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Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Judges 16:22-31

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 (Jdg.... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Judges 16:22

Howbeit, the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven. It began to grow immediately no doubt, as it naturally would do; but it is highly probable it grew in an extraordinary manner, and in a short time became as when it was shaved F14 כאשר גלח "ut rasus fuerat", Tigurine version, Vatablus; "ut quum abraderetur", Junius & Tremellius. , as it may be rendered, and upon which his strength was renewed; not that his strength naturally lay in his hair, and so naturally... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Judges 16:23

Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together ,.... The five lords, with their friends, not directly upon Samson's being taken and committed to prison, but some time after; perhaps some months: for to get a great sacrifice to Dagon their god ; in later times their god was called Marnas F15 Hicron. in Isa. xvii. fol. 39. K. , which signifies the lord of men, but now Dagon; who also had a temple at Ashdod, another of the five principalities of the Philistines, 1 Samuel... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Judges 16:24

And when the people saw him ,.... In the condition he was, blinded and fettered, of whom and of his great exploits they had heard so much: they praised their god; as Belshazzar did his, Daniel 5:4 in hymns and songs composed for them, the substance of which was as follows: for they said, our god hath delivered into our hands our enemy, and the destroyer of our country ; as he had been, by tying firebrands to the tails of three hundred foxes, and letting them go into their cornfields,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Judges 16:25

And it came to pass when their hearts were merry ,.... With wine, for which Gaza is famous in many writers F23 Vid. Rivinum de Majumis, &c.; c. 6. sect. 13. ; with eating and drinking, dancing, and music; for it was usual for the Heathens to feast in their temples, and especially no doubt they would on such an occasion as this: and they said, call for Samson, that he may make us sport ; by which it seems that what is before said, "when the people saw him", Judges 16:24 is... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Judges 16:26

And Samson said to the lad that held him by the hand ,.... And led him about; as nothing is more common now than for a blind man to be led by a boy: suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house standeth ; he might by information know in what manner the house was built, that it was supported by pillars, if he had never been in it before when he had his sight; and he might understand, by some means or another, that he was near these pillars, and placed between them, though... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Judges 16:27

Now the house was full of men and women ,.... Within it, who were gathered together from all parts of the city, and perhaps from other places on this occasion: and all the lords of the Philistines were there ; their five lords, the lords of Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron: and there were upon the roof three thousand men and women ; it being a flat roof, as the houses in Canaan and Phoenicia, and the places adjacent, were; see Deuteronomy 22:8 and there might be some... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Judges 16:22

The hair of his head began to grow again - And may we not suppose that, sensible of his sin and folly, he renewed his Nazir vow to the Lord, in consequence of which his supernatural strength was again restored? read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Judges 16:23

Unto Dagon their god - Diodorus Siculus describes their god thus: Το μεν προσωπον εχει γυναικος, το δ ' αλλο σωμα παν ιχθους ; "It had the head of a woman, but all the rest of the body resembled a fish." Dagon was called Dorceto among the heathens. Horace, in the following lines, especially in the third and fourth, seems to have in view the image of Dagon: - Humano capiti cervicem pictor equinam Pingere si velit; et varias inducere plumas, Undique collatis Inembris;... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Judges 16:25

Call for Samson , that he may make us sport - What the sport was we cannot tell; probably it was an exhibition of his prodigious strength. This seems to be intimated by what is said, Judges 16:22 , of the restoration of his hair; and the exertions he was obliged to make will account for the weariness which gave him the pretense to ask for leave to lean against the pillars. Some think he was brought out to be a laughing-stock, and that he was variously insulted by the... read more

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