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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Judges 16:22 - 16:31
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The end of Samson
v. 22. Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven, literally, as when he was shaven. for it came out again in a very short while, and the Philistines did not remember the significance of this.
v. 23. Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon, their god, and to rejoice, as over a great victory, to be celebrated with a general feast of thanksgiving; for they said, Our god hath delivered Samson, our enemy, into our hand. Dagon was the chief idol of the Philistines, being worshiped not only at Gaza, but also at Ashdod; he was usually represented with the body of a fish, but with human head and hands.
v. 24. And when the people saw him, as Samson was led forth, they praised their god, in a foolish burst of idolatry; for they said, Our god hath delivered into our hands our enemy and the destroyer of our country, for such he was by his having set their fields and orchards afire, which slew many of us.
v. 25. And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry, in the course of the feasting and carousing, that they said, Call for Samson that he may make us sport, be the object of ribald jesting and cutting mockery. And they called for Samson out of the prison-house; and he made them sport, he made a fine target for all the mean and mocking sayings which they could think of as their tongues were loosened by wine; and they set him between the pillars, those of the house or temple in which the feast was being celebrated.
v. 26. And Samson said unto the lad that held him by the hand, who led him from one place to another on account of his blindness, Suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house standeth, that I may lean upon them. The building was put up in such a manner as to have not only the lower part, but also the upper open galleries resting principally upon two mighty pillars, which supported the chief beams of the vast building.
v. 27. Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philistines were there, the more distinguished visitors occupying the lower part of the house; and there were upon the roof, the open gallery above, surrounded by open trellis-work, about three thousand men and women, that beheld while Samson made sport.
v. 28. And Samson, who had repented of his deep fall, 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. He no longer placed his trust in himself nor in his hair, but only and entirely in Jehovah, the true God. In revenging himself for the loss of his eyes, he would at the same time inflict a terrible punishment upon the enemies of Israel.
v. 29. And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, its entire weight being concentrated there, and on which it was borne up, he pressed steadily and firmly against them, of the one with his right hand and of the other with his left.
v. 30. And Samson said, Let me, literally, my soul, die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might, pulling the pillars down with him; and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people that were therein, the entire building toppled over and crashed down upon itself, burying the merrymakers under its ruins. So the dead which he, Samson, slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life.
v. 31. Then his brethren, the members of his own people, and all the house of his father came down, and took him, and brought him up, in a funeral procession which gave him more honor in death than he had gotten in life, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the burying place of Manoah, his father, who had not lived to see the shame of his great son. The Philistines, terrified by the evidence of God's almighty power in the catastrophe which had befallen them, permitted the body of Samson to be removed without objection. Their princes were dead, their power, for the time being, broken. And he judged Israel twenty years. Thus Samson died with a prayer to the true God upon his lips. And so He raises up His children from their transgressions, leads them to repentance, and helps them to obtain the end of faith, their soul's salvation.