mh_parser/vol_split/7 - Judges/Chapter 16.xml

<div2 id="Jud.xvii" n="xvii" next="Jud.xviii" prev="Jud.xvi" progress="19.32%" title="Chapter XVI">
<h2 id="Jud.xvii-p0.1">J U D G E S</h2>
<h3 id="Jud.xvii-p0.2">CHAP. XVI.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Jud.xvii-p1">Samson's name (we have observed before) signifies
a little sun (sol parvus); we have seen this sun rising very
bright, and his morning ray strong and clear; and, nothing
appearing to the contrary, we take it for granted that the middle
of the day was proportionably illustrious, while he judged Israel
twenty years; but the melancholy story of this chapter gives us
such an account of his evening as did not commend his day. This
little sun set under a cloud, and yet, just in the setting, darted
forth one such strong and glorious beam as made him even then a
type of Christ, conquering by death. Here is, I. Samson greatly
endangered by his familiarity with one harlot, and hardly escaping,
<scripRef id="Jud.xvii-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Judg.16.1-Judg.16.3" parsed="|Judg|16|1|16|3" passage="Jdg 16:1-3">ver. 1-3</scripRef>. II. Samson
quite ruined by his familiarity with another harlot, Delilah.
Observe, 1. How he was betrayed to her by his own lusts, <scripRef id="Jud.xvii-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Judg.16.4" parsed="|Judg|16|4|0|0" passage="Jdg 16:4">ver. 4</scripRef>. 2. How he was betrayed by her
to his sworn enemies, the Philistines, who, (1.) By her means got
it out of him at last where his great strength lay, <scripRef id="Jud.xvii-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Judg.16.5-Judg.16.17" parsed="|Judg|16|5|16|17" passage="Jdg 16:5-17">ver. 5-17</scripRef>. (2.) Then robbed him of
his strength, by taking from his head the crown of his separation,
<scripRef id="Jud.xvii-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Judg.16.18-Judg.16.20" parsed="|Judg|16|18|16|20" passage="Jdg 16:18-20">ver. 18-20</scripRef>. (3.) Then
seized him, blinded him, imprisoned him, abused him, and, at a
solemn festival, made a show of him, <scripRef id="Jud.xvii-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Judg.16.21-Judg.16.25" parsed="|Judg|16|21|16|25" passage="Jdg 16:21-25">ver. 21-25</scripRef>. But, lastly, he avenged
himself of them by pulling down the theatre upon their heads, and
so dying with them, <scripRef id="Jud.xvii-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Judg.16.26-Judg.16.31" parsed="|Judg|16|26|16|31" passage="Jdg 16:26-31">ver.
26-31</scripRef>.</p>
<scripCom id="Jud.xvii-p0.1_1" osisRef="Bible:Judg.16" parsed="|Judg|16|0|0|0" passage="Jud 16" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Jud.xvii-p0.2_1" osisRef="Bible:Judg.16.1-Judg.16.3" parsed="|Judg|16|1|16|3" passage="Jud 16:1-3" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Judg.16.1-Judg.16.3">
<h4 id="Jud.xvii-p1.9">Samson's Escape from Gaza. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Jud.xvii-p1.10">b. c.</span> 1120.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Jud.xvii-p2">1 Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there a
harlot, and went in unto her.   2 <i>And it was told</i> the
Gazites, saying, Samson is come hither. And they compassed
<i>him</i> in, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the
city, and were quiet all the night, saying, In the morning, when it
is day, we shall kill him.   3 And Samson lay till midnight,
and arose at midnight, and took the doors of the gate of the city,
and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and put
<i>them</i> upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of a
hill that <i>is</i> before Hebron.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jud.xvii-p3">Here is, 1. Samson's sin, <scripRef id="Jud.xvii-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Judg.16.1" parsed="|Judg|16|1|0|0" passage="Jdg 16:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. His taking a Philistine
to wife, in the beginning of his time, was in some degree
excusable, but to join himself to a harlot that he accidentally saw
among them was such a profanation of his honour as an Israelite, as
a Nazarite, that we cannot but blush to read it. <i>Tell it not in
Gath.</i> This vile impurity makes the graceful visage of this
Nazarite <i>blacker than a coal,</i> <scripRef id="Jud.xvii-p3.2" osisRef="Bible:Lam.4.7-Lam.4.8" parsed="|Lam|4|7|4|8" passage="La 4:7,8">Lam. iv. 7, 8</scripRef>. We find not that Samson had
any business in Gaza; if he went thither in quest of a harlot it
would make one willing to hope that, as bad as things were
otherwise, there were no prostitutes among the daughters of Israel.
Some think he went thither to observe what posture the Philistines
were in, that he might get some advantages against them; if so, he
forgot his business, neglected that, and so fell into this snare.
His sin began in his eye, with which he should have made a
covenant; he saw there one in the <i>attire of a harlot,</i> and
the lust which conceived brought forth sin: he <i>went in unto
her.</i> 2. Samson's danger. Notice was sent to the magistrates of
Gaza, perhaps by the treacherous harlot herself, that Samson was in
the town, <scripRef id="Jud.xvii-p3.3" osisRef="Bible:Judg.16.2" parsed="|Judg|16|2|0|0" passage="Jdg 16:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>.
Probably he came in a disguise, or in the dusk of the evening, and
went into an inn or public-house, which happened to be kept by this
harlot. The gates of the city were hereupon shut, guards set, all
kept quiet, that Samson might suspect no danger. Now they thought
they had him in a prison, and doubted not but to be the death of
him the next morning. O that all those who indulge their sensual
appetites in drunkenness, uncleanness, or any fleshly lusts, would
see themselves thus surrounded, waylaid, and marked for ruin, by
their spiritual enemies! The faster they sleep, and the more secure
they are, the greater is their danger. 3. Samson's escape,
<scripRef id="Jud.xvii-p3.4" osisRef="Bible:Judg.16.3" parsed="|Judg|16|3|0|0" passage="Jdg 16:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. He rose at
midnight, perhaps roused by a dream, in slumberings upon the bed
(<scripRef id="Jud.xvii-p3.5" osisRef="Bible:Job.33.15" parsed="|Job|33|15|0|0" passage="Job 33:15">Job xxxiii. 15</scripRef>), by his
guardian angel, or rather by the checks of his own conscience. He
arose with a penitent abhorrence (we hope) of the sin he was now
committing, and of himself because of it, and with a pious
resolution not to return to it,—rose under an apprehension of the
danger he was in, that he was as one that slept upon the top of a
mast,—rose with such thoughts as these: "Is this a bed fit for a
Nazarite to sleep in? Shall a temple of the living God be thus
polluted? Can I be safe under this guilt?" It was bad that he lay
down without such checks; but it would have been worse if he had
lain still under them. He makes immediately towards the gate of the
city, probably finds the guards asleep, else he would have made
them sleep their last, stays not to break open the gates, but
plucks up the posts, takes them, gates and bar and all, all very
large and strong and a vast weight, yet he carries them on his back
several miles, <i>up to the top of a hill,</i> in disdain of their
attempt to secure him with gates and bars, designing thus to render
himself more formidable to the Philistines and more acceptable to
his people, thus to give a proof of the great strength God had
given him and a type of Christ's victory over death and the grave.
He not only rolled away the stone from the door of the sepulchre,
and so came forth himself, but carried away the gates of the grave,
bar and all, and so left it, ever after, an open prison to all that
are his; it shall not, it cannot, always detain them. <i>O death!
where is thy sting?</i> Where are thy gates? Thanks be to him that
not only gained a victory for himself, but giveth us the
victory!</p>
</div><scripCom id="Jud.xvii-p0.3" osisRef="Bible:Judg.16.4-Judg.16.17" parsed="|Judg|16|4|16|17" passage="Jud 16:4-17" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Judg.16.4-Judg.16.17">
<h4 id="Jud.xvii-p3.7">Delilah's Treachery. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Jud.xvii-p3.8">b. c.</span> 1120.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Jud.xvii-p4">4 And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a
woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name <i>was</i> Delilah.  
5 And the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and said unto
her, Entice him, and see wherein his great strength <i>lieth,</i>
and by what <i>means</i> we may prevail against him, that we may
bind him to afflict him: and we will give thee every one of us
eleven hundred <i>pieces</i> of silver.   6 And Delilah said
to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength
<i>lieth,</i> and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee.
  7 And Samson said unto her, If they bind me with seven green
withs that were never dried, then shall I be weak, and be as
another man.   8 Then the lords of the Philistines brought up
to her seven green withs which had not been dried, and she bound
him with them.   9 Now <i>there were</i> men lying in wait,
abiding with her in the chamber. And she said unto him, The
Philistines <i>be</i> upon thee, Samson. And he brake the withs, as
a thread of tow is broken when it toucheth the fire. So his
strength was not known.   10 And Delilah said unto Samson,
Behold, thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: now tell me, I pray
thee, wherewith thou mightest be bound.   11 And he said unto
her, If they bind me fast with new ropes that never were occupied,
then shall I be weak, and be as another man.   12 Delilah
therefore took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said unto
him, The Philistines <i>be</i> upon thee, Samson. And <i>there
were</i> liers in wait abiding in the chamber. And he brake them
from off his arms like a thread.   13 And Delilah said unto
Samson, Hitherto thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: tell me
wherewith thou mightest be bound. And he said unto her, If thou
weavest the seven locks of my head with the web.   14 And she
fastened <i>it</i> with the pin, and said unto him, The Philistines
<i>be</i> upon thee, Samson. And he awaked out of his sleep, and
went away with the pin of the beam, and with the web.   15 And
she said unto him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine
heart <i>is</i> not with me? thou hast mocked me these three times,
and hast not told me wherein thy great strength <i>lieth.</i>
  16 And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her
words, and urged him, <i>so</i> that his soul was vexed unto death;
  17 That he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There
hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I <i>have been</i> a
Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb: if I be shaven, then my
strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any
<i>other</i> man.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jud.xvii-p5">The burnt child dreads the fire; yet
Samson, that has more than the strength of a man, in this comes
short of the wisdom of a child; for, though he had been more than
once brought into the highest degree of mischief and danger by the
love of women and lusting after them, yet he would not take
warning, but is here again taken in the same snare, and this third
time pays for all. Solomon seems to refer especially to this story
of Samson when, in his caution against uncleanness, he gives this
account of a whorish woman (<scripRef id="Jud.xvii-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Prov.7.26" parsed="|Prov|7|26|0|0" passage="Pr 7:26">Prov. vii.
26</scripRef>), that <i>she hath cast down many wounded, yea, many
strong men have been slain by her;</i> and (<scripRef id="Jud.xvii-p5.2" osisRef="Bible:Prov.6.26" parsed="|Prov|6|26|0|0" passage="Pr 6:26">Prov. vi. 26</scripRef>) that <i>the adulteress will hunt
for the precious life.</i> This bad woman, that brought Samson to
ruin, is here named <i>Delilah,</i> an infamous name, and fitly
used to express the person, or thing, that by flattery or falsehood
brings mischief and destruction on those to whom kindness is
pretended. See here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jud.xvii-p6">I. The affection Samson had for Delilah: he
loved her, <scripRef id="Jud.xvii-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Judg.16.4" parsed="|Judg|16|4|0|0" passage="Jdg 16:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>.
Some think she was his wife, but then he would have had her home to
his own house; others that he courted her to make her his wife; but
there is too much reason to suspect that it was a sinful affection
he had for her, and that he lived in uncleanness with her. Whether
she was an Israelite or a Philistine is not certain. If an
Israelite, which is scarcely probable, yet she had the heart of a
Philistine.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jud.xvii-p7">II. The interest which the lords of the
Philistines made with her to betray Samson, <scripRef id="Jud.xvii-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Judg.16.5" parsed="|Judg|16|5|0|0" passage="Jdg 16:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. 1. That which they told her they
designed was to humble him, or afflict him; they would promise not
to do him any hurt, only they would disable him not to do them any.
And so much conscience it should seem they made of this promise
that even then, when he lay ever so much at their mercy, they would
not kill him, no, not when the razor that cut his hair might sooner
and more easily have cut his throat. 2. That which they desired, in
order hereunto, was to know where his great strength lay, and by
what means he might be bound. Perhaps they imagined he had some
spell or charm which he carried about with him, by the force of
which he did these great things, and doubted not but that, if they
could get this from him, he would be manageable; and therefore,
having had reason enough formerly to know which was his blind side,
hoped to find out his riddle a second time by ploughing with his
heifer. They engaged Delilah to get it out of him, telling her what
a kindness it would be to them, and perhaps assuring her it should
not be improved to any real mischief, either to him or her. 3. For
this they bid high, promised to give her each of them 1100 pieces
of silver, 5500 in all. So many shekels amounted to above
1000<i>l.</i> sterling; with this she was hired to betray one she
pretended to love. See what horrid wickedness the love of money is
the root of. Our blessed Saviour was thus betrayed by one whom he
called <i>friend,</i> and with a kiss too, for filthy lucre. No
marvel if those who are unchaste, as Delilah, be unjust; such as
lose their honesty in one instance will in another.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jud.xvii-p8">III. The arts by which he put her off from
time to time, and kept his own counsel a great while. She asked him
<i>where his great strength lay,</i> and whether it were possible
for him to be bound and afflicted (<scripRef id="Jud.xvii-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Judg.16.6" parsed="|Judg|16|6|0|0" passage="Jdg 16:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>), pretending that she only
desired he would satisfy her curiosity in that one thing, and that
she thought it was impossible he should be bound otherwise than by
her charms.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jud.xvii-p9">1. When she urged him very much, he told
her, (1.) That he might be bound with <i>seven green withs,</i>
<scripRef id="Jud.xvii-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Judg.16.7" parsed="|Judg|16|7|0|0" passage="Jdg 16:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. The experiment
was tried (<scripRef id="Jud.xvii-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Judg.16.8" parsed="|Judg|16|8|0|0" passage="Jdg 16:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>),
but it would not do: he <i>broke the withs</i> as easily <i>as a
thread of tow is broken when it toucheth the fire,</i> <scripRef id="Jud.xvii-p9.3" osisRef="Bible:Judg.16.9" parsed="|Judg|16|9|0|0" passage="Jdg 16:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. (2.) When she still
continued her importunity (<scripRef id="Jud.xvii-p9.4" osisRef="Bible:Judg.16.10" parsed="|Judg|16|10|0|0" passage="Jdg 16:10"><i>v.</i>
10</scripRef>) he told her that with two new ropes he might be so
cramped and hampered that he might be as easily dealt with as any
other man, <scripRef id="Jud.xvii-p9.5" osisRef="Bible:Judg.16.11" parsed="|Judg|16|11|0|0" passage="Jdg 16:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>.
This experiment was tried too, but it failed: the <i>new ropes</i>
broke from off his arm <i>like a thread,</i> <scripRef id="Jud.xvii-p9.6" osisRef="Bible:Judg.16.12" parsed="|Judg|16|12|0|0" passage="Jdg 16:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>. (3.) When she still pressed
him to communicate the secret, and upbraided him with it as an
unkindness that he had bantered her so long, he then told her that
the weaving of the seven locks of his head would make a great
alteration in him, <scripRef id="Jud.xvii-p9.7" osisRef="Bible:Judg.16.13" parsed="|Judg|16|13|0|0" passage="Jdg 16:13"><i>v.</i>
13</scripRef>. This came nearer the matter than any thing he had
yet said, but it would not do: his strength appeared to be very
much in his hair, when, upon the trial of this, purely by the
strength of his hair, he carried away the <i>pin of the beam</i>
and <i>the web.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Jud.xvii-p10">2. In the making of all these experiments,
it is hard to say whether there appears more of Samson's weakness
or Delilah's wickedness. (1.) Could any thing be more wicked than
her restless and unreasonable importunity with him to discover a
secret which she knew would endanger his life if ever it were
lodged any where but in his own breast? What could be more base and
disingenuous, more false and treacherous, than to lay his head in
her lap, as one whom she loved, and at the same time to design the
betraying of him to those by whom he was mortally hated? (2.) Could
any thing be more weak than for him to continue a parley with one
who, he so plainly saw, was aiming to do him a mischief,—that he
should lend an ear so long to such an impudent request, that she
might know how to do him a mischief,—that when he perceived liers
in wait for him in the chamber, and that they were ready to
apprehend him if they had been able, he did not immediately quit
the chamber, with a resolution never to come into it any
more,—nay, that he should again lay his head in that lap out of
which he had been so often roused with that alarm, <i>The
Philistines are upon thee, Samson?</i> One can hardly imagine a man
so perfectly besotted, and void of all consideration, as Samson now
was; but whoredom is one of those things that <i>take away the
heart.</i> It is hard to say what Samson meant in suffering her to
try so often whether she could weaken and afflict him; some think
he did not certainly know himself where his strength lay, but, it
should seem, he did know, for, when he told her that which would
disable him indeed, it is said, <i>He told her all his heart.</i>
It seems, he designed to banter her, and to try if he could turn it
off with a jest, and to baffle the <i>liers in wait,</i> and make
fools of them; but it was very unwise in him that he did not quit
the field as soon as ever he perceived that he was not able to keep
the ground.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jud.xvii-p11">IV. The disclosure he at last made of this
great secret; and, if the disclosure proved fatal to him, he must
thank himself, who had not power to keep his own counsel from one
that manifestly sought his ruin. <i>Surely in vain is the net
spread in the sight of any bird,</i> but in Samson's sight is the
net spread, and yet he is taken in it. If he had not been blind
before the Philistines put out his eyes, he might have seen himself
betrayed. Delilah signifies a <i>consumer;</i> she was so to him.
Observe, 1. How she teazed him, telling him she would not believe
he loved her, unless he would gratify her in this matter (<scripRef id="Jud.xvii-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Judg.16.15" parsed="|Judg|16|15|0|0" passage="Jdg 16:15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>): <i>How canst thou
say, I love thee, when they heart is not with me?</i> That is,
"when thou canst not trust me with the counsels of they heart?"
Passionate lovers cannot bear to have their love called in
question; they would do any thing rather than their sincerity
should be suspected. Here therefore Delilah had this fond fool
(excuse me that I call him so) at an advantage. This expostulation
is indeed grounded upon a great truth, that those only have our
love, not that have our good words or our good wishes, but that
have our hearts. That is love without dissimulation; but it is
falsehood and flattery in the highest degree to say we love those
with whom our hearts are not. How can we say we love either our
brother, whom we have seen, or God, whom we have not seen, if our
hearts be not with him? She continued many days vexatious to him
with her importunity, so that he had no pleasure of his life with
her (<scripRef id="Jud.xvii-p11.2" osisRef="Bible:Judg.16.16" parsed="|Judg|16|16|0|0" passage="Jdg 16:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>); why
then did he not leave her? It was because he was captivated to her
by the power of love, falsely so called, but truly lust. This
bewitched and perfectly intoxicated him, and by the force of it
see, 2. How she conquered him (<scripRef id="Jud.xvii-p11.3" osisRef="Bible:Judg.16.17" parsed="|Judg|16|17|0|0" passage="Jdg 16:17"><i>v.</i> 17</scripRef>): He <i>told her all his
heart.</i> God left him to himself to do this foolish thing, to
punish him for indulging himself in the lusts of uncleanness. The
angel that foretold his birth said nothing of his great strength,
but only that he should be a Nazarite, and particularly that <i>no
razor should come upon his head,</i> <scripRef id="Jud.xvii-p11.4" osisRef="Bible:Judg.13.5" parsed="|Judg|13|5|0|0" passage="Jdg 13:5"><i>ch.</i> xiii. 5</scripRef>. His consecration to God
was to be his strength, for he was to be <i>strengthened according
to the glorious power of that Spirit which wrought in him
mightily,</i> that his strength, by promise, not by nature, might
be a type and figure of the spiritual strength of believers,
<scripRef id="Jud.xvii-p11.5" osisRef="Bible:Col.1.11 Bible:Col.1.29" parsed="|Col|1|11|0|0;|Col|1|29|0|0" passage="Col 1:11,29">Col. i. 11, 29</scripRef>.
Therefore the badge of his consecration was the pledge of his
strength; if he lose the former, he knows he forfeits the latter.
"If I be shaven, I shall no longer be a Nazarite, and then my
strength will be lost." The making of his bodily strength to depend
so much on his hair, which could have no natural influence upon it
either one way or other, teaches us to magnify divine institutions,
and to expect God's grace, and the continuance of it, only the use
of those means of grace wherein he has appointed us to attend upon
him, the word, sacraments, and prayer. In these earthen vessels is
this treasure.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Jud.xvii-p0.4" osisRef="Bible:Judg.16.18-Judg.16.21" parsed="|Judg|16|18|16|21" passage="Jud 16:18-21" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Judg.16.18-Judg.16.21">
<h4 id="Jud.xvii-p11.7">Samson Betrayed. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Jud.xvii-p11.8">b. c.</span> 1120.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Jud.xvii-p12">18 And when Delilah saw that he had told her all
his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines,
saying, Come up this once, for he hath showed me all his heart.
Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and brought
money in their hand.   19 And she made him sleep upon her
knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off
the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his
strength went from him.   20 And she said, The Philistines
<i>be</i> upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and
said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And
he wist not that the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jud.xvii-p12.1">Lord</span> was
departed from him.   21 But the Philistines took him, and put
out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with
fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jud.xvii-p13">We have here the fatal consequences of
Samson's folly in betraying his own strength; he soon paid dearly
for it. A <i>whore is a deep ditch; he that is abhorred of the Lord
shall fall therein.</i> In that pit Samson sinks. Observe, 1. What
care Delilah took to make sure of the money for herself. She now
perceived, by the manner of his speaking, that he had <i>told her
all his heart,</i> and the lords of the Philistines that hired her
to do this base thing are sent for; but they must be sure to bring
<i>the money in their hands,</i> <scripRef id="Jud.xvii-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Judg.16.18" parsed="|Judg|16|18|0|0" passage="Jdg 16:18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>. The wages of unrighteousness
are accordingly produced, unknown to Samson. It would have grieved
one's heart to have seen one of the bravest men then in the world
sold and bought, as a <i>sheep for the slaughter;</i> how does this
instance sully all the glory of man, and forbid the strong man ever
to boast of his strength! 2. What course she took to deliver him up
to them according to the bargain. Many in the world would, for the
hundredth part of what was here given Delilah, sell those that they
pretend the greatest respect for. <i>Trust not in a friend then,
put no confidence in a guide.</i> See what a treacherous method she
took (<scripRef id="Jud.xvii-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Judg.16.19" parsed="|Judg|16|19|0|0" passage="Jdg 16:19"><i>v.</i> 19</scripRef>): She
<i>made him sleep upon her knees.</i> Josephus says, She gave him
some intoxicating liquor, which laid him to sleep. What opiates she
might steal into his cup we know not, but we cannot suppose that he
knowingly drank wine or strong drink, for that would have been a
forfeiture of his Nazariteship as much as the cutting off of his
hair. She pretended the greatest kindness even when she designed
the greatest mischief, which yet she could not have compassed if
she had not made him sleep. See the fatal consequences of security.
Satan ruins men by rocking them asleep, flattering them into a good
opinion of their own safety, and so bringing them to mind nothing
and fear nothing, and then he robs them of their strength and
honour and leads them captive at his will. When we sleep our
spiritual enemies do not. When he was asleep she had a person ready
to cut off his hair, which he did so silently and so quickly that
it did not awake him, but plainly afflicted him; even in his sleep,
his spirit manifestly sunk upon it. I think we may suppose that if
this ill turn had been done to him in his sleep by some spiteful
body, without his being himself accessory to it, as he was here, it
would not have had this strange effect upon him; but it was his own
wickedness that corrected him. It was his iniquity, else it would
not have been so much his infelicity. 3. What little concern he
himself was in at it, <scripRef id="Jud.xvii-p13.3" osisRef="Bible:Judg.16.20" parsed="|Judg|16|20|0|0" passage="Jdg 16:20"><i>v.</i>
20</scripRef>. He could not but miss his hair as soon as he awoke,
and yet said, "<i>I will shake myself as at other times</i> after
sleep," or, "as at other times when the Philistines were upon me,
to make my part good against them." Perhaps he thought to shake
himself the more easily, and that his head would feel the lighter,
now that his hair was cut, little thinking how much heavier the
burden of guilt was than that of hair. He soon found in himself
some change, we have reason to think so, and yet <i>wist not that
the Lord had departed from him:</i> he did not consider that this
was the reason of the change. Note, 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, nor ever
complain of it. Their souls languish and grow weak, their gifts
wither, every thing goes cross with them; and yet they impute not
this to the right cause: they are not aware that <i>God has
departed from them,</i> nor are they in any care to reconcile
themselves to him or to recover his favour. When God has departed
we cannot do as at other times. 4. What improvement the Philistines
soon made of their advantages against him, <scripRef id="Jud.xvii-p13.4" osisRef="Bible:Judg.16.21" parsed="|Judg|16|21|0|0" passage="Jdg 16:21"><i>v.</i> 21</scripRef>. The Philistines took him when
God had departed from him. Those that have thrown themselves out of
God's protection become an easy prey to their enemies. If we sleep
in the lap of our lusts, we shall certainly wake in the hands of
the Philistines. It is probable they had promised Delilah not to
kill him, but they took an effectual course to disable him. The
first thing they did, when they had him in their hands and found
they could manage him, was to <i>put out his eyes,</i> by
<i>applying fire to them,</i> says the Arabic version. They
considered that his eyes would never come again, as perhaps his
hair might, and that the strongest arms could do little without
eyes to guide the, and therefore, if now they blind him, they for
ever blind him. His eyes were the inlets of his sin: he saw the
harlot at Gaza, and went in unto her (<scripRef id="Jud.xvii-p13.5" osisRef="Bible:Judg.16.1" parsed="|Judg|16|1|0|0" passage="Jdg 16:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>), and now his punishment began
there. Now that the Philistines had blinded him he had time to
remember how his own lust had blinded him. The best preservative of
the eyes is to turn them away from beholding vanity. <i>They
brought him down to Gaza,</i> that there he might appear in
weakness where he had lately given such proofs of his strength
(<scripRef id="Jud.xvii-p13.6" osisRef="Bible:Judg.16.3" parsed="|Judg|16|3|0|0" passage="Jdg 16:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>), and be a
jest to those to whom he had been a terror. They <i>bound him with
fetters of brass</i> who had before been held in the cords of his
own iniquity, and he did <i>grind in the prison,</i> work in their
bridewell, either for their profit or his punishment, or for both.
The devil does thus by sinners, <i>blinds the minds of those who
believe not,</i> and so enslaves them, and secures them in his
interests. Poor Samson, how hast thou fallen! How is thy honour
laid in the dust! How has the glory and defence of Israel become
the drudge and triumph of the Philistines! <i>The crown has fallen
from his head; woe unto him, for he hath sinned.</i> Let all take
warning by his fall carefully to preserve their purity, and to
watch against all fleshly lusts; for all our glory has gone, and
our defence departed form us, when the covenant of our separation
to God, as spiritual Nazarites, is profaned.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Jud.xvii-p0.5" osisRef="Bible:Judg.16.22-Judg.16.31" parsed="|Judg|16|22|16|31" passage="Jud 16:22-31" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Bible:Judg.16.22-Judg.16.31">
<h4 id="Jud.xvii-p13.8">The Death of Samson; Samson's Triumph in
Death. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Jud.xvii-p13.9">b. c.</span> 1120.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Jud.xvii-p14">22 Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow
again after he was shaven.   23 Then the lords of the
Philistines gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice
unto Dagon their god, and to rejoice: for they said, Our god hath
delivered Samson our enemy into our hand.   24 And when the
people saw him, they praised their god: for they said, Our god hath
delivered into our hands our enemy, and the destroyer of our
country, which slew many of us.   25 And it came to pass, when
their hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Samson, that he
may make us sport. And they called for Samson out of the prison
house; and he made them sport: and they set him between the
pillars.   26 And Samson said unto the lad that held him by
the hand, Suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house
standeth, that I may lean upon them.   27 Now the house was
full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philistines
<i>were</i> there; and <i>there were</i> upon the roof about three
thousand men and women, that beheld while Samson made sport.  
28 And Samson called unto the <span class="smallcaps" id="Jud.xvii-p14.1">Lord</span>,
and said, O Lord <span class="smallcaps" id="Jud.xvii-p14.2">God</span>, 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.
  29 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.   30 And Samson
said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with
<i>all his</i> might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon
all the people that <i>were</i> therein. So the dead which he slew
at his death were more than <i>they</i> which he slew in his life.
  31 Then his brethren and all the house of his father came
down, and took him, and brought <i>him</i> up, and buried him
between Zorah and Eshtaol in the buryingplace of Manoah his father.
And he judged Israel twenty years.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jud.xvii-p15">Though the last stage of Samson's life was
inglorious, and one could wish there were a veil drawn over it, yet
this account here given of his death may be allowed to lessen,
though it does not quite roll away, the reproach of it; for there
was honour in his death. No doubt he greatly repented of his sin,
the dishonour he had by it done to God and his forfeiture of the
honour God had put upon him; for that God was reconciled to him
appears, 1. By the return of the sign of his Nazariteship
(<scripRef id="Jud.xvii-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Judg.16.22" parsed="|Judg|16|22|0|0" passage="Jdg 16:22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>): <i>His
hair began to grow again, as when he was shaven,</i> that is, to be
as thick and as long as when it was cut off. It is probable that
their general thanksgiving to Dagon was not long deferred, before
which Samson's hair had thus grown, by which, and the particular
notice taken of it, it seems to have been extraordinary, and
designed for a special indication of the return of God's favour to
him upon his repentance. For the growth of his hair was neither the
cause nor the sign of the return of his strength further than as it
was the badge of his consecration, and a token that God accepted
him as a Nazarite again, after the interruption, without those
ceremonies which were appointed for the restoration of a lapsed
Nazarite, which he had not now the opportunity of performing,
<scripRef id="Jud.xvii-p15.2" osisRef="Bible:Num.6.9" parsed="|Num|6|9|0|0" passage="Nu 6:9">Num. vi. 9</scripRef>. It is strange
that the Philistines in whose hands he was were not jealous of the
growth of his hair again, and did not cut it; but perhaps they were
willing his great strength should return to him, that they might
have so much the more work out of him, and now that he was blind
they were in no fear of any hurt from him. 2. By the use God made
of him for the destruction of the enemies of his people, and that
at a time when it would be most for the vindication of the honour
of God, and not immediately for the defence and deliverance of
Israel. Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jud.xvii-p16">I. How insolently the Philistines affronted
the God of Israel, 1. By the sacrifices they offered to Dagon, his
rival. This Dagon they call their <i>god,</i> a god of their own
making, represented by an image, the upper part of which was in the
shape of a man, the lower part of a fish, purely the creature of
fancy; yet it served them to set up in opposition to the true and
living God. To this pretended deity they ascribe their success
(<scripRef id="Jud.xvii-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Judg.16.23-Judg.16.24" parsed="|Judg|16|23|16|24" passage="Jdg 16:23,24"><i>v.</i> 23, 24</scripRef>):
<i>Our god has delivered Samson our enemy, and the destroyer of our
country, into our hands.</i> So they dreamed, though he could do
neither good nor evil. They knew Delilah had betrayed him, and they
had paid her for doing it, yet they attribute it to their god, and
are confirmed by it in their belief of his power to protect them.
All people will thus walk in the name of their gods: they will give
them the praise of their achievements; and shall not we pay this
tribute to our God whose kingdom ruleth over all? Yet, considering
what wicked arts they used to get Samson into their hands, it must
be confessed it was only such a dunghill-deity as Dagon that was
fit to be made a patron of the villany. Sacrifices were offered,
and songs of praise sung, on the general thanksgiving day, for this
victory obtained over one man; there were great expressions of joy,
and all to the honour of Dagon. Much more reason have we to give
the praise of all our successes to our God. <i>Thanks be to him who
causeth us to triumph in Christ Jesus!</i> 2. By the sport they
made with Samson, God's champion, they reflected on God himself.
When they were merry with wine, to make them more merry Samson must
be fetched to make sport for them (<scripRef id="Jud.xvii-p16.2" osisRef="Bible:Judg.16.25 Bible:Judg.16.27" parsed="|Judg|16|25|0|0;|Judg|16|27|0|0" passage="Jdg 16:25,27"><i>v.</i> 25, 27</scripRef>), that is, for them to
make sport with. Having sacrificed to their god, and eaten and
drunk upon the sacrifice, they rose up to play, according to the
usage of idolaters (<scripRef id="Jud.xvii-p16.3" osisRef="Bible:1Cor.10.7" parsed="|1Cor|10|7|0|0" passage="1Co 10:7">1 Cor. x.
7</scripRef>), and Samson must be the fool in the play. They made
themselves and one another laugh to see how, being blind, he
stumbled and blundered. It is likely they <i>smote this judge of
Israel upon the cheek</i> (<scripRef id="Jud.xvii-p16.4" osisRef="Bible:Mic.5.1" parsed="|Mic|5|1|0|0" passage="Mic 5:1">Mic. v.
1</scripRef>), and said, <i>Prophesy who smote thee.</i> It was an
instance of their barbarity to trample thus upon a man in misery,
at the sight of whom awhile ago they would have trembled. It put
Samson into the depth of misery, and as a sword in his bones were
their reproaches, when they said, <i>Where is now thy God?</i>
Nothing could be more grievous to so great a spirit; yet, being a
penitent, his godly sorrow makes him patient, and he accepts the
indignity as the punishment of his iniquity. How unrighteous soever
the Philistines were, he could not but own that God was righteous.
He had sported himself in his own deceivings and with his own
deceivers, and justly are the Philistines let loose upon him to
make sport with him. Uncleanness is a sin that makes men vile, and
exposes them to contempt. <i>A wound and dishonour shall he get</i>
whose heart is deceived by a woman, and <i>his reproach shall not
be wiped away.</i> Everlasting shame and contempt will be the
portion of those that are blinded and bound by their own lusts. The
devil that deceived them will insult over them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jud.xvii-p17">II. How justly the God of Israel brought
sudden destruction upon them by the hands of Samson. Thousands of
the Philistines had got together, to attend their lords in the
sacrifices and joys of this day, and to be the spectators of this
comedy; but it proved to them a fatal tragedy, for they were all
slain, and buried in the ruins of the house: whether it was a
temple or a theatre, or whether it was some slight building run up
for the purpose, is uncertain. Observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jud.xvii-p18">1. Who were destroyed: All the <i>lords of
the Philistines</i> (<scripRef id="Jud.xvii-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Judg.16.27" parsed="|Judg|16|27|0|0" passage="Jdg 16:27"><i>v.</i>
27</scripRef>), who had by bribes corrupted Delilah to betray
Samson to them. Evil pursued those sinners. Many of the people
likewise, to the number of 3000, and among them a great many women,
one of whom, it is likely, was that harlot of Gaza mentioned,
<scripRef id="Jud.xvii-p18.2" osisRef="Bible:Judg.16.1" parsed="|Judg|16|1|0|0" passage="Jdg 16:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>. Samson had
been drawn into sin by the Philistine women, and now a great
slaughter is made among them, as was by Moses's order among the
women of Midian, because it was they that <i>caused the children of
Israel to trespass against the Lord in the matter of Peor,</i>
<scripRef id="Jud.xvii-p18.3" osisRef="Bible:Num.31.16" parsed="|Num|31|16|0|0" passage="Nu 31:16">Num. xxxi. 16</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jud.xvii-p19">2. When they were destroyed. (1.) When they
were merry, secure, and jovial, and far from apprehending
themselves in any danger. When they saw Samson lay hold of the
pillars, we may suppose, his doing so served them for a jest, and
they made sport with that too: <i>What will this feeble Jew do?</i>
How are sinners brought to desolation in a moment! They are lifted
up in pride and mirth, that their fall may be the more dreadful.
Let us never envy the mirth of wicked people, but infer from this
instance that their triumphing is short and their joy but for a
moment. (2.) It was when they were praising Dagon their god, and
giving that honour to him which is due to God only, which is no
less than treason against the King of kings, his crown and dignity.
Justly therefore is the blood of these traitors mingled with their
sacrifices. Belshazzar was cut off when he was praising his
man-made gods, <scripRef id="Jud.xvii-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:Dan.5.4" parsed="|Dan|5|4|0|0" passage="Da 5:4">Dan. v. 4</scripRef>.
(3.) It was when they were making sport with an Israelite, a
Nazarite, and insulting over him, persecuting him whom God had
smitten. Nothing fills the measure of the iniquity of any person or
people faster than mocking and 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
a good man.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jud.xvii-p20">3. How they were destroyed. Samson pulled
the house down upon them, God no doubt putting it into his heart,
as a public person, thus to avenge God's quarrel with them,
Israel's, and his own. (1.) He gained strength to do it by prayer,
<scripRef id="Jud.xvii-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:Judg.16.28" parsed="|Judg|16|28|0|0" passage="Jdg 16:28"><i>v.</i> 28</scripRef>. That
strength which he had lost by sin he, like a true penitent,
recovers by prayer; as David, who, when he had provoked the Spirit
of grace to withdraw, prayed (<scripRef id="Jud.xvii-p20.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.51.12" parsed="|Ps|51|12|0|0" passage="Ps 51:12">Ps. li.
12</scripRef>), <i>Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and
uphold me with thy free Spirit.</i> We may suppose that this was
only a mental prayer, and that his voice was not heard (for it was
made in a noisy clamorous crowd of Philistines); but, though his
voice was not heard of men, yet his prayer was heard of God and
graciously answered, and though he lived not to give an account
himself of this his prayer, as Nehemiah did of his, yet God not
only accepted it in heaven, but, by revealing it to the inspired
penmen, provided for the registering of it in his church. He prayed
to God to remember him and strengthen him this once, thereby owning
that his strength for what he had already done he had from God, and
begged it might be afforded to him once more, to give them a
parting blow. That it was not from a principle of passion or
personal revenge, but from a holy zeal for the glory of God and
Israel, that he desired to do this, appears from God's accepting
and answering the prayer. Samson died praying, so did our blessed
Saviour; but Samson prayed for vengeance, Christ for forgiveness.
(2.) He gained opportunity to do it by leaning on the two pillars
which were the chief supports of the building, and were, it seems,
so near together that he could take hold of them both at one time,
<scripRef id="Jud.xvii-p20.3" osisRef="Bible:Judg.16.26 Bible:Judg.16.29" parsed="|Judg|16|26|0|0;|Judg|16|29|0|0" passage="Jdg 16:26,29"><i>v.</i> 26, 29</scripRef>.
Having hold of them, he bore them down with all his might, crying
aloud, <i>Let me die with the Philistines,</i> <scripRef id="Jud.xvii-p20.4" osisRef="Bible:Judg.16.30" parsed="|Judg|16|30|0|0" passage="Jdg 16:30"><i>v.</i> 30</scripRef>. <i>Animamque in vulnere
ponit—While inflicting the wound he dies.</i> The vast concourse
of people that were upon the roof looking down through it to see
the sport, we may suppose, contributed to the fall of it. A weight
so much greater than ever it was designed to carry might perhaps
have sunk of itself, at least it made the fall more fatal to those
within: and indeed few of either could escape being either stifled
or crushed to death. This was done, not by any natural strength of
Samson, but by the almighty power of God, and is not only
marvellous, but miraculous, in our eyes. Now in this, [1.] The
Philistines were greatly mortified. All their lords and great men
were killed, and abundance of their people, and this in the midst
of their triumph; the temple of Dagon (as many think the house was)
was pulled down, and Dagon buried in it. This would give a great
check to the insolence of the survivors, and, if Israel had but had
so much sense and spirit left them as to improve the advantages of
this juncture, they might now have thrown off the Philistines'
yoke. [2.] Samson may very well be justified, and brought in not
guilty of any sinful murder either of himself or the Philistines.
He was a public person, a declared enemy to the Philistines,
against whom he might therefore take all advantages. They were now
in the most barbarous manner making war upon him; all present were
aiding and abetting, and justly die with him. Nor was he <i>felo de
se,</i> or <i>a self-murderer,</i> in it; for it was not his own
life that he aimed at, though he had too much reason to be weary of
it, but the lives of Israel's enemies, for the reaching of which he
bravely resigned his own, <i>not counting it dear to him, so that
he might finish his course</i> with honour. [3.] God was very much
glorified in pardoning Samson's great transgressions, of which this
was an evidence. It has been said that the prince's giving a
commission to one convicted amounts to a pardon. Yet, <i>though he
was a God that forgave him, he took vengeance of his inventions</i>
(<scripRef id="Jud.xvii-p20.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.99.8" parsed="|Ps|99|8|0|0" passage="Ps 99:8">Ps. xcix. 8</scripRef>), and, by
suffering his champion to die in fetters, warned all to take heed
of those lusts which war against the soul. However, we have good
reason to hope that though Samson died with the Philistines he had
not his everlasting portion with them. <i>The Lord knows those that
are his.</i> [4.] Christ was plainly typified. He pulled down the
devil's kingdom, as Samson did Dagon's temple; and, when he died,
he obtained the most glorious victory over the powers of darkness.
Then when his arms were stretched out upon the cross, as Samson's
to the two pillars, he gave a fatal shake to the gates of hell,
and, <i>through death, destroyed him that had the power of death,
that is, the devil</i> (<scripRef id="Jud.xvii-p20.6" osisRef="Bible:Heb.2.14-Heb.2.15" parsed="|Heb|2|14|2|15" passage="Heb 2:14,15">Heb. ii.
14, 15</scripRef>), and herein exceeded Samson, that he not only
died with the Philistines, but rose again to triumph over them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Jud.xvii-p21"><i>Lastly,</i> The story of Samson
concludes, 1. With an account of his burial. His own relations,
animated by the glories that attended his death, came and found out
his body among the slain, brought it honourably to his own country,
and buried it in the place of his fathers' sepulchres, the
Philistines being in such a consternation that they durst not
oppose it. 2. With the repetition of the account we had before of
the continuance of his government: <i>He judged Israel twenty
years;</i> and, if they had not been as mean and sneaking as he was
brave and daring, he would have left them clear of the Philistines'
yoke. They might have been easy, safe, and happy, if they would but
have given God and their judges leave to make them so.</p>
</div></div2>