Judges 16:1-3. _Samson at Gaza_ 1 _.Gaza_ The most southerly of the Philistine cities, and far from the scene of Samson's other adventures. Long before the Philistines arrived Gaza is mentioned in Egyptian lists (e.g. in the time of Thothmes III), and in the Amarna letters. As it lay at the meeting... [ Continue Reading ]
And it was told _the Gazites_ The verb has fallen out by accident; the LXX read it in the text. _all night in the gate_ The text makes the Philistines lie in wait all the night, and keep quiet all the night; but there would be no need to keep watch in the gate at night, for the gate would be shut. T... [ Continue Reading ]
_plucked them up_ Cf. Judges 16:14; the word is used of _plucking up_tent-pegs Isaiah 33:20, hence of _setting out_on a journey Genesis 35:5 and often. The gate was probably in two leaves, turning upon pins in sockets, and secured by a bar (cf. 1 Kings 4:13; Amos 1:5 etc.) which was let into the po... [ Continue Reading ]
_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... [ Continue Reading ]
_his great strength lieth_ HIS STRENGTH IS GREAT; render similarly in Judges 16:6_; Judges 16:15_. _eleven hundred pieces of silver_ in uncoined metal, calculated by the scales (Genesis 23:16): a large bribe when multiplied by five (Judges 3:3). The odd number means a full thousand, cf. Judges 17:2... [ Continue Reading ]
_seven green withes_ Follow marg.; similarly LXX and Vulgate The cords (cf. Psalms 11:2; Psalms 21:12) were to be made of _fresh_or _moist_gut. Elsewhere the adjective is applied to trees or fruit, hence the rendering of EV; _withes_= flexible twigs, esp. of willow; Josephus thinks of vine stalks. T... [ Continue Reading ]
_she bound him_ When he was asleep, as we may infer from Judges 16:14_; Judges 16:19_. What Samson proposed in jest, Delîlah carried out in earnest.... [ Continue Reading ]
_new robes_ As in Judges 15:13-14.... [ Continue Reading ]
_If thou weavest the seven locks … web_ PLAITS … WARP. Weaving was the work of women as well as of men; see the illustration from the Egyptian tombs at Beni Hasan dating from the Middle Kingdom, Benzinger, _Hebr. Archäol._2, p. 151; Delîlah has a loom in her house. This was a horizontal loom fastene... [ Continue Reading ]
_the pin of the beam_ The Hebrew is ungrammatical and gives the impression that _the pin_has been intruded. Instead of _beam_render LOOM (_"ereg_, Job 7:6). The general sense is clear: Samson pulled up the whole framework, warp and all, out of the ground by the hair of his head. The Greek versions,... [ Continue Reading ]
_she pressed him_ Cf. Judges 14:17. When it came to testing the higher kind of strength, Samson failed. -I to myself was false ere thou to me"; Milton, _Samson Agonistes_, 824.... [ Continue Reading ]
_all his heart_ i.e. all that he knew about his supernatural secret, Judges 13:5-7. The _heart_in the O.T. is the seat not merely of the affections, but of the mind and will; so in Judges 16:15_; Judges 16:18_.... [ Continue Reading ]
_he hath told me_ So the Hebr. marg. (Ḳerç); this is to be preferred to the Hebr. text (Kethîbh) which = RVm. _and brought_ The verb is probably an insertion; read simply _and_, i.e. _with_. The previous verb _came up_requires a slight, alteration in the Hebr.... [ Continue Reading ]
_she made him sleep_ Cf. Judges 16:14 LXX. cod. A. For _a man_the original has THE MAN, i.e. who was waiting in readiness. For _and shaved_(subj. Delîlah) the context seems to require the reading _and he shaved_; the man was called in for this purpose. _she began to afflict him_ Can this mean, by c... [ Continue Reading ]
_the Lord was departed from him_ Cf. 1 Samuel 18:12; 1 Samuel 28:15-16. The unshorn locks were the secret of his strength, and these were a sign of consecration to Jehovah; so long as he preserved them the Lord was with him. For any exceptional feat, however, he needed a special access of Jehovah's... [ Continue Reading ]
_to Gaza_ -His degeneration began at Gaza, therefore he was punished at Gaza," runs the Rabbinic comment, which also sees a just retribution for the sin of his eyes (Judges 14:3 lit. -she is right in mine eyes") in the loss of his eyes. Talm. _Sota_9 _b_. _and he did grind_ It was his continual task... [ Continue Reading ]
_began to grow again_ and his strength simultaneously. The remark prepares the way for the supreme effort at the end. We must suppose a considerable interval to have passed between the capture and the closing scene.... [ Continue Reading ]
_a great sacrifice unto Dagon_ at Gaza, as the context suggests (Judges 16:21). Dagon was the god specially honoured by the Philistines; he had a temple at Ashdod (1 Samuel 5:2-7Ma 10:83 f., Judges 11:4) and elsewhere; there was a Beth-dagon in the Shephçlah (Joshua 15:41? = _Beit-dejan_6 m. S.E. of... [ Continue Reading ]
_saw him_ As Samson does not appear till the next verse, Lagrange suggests that _him_refers to Dagon, whose image was uncovered at this moment or carried out in procession. It is more likely that the order of the narrative has been disturbed; if we place Judges 16:24 after Judges 16:25 everything fa... [ Continue Reading ]
_he made sport before them_ in the court, we may suppose, in front of _the house_, i.e. the temple of Dagon. When the sport was over, Samson was set among the pillars of the open hall or porch of the temple, where the crowd could satisfy their curiosity by a nearer view.... [ Continue Reading ]
_and all the lords … three thousand men and women_ No doubt an insertion to heighten the effect; grammatically _full of men and women_is carried on by _that beheld_, shewing that the intervening words are not original. No mention of the people on the roof is made in Judges 16:30. The LXX. cod. B has... [ Continue Reading ]
_that I may be at once avenged_ A questionable rendering; follow the mg., THAT I MAY BE AVENGED … FOR ONE OF MY TWO EYES. The grim humour of the words, as Moore points out, is altogether in character. The utmost vengeance would barely compensate for the loss of one eye alone.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Let me die_ lit. -let my soul die." In the O.T. the soul is not the immortal, but the mortal, element in man: it is that which breathes, the principle of life. When a person dies the soul _goes out_(Genesis 35:18, cf. Jeremiah 15:9) and exists no more. _the dead which he slew_ -Samson hath quit h... [ Continue Reading ]
_came down_ Gaza lay near the sea; Samson's home was on the slopes of the Central Range. The Philistines" quarrel was not with the kinsmen; they were not refused the right of sepulture. Contrast 1 Samuel 31:10 f. _Manoah his father_ Strictly speaking, the ancestor of the family. See notes on Judges... [ Continue Reading ]