Judges 16:31

_THEN HIS BRETHREN AND ALL THE HOUSE OF HIS FATHER CAME DOWN, AND TOOK HIM, AND BROUGHT HIM UP, AND BURIED HIM BETWEEN ZORAH AND ESHTAOL IN THE BURYING PLACE OF MANOAH HIS FATHER. AND HE JUDGED ISRAEL TWENTY YEARS._ Then his brethren ... brought him up,, and buried him. This awful catastrophe seems to have so completely paralyzed the Philistines that they neither attempted to prevent the removal of Samson's corpse (which was conveyed by his relatives for interment, according to Josephus, 'in Sarasat (Zorah), his own country, with the rest of his family'), nor to molest the Israelites for a long time after. Thus the Israelite hero rendered by his strength and courage signal services to his country, and was always regarded as the greatest of its champions. But his slavish subjection to the domination of his passions was unworthy of so great a man, and lessens our respect for his character...

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 16:31. _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 do

“All the house of his father,” in connection with “his brethren,” must mean the whole tribe of Dan, aiding his nearer relations. The Danites, taking advantage of the consternation of the Philistines, and of the death of their lords and chief men, went down in force to Gaza, and recovered the body of their great captain and judge, and buried him in his father’s sepulchre....

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

THEN HIS BRETHREN, AND ALL THE HOUSE OF HIS FATHER, CAME DOWN,.... To Gaza, having heard of what had befallen him there. This must be understood of his kindred and near relations, those of his father's family; though it is not unlikely that he had brethren in a proper sense, since though his mother was barren before his birth, yet afterwards might have many children, as Hannah had, whose case was similar to her's: AND TOOK HIM AND BROUGHT HIM UP; took his body out of the ruins of the house, and brought him up on a bier, or some proper carriage, to his own country; and perhaps in great funeral pomp, as a judge of Israel; nor need it be wondered at that the Philistines should admit of it, it being usual in all ages, and among all people, to allow even an enemy to bury their dead; besides Samson's friends had done them no injury, only Samson himself, and the Israelites in general were quie...

JUDGED The character and work of Samson are alike enigmatical. Announced by an angel (Judges 13:1). He was a Nazarite; (Numbers 6:1); (Judges 13:5) who constantly defiled his Nazarite separation through fleshly appetites. Called of God to judge Israel, and endued wonderfully with the Spirit, he wrought no abiding work for Israel, and perished in captivity to his enemies the Philistines. What was real in the man was his mighty faith in Jehovah in a time of doubt and apostasy, and this faith God honoured (Hebrews 11:32)....

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

HIS BRETHREN. Probably his parents were now dead. UP: i.e. from Gaza, Judges 16:21. BETWEEN ZORAH AND ESHTAOL. Where the Spirit had first come upon him, Judges 13:25. JUDGED ISRAEL. But he only _began_ to deliver Israel. See Judges 13:5....