, his preference of virtue to pleasure, we shall find that the heathen is, morally speaking, vastly superior to the Jew. M. Deuteronomy Lavaur, in his Conference de la Fable avec l’ Histoire Sainte, vol. ii., p. 1, has traced the parallel between Hercules and Samson in the following manner:— “Hercules was figured by the poets as supernatural both in his birth and actions, and was therefore received by the people as a god of the first order. They attributed to him the miracles wrought by several illustrious chiefs among the people of God, which they found described in the sacred oracles, more ancient than their most ancient accounts, or which they had learned by tradition, and their commerce with the Egyptians and Phœnicians, who were spread through various countries, but particularly in Greece. It is also to the time of these chiefs, and to the government of the Israelites by their judges, that the heroes and grand events of fable owe their origin; to which time, indeed, they are referred by the common consent of authors, sacred and profane.

“Every ancient nation, which had writers who left monuments of their country’s glory, had a Hercules of its own, forged on the same plan. Varro reckons more than forty, and Cicero reckons six. (Book iii. Deuteronomy Natura Deorum.)

“Herodotus, (book ii., entitled Euterpe,) only speaks of the Egyptian and Greek Hercules. Although a Greek himself, this father of history, as Cicero calls him, who lived the nearest of any of these writers to the period he describes, informs us that Greece had borrowed its Hercules from Egypt, and that Amphitryon his father, and Alcmena his mother, were both Egyptians; so that, notwithstanding the desire the Greeks had to make Hercules a native of their country, they could not conceal his origin, which was either Egyptian or Hebrew; for the Greeks and Phœnicians looked upon the Israelites, who were settled in Canaan or Phœnicia, as Egyptians, whose ancestors, after residing in Egypt some centuries, had certainly come from that country.

“M. Jaquelot, in his ‘Treatise on the Existence of God,’ believes that the Tyrian Hercules, who was the most ancient, was no other than Joshua. But St. Augustine (City of God, book xviii., chap. 19.) has made it appear that it was after Samson (because of his prodigious and incomparable strength) that they forged their Hercules; first in Egypt, afterwards in Phœnicia, and lastly in Greece, each of whose writers has united in him all the miraculous actions of the others. In fact, it appears that Samson, judge of the Israelites from about A.M. 2867 to 2887, celebrated in the book of Judges, and mentioned by Josephus in his history, is the original and essential Hercules of fable: and although the poets have united these several particulars, drawn from Moses and Joshua, and have added their own inventions; yet the most capital and considerable belong to Samson, and are distinguished by characteristics so peculiar to him, as to render him easily discerned throughout the whole.

“In Hebrew the name of Samson (ˆwcmc) signifies the sun, and in Syriac (servitium vel ministerium ejus) subjection to some one, servitude. Macrobius says that the name of Hercules signifies only the sun; for, he adds, in Greek Hercules means, it is glory of the air, or the light of the sun. The Greeks and Egyptians have exactly followed the Syriac signification by imposing on their Hercules, during the whole of his life, a subjection to Eurystheus in all his exploits, and who appointed him his famous enterprises. This necessity they attribute to fate and the law of his birth. Having spoken of his name, we will now examine the circumstances of his birth, as mentioned in the sacred writings, Judges, Judges 13:2-24, and in the History of the Jews, chap. x.

“Manoah, of the tribe of Dan, had married a woman who was barren, which led them to pray earnestly that the Lord would bless them with an offspring. One day, this woman being alone, an angel appeared to her, and told her he was sent by God to inform her she should have a son of the most extraordinary strength, who was to raise the glory of their nation, and to humble their enemies. Upon the arrival of her husband, she imparted to him the message and discourse of the angel. Some time after this heavenly messenger showed himself to them both as they were in the house together, and ascended up to heaven in their sight, after having confirmed the promises made before to the woman, who soon after became pregnant, and was in due time delivered of Samson.

“The singular birth of Hercules, in fable, is similar to the above account, with a trifling alteration taken from the ideas the poets entertained of their gods. Amphitryon, the most considerable person and the chief of the Thebans, had married Alcmena, whom he loved to distraction, but had not any children by her. Jupiter, desirous of making her the mother of Hercules, repaired to Alcmena one night, in the absence and under the figure of her husband. On Amphitryon’s return, his wife said she had seen him before, on such a night mentioning the visit she had received. Amphitryon, transported with jealousy, and enraged with his wife, whatever good opinion he might entertain of her virtue, would neither be appeased nor consoled till Jupiter appeared to vindicate her conduct; and, in order to convince Amphitryon of his being a god, visibly ascended up to heaven, after informing him that he alone had visited Alcmena, assuring him of her virtue, and promising him a son, who was to be distinguished for his strength; whose glory was to confer honour on his race and family; who was to humble their enemies; and who, finally, was to be immortal. “The Spirit of God, with which Samson was from the very first endowed, caused him, even in his youth, to effect prodigies of strength. He once met with a furious young lion which attacked him; Samson, then unarmed, immediately rent the lion in pieces, as if it had been a lamb; and, resolving to revenge himself upon the Philistines, who had grievously afflicted the children of Israel, he slew vast numbers of them at different times, weakened them excessively, and thus began to deliver Israel out of the hands of their enemies as the angel had predicted.

“Fable, likewise, causes Hercules to perform exploits requiring prodigious strength; but, as its exaggerations are beyond all bounds, it attributes to him, while still an infant, the strangling enormous serpents which fell upon him in his cradle, and the first and most illustrious exploit of his youth was the defeat of a terrible lion in the Nemæan forest, which he slew without the help of any weapon of defence: the skin of this lion he afterwards wore as a garment. He likewise formed and executed the design of delivering his country from the tyrannic oppression of the Myrmidons. We ought not to be surprised that fable, which disfigures so many events by transforming them to its fancy, has altered the other adventures of Samson; that it has added to them others of its own invention; that it attributes to him the actions of other chiefs and heroes, and ascribes some of the performances of Samson to other persons than Hercules; for this reason we find the account of the foxes Samson caught and tied by the tail preserved indeed, but transferred to another country.

“Fable then borrows in favour of our hero, Hercules, the miracle which God wrought for Joshua, when he assisted the Gibeonites against the five kings of the Amorites, when the Lord cast down great stones upon them from heaven, so that more of those who fled from the Israelites perished by the hail than did by the sword. In imitation of this miracle, fable says (Pliny, book iii., chap. iv.; Pomponius Mela, Deuteronomy Situ Orbis, book 2:, chap. v.) that when Hercules was engaged in a combat with the Ligurians, Jupiter assisted him by sending him a shower of stones. The quantity of stones which are still to be seen on the plains of Crau (called by the ancients Campi Lapidei) in Provence, has occasioned the poets to consider this place as the theatre of the above miracle.

“The jaw-bone of the ass, rendered so famous from Samson having slain one thousand Philistines with it, has been changed into the celebrated club of Hercules with which he defeated giants, and slew the many enemies that opposed him. The similarity of the Greek words korrh and korunh may have given rise to this alteration; corre signifying jaw, and coronæ, a mace or club. The change of one of these words for the other is not difficult, especially as it seemed more suitable to arm Hercules with a club than with the jaw-bone of an ass. But fable has, however, more clearly preserved the miracle of the spring of water that God produced in this bone, to preserve Samson from perishing with thirst, after the defeat of the Philistines; for it relates that when Hercules had slain the dragon that guarded the golden apples in the garden of the Hesperides, and he was in danger of perishing with thirst in the scorching deserts of Libya, the gods caused a fountain to issue from a rock he struck with his foot; Apol. book xxxvi. of Argonauts, ver. 1446.

“The extraordinary strength of Samson was accompanied with a constant and surprising weakness, viz., his love for women. These two characteristics compose his history, and are equally conspicuous throughout the whole of his life: the latter however predominated; and after having frequently exposed him to great danger, at length completed his ruin. Fable has not omitted this characteristic weakness in its Hercules; in him this passion was excited by every woman that presented herself to his view; it led him to the performance of many base actions, and, after precipitating him into several dangers, at length put an end to his miserable existence. Samson, who well knew that his strength depended upon the preservation of his hair, was so imprudent as to impart this secret to Delilah, his mistress. This woman, whose sole design in importuning him was to betray him, cut his hair off while asleep, and delivered him, thus deprived of all his strength, into the hands of the Philistines, who took from him both his liberty and eyesight, and treated him as the vilest and most wretched of slaves. Tradition, which spoils and disfigures the ancient histories and those of distant countries, has transferred this adventure to Nisus, king of Megara, and his daughter Scylla. Megara was also the name of one of Hercules’ wives the daughter of Creon, king of Thebes. The name of Scylla is taken from the crime and impiety of the daughter of Nisus, from the Greek verb sulaw, sulao, which signifies to rob or strip with impiety. The destiny or welfare of Nisus depended on the preservation of a lock of purple hair which grew on his head. Scylla, having conceived an affection for Minos, who was at that time besieging the capital of her father’s kingdom, betrayed her parent, cut off this lock of purple hair while he was asleep, and delivered him into the hands of his enemy. Nisus lost both his senses and his life, and according to fable, was changed into a bird.-Ovid, Met., book viii.

“But the most remarkable and striking event In the history of Samson, is that by which he lost his life. The Philistines, when offering solemn sacrifices to their god, by way of thanksgiving for his having delivered into their hands their formidable enemy, caused Samson to be brought out of prison, in order to make a laughing-stock of him. Samson, as though wishing to rest himself, requested his conductors to let him lean against the pillars which supported the temple, which was at that time filled with a great multitude of persons, among whom were many princes of the Philistines. Samson then, invoking the Lord, and exerting all his strength, which was returning with the growth of his hair, laid hold of the pillars with both his hands, and shook them so violently as to pull the building down upon the whole multitude therein assembled. By this fatal catastrophe Samson killed a greater number of Philistines than he had done during his life.

“Fable and tradition could not efface this event in the copy of Samson, which is Hercules. Herodotus relates it as a fabulous tradition, invented by the Greeks, and rejects it as having no foundation either in the history itself, or in the manners and customs of the Egyptians; among whom the Greeks say this event had happened. They relate (says this historian, book ii., entitled Euterpe, p. 47) that Hercules, having fallen into the hands of the Egyptians, was condemned to be sacrificed to Jupiter. He was adorned like a victim, and led with much pomp to the foot of the altar: after permitting himself to be conducted thus far, and stopping a moment to collect his strength, he fell upon and massacred all those who were assembled to be either actors in, or spectators of, this pompous sacrifice, to the number of many thousands.

“The conformity between these adventures of Samson and Hercules is self-evident, and proves beyond a doubt that the fable of the one was composed from the history of the other. The remark of Herodotus respecting the impossibility of this last adventure, according to the Greek tradition, and the folly of attributing it to the Egyptians, serves to confirm the truth of its having been borrowed, and of its being but a disfigured copy, whose original must be sought for elsewhere.

“In fact, it appears that Samson, judge of the Israelites, particularly mentioned in the book of Judges, and by Josephus, Ant. lib. v., c. 10, is the original and essential Hercules of fable; and although the poets have united some particulars drawn from Moses and Joshua, and have added their own inventions, yet the most capital and considerable belong to Samson, and are distinguished by characteristics so peculiar to him, as render him easily discernible throughout the whole.”

The above is the substance of what M. Deuteronomy Lavaur has written on the subject, and contains, as some think, a very clear case; and is an additional proof how much the heathens have been indebted to the Bible. JUDGES

Verse 31. His brethren, &c., came down, and took, and buried him — While the Philistines were so reduced by the great destruction he had wrought among them, and so oppressed with grief and consternation, that they had neither heart nor leisure to hinder them. Or, as some think, they were so terrified by this awful catastrophe as to be afraid of keeping even his dead body in their land, and therefore made no opposition to his friends taking it away for burial. We may observe upon the whole of Samson’s character, of what little value great bodily strength, and even great mental ability is, if not under the direction of a prudent and pious mind; and of how little avail it is to conquer our foreign enemies, if, in the mean time, we be slaves to our worst enemies, our own lusts and vices. Samson was, probably, intended by Providence for a much nobler character in life, and to have been a far greater blessing to his country. But his vicious inclinations being yielded to, instead of being resisted and mortified, grieved the Holy Spirit of God, and quenched his motions and influences, and brought the most shameful disgrace and heaviest calamities upon him. His being ranked, therefore, by the apostle to the Hebrews 9:23, among the faithful, must chiefly refer to those particular acts of faith in God whereby he attacked the Philistines with his own single arm against thousands, and not to the general tenor of his life; many parts of which, without doubt, were highly criminal and shameful.

31. His brethren — The Danites. House of his father — His immediate relatives. Took him — For the terrible calamity of the Philistines rendered them unable or indisposed to hinder the removal of Samson’s body. In the burying place of Manoah his father — There is nothing in all this narrative so full of pathos as this record of Samson’s burial. Amid those native hills, and near the spot where the Spirit first began to move him to his famous exploits, (Judges 13:25,) and by the side of that father who had watched with pride the growth and wondrous power of his son, but, probably, never lived to see his misery and shame — there they laid the great Danite hero in his dishonoured grave, and with mingled pride, reverence, and sorrow, remembered that he judged Israel twenty years. Some writers find in Samson a type of Christ; others, the original from whom all the Egyptian, Grecian, and other fabulous myths of Hercules have sprung.

The union of great physical and mental powers are not to be looked for in one and the same individual. In Samson we find great strength united with wit and humour. No evidence of great wisdom and strong mental powers appears, but abundance to show that he was the slave of amorous lusts. He was rough and savage towards his enemies, yet coolly shrewd about it all; never showing sudden outbursts of fiery passion, but perpetrating some of his fiercest cruelties as if with a smile on his face. In these respects he is the most singular and eccentric character of the Old Testament history. His prominence in the sacred history is to be explained, as in note on Judges 13:5, with special reference to his Nazariteship, and his divine commission as a deliverer of Israel. Stanley observes that the order of Nazarites was the nearest approach to a monastic institution that the Jewish Church affords us, and he calls attention to the fact “that the character of the Jewish chief who most nearly resembles the founder of a monastic order was the most frolicsome, irregular, uncultivated creature that the nation ever produced. Not only was celibacy no part of his Nazarite obligations, but not even ordinary purity of life. He was full of the spirits and the pranks, no less than of the strength, of a giant. But in all his wild wanderings and excesses amid the vineyards of Sorek and Timnath, he is never reported to have touched the juice of one of their abundant grapes.”

{It justifies the Divine administration in his case that his blended failure and success in fulfilling his mission corresponded with the blended traits of his character. For twenty years we may assume that his wildness grew grave, and he added to the character of a hero much of the just judge and wise ruler; but he scarce fulfilled the promise of the angel who announced his birth. An act of apostate debauchery, committed by this judge of Israel in the midst of his enemies, closed the honourable part of his career. Taken by his foes, no “Spirit of Jehovah” touched, as of old, the sinews of his strength, and he was abandoned to a just retribution. During those years that should have been laurelled with honours, he was left to grind out wisdom in his dark penitentiary. In his final hour his heart returned to Jehovah, and his prayer was heard. In the united facts of his death and his finishing his mission with the destruction of the foes of Jehovah, we find proofs of the honesty of the historian and the blended goodness and severity of God.}