Judges 16:28

_AND SAMSON CALLED UNTO THE LORD, AND SAID, O LORD GOD, REMEMBER ME, I PRAY THEE, AND STRENGTHEN ME, I PRAY THEE, ONLY THIS ONCE, O GOD, THAT I MAY BE AT ONCE AVENGED OF THE PHILISTINES FOR MY TWO EYES._ Samson called unto the Lord. His penitent and prayerful spirit seems clearly to indicate that this meditated act was not that of a vindictive suicide, and that he regarded himself as putting forth his strength in his capacity of a public magistrate. He must be considered, in fact, as dying for his country's cause; and his death was not designed or sought, except as it might be the inevitable consequence of his great effort. His prayer must have been a silent outcry, and from its being revealed to the historian, approved and accepted of God....

25-31 Nothing fills up the sins of any person or people faster than mocking and misusing the servants of God, even thought it is by their own folly that they are brought low. God put it into Samson's heart, as a public person, thus to avenge on them God's quarrel, Israel's, and his own. That strength which he had lost by sin, he recovers by prayer. That it was not from passion or personal revenge, but from holy zeal for the glory of God and Israel, appears from God's accepting and answering the prayer. The house was pulled down, not by the natural strength of Samson, but by the almighty power of God. In his case it was right he should avenge the cause of God and Israel. Nor is he to be accused of self-murder. He sought not his own death, but Israel's deliverance, and the destruction of their enemies. Thus Samson died in bonds, and among the Philistines, as an awful rebuke for his sins;...

Verse Judges 16:28. _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_....

AT ONCE AVENGED - “i. e. with one final revenge.” These words do not breathe the spirit of the Gospel, but they express a sentiment, natural to the age, knowledge, and character of Samson....

EXPOSITION JUDGES 16:23 GATHERED THEM, _i.e._ themselves. TO REJOICE. The Hebrew _is for a festivity_,_ _or _merry-making_,_ _or _feast. _There was to be a great feast upon the sacrifices offered to Dagon their God. DAGON (from dag, a fish in Hebrew), the national male god of the Philistines, as _Atergatis_, or _Derceto_,_ _was their goddess. Both the male and female divinities seem to have had the head and breast and hands human, and the rest of the body fish-shaped (see 1 Samuel 5:5). The fish was a natural emblem of fertility and productiveness, especially to a maritime people. The fish-shaped idol is found upon old Phoenician coins, and also on the monument

AND SAMSON CALLED UNTO THE LORD,.... In an ejaculatory manner, by mental prayer; though he might possibly express it aloud, without being heard and observed by the people, amidst their noise and mirth; and if it was heard, it might only furnish out more ridicule and contempt; and be it as it may, the prayer must have been preserved by the Lord himself, and given by inspiration to the writer of this book; since there were none that heard it that lived to relate it to others, no, not Samson himself: AND SAID, O LORD GOD, REMEMBER ME, I PRAY THEE; the office that I bear as judge of Israel, the reproaches cast upon me, and which fall upon thy people, cause, and interest; remember thy lovingkindness, formerly expressed to me, the gracious promises made unto me, and the help and assistance I have had from thee: AND STRENGTHEN ME, I PRAY THEE, ONLY THIS ONCE, O GOD; and it was a prayer of fai...

CHAPTER 16 DELILAH, AND SAMSON _ 1. In Gaza (Judges 16:1)_ 2. Delilah and her victory over him (Judges 16:4) 3. The captive of the Philistines (Judges 16:21) 4. The feast of Dagon and Samson's death (Judges 16:22) Down he goes again, and this time to Gaza, the Philistine stronghold. There he unites himself with a harlot. We are here reminded of the history of the Church. The harlot typifies that system which in Revelation is called by the same name, she who seduces to commit fornication, Babylon the great, Rome. Rome is the capital of Philistinism, ritualistic Christendom, as Gaza was the capital of the

THE DEATH OF SAMSON. Dagon, the god of the Philistines, had been worshipped in the Maritime Plain long before their coming. They adopted the god of the district, just as many Israelites learned to worship the Baals of Canaan. One of the Amarna letter-writers was called Dagon-takala. There is still a Beit Dajan near Joppa, and another near Nâ blû s. Judges 16:24. In the Heb. the words Our god. many of us form a rhymed five-line song, each short line ending in _ç nû._ Judges 16:25. The blind giant apparently made sport by harmless exhibitions of his strength. Judges 16:27. And all the lords. women is probably a later insertion to heighten the effect. Codex B of the LXX has 70 instead

LORD GOD. Adonai Jehovah. App-4....

_Samson and Delîlah: his ruin and famous end_ 4 _.the valley of Sorek_ Now Wâdi eṣ-Ṣarâr, a broad valley narrowing as it rises towards the Judaean highlands; the railway from Jaffa to Jerusalem ascends the lower part of it. _Soreḳ_denotes a choice kind of vine (Genesis 49:11; Isaiah 5:2; Jeremiah 2:21), which may have given its name to the valley. A ruined site near Ṣar-a (Judges 13:2 _n._) is still called Sûrîk....