Judges 16:30

_AND SAMSON TOOK HOLD OF THE TWO MIDDLE PILLARS UPON WHICH THE HOUSE STOOD, AND ON WHICH IT WAS BORNE UP, OF THE ONE WITH HIS RIGHT HAND, AND OF THE OTHER WITH HIS LEFT._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

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 16:30. _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....

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 SAID, LET ME DIE WITH THE PHILISTINES,.... He sought their death, and was content to lose his own life to be avenged on them; in neither of which did he act a criminal part as a judge of Israel; and from a public spirit he might desire the death of their enemies, and seek to effect it by all means possible; and was the more justifiable at this time, as they were not only insulting him, the representative of his nation, but were affronting the most high God with their idolatries, being now in the temple of their idol, and sacrificing to him. As for his own death, he did not simply desire that, only as he could not be avenged on his enemies without it, he was willing to submit to it; nor did he lay hands on himself, and cannot be charged with being guilty of suicide, and did no other than what a man of valour and public spirit will do; who for the good of his country will not on...

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

ME. my soul. Hebrew. _nephesh._ App-13....

_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....

SO THE DEAD WHICH HE SLEW AT HIS DEATH, &C.— And those whom he slew at his death were more than those whom he had slain in his life. Houb. It is plain, that this event must have greatly reduced the Philistines, as they made no sort of opposition to the burying of Samson who had wrought such destruction among them. REFLECTIONS.—In this ignominious employment, unhappy Samson had time and opportunity given him for reflection; bitter reflection! where all was dark without, and all as dark within. Yet how preferable his present situation! Far better grind in Gaza, than sleep in the bosom of Delilah. Repentance seems now to have been vouchsafed to him; his hair began to grow, and, as a token that God had not utterly left him, his strength returned with it, God still designing him for great exploits, and in his death to wipe away the foul stains of his past ungracious conduct. 1. The Philistin...