Judges 16:22-30

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

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Judges 16:28

And Samson called unto the Lord ,.... In an ejaculatory manner, by mental prayer; though he might possibly express it aloud, without being heard and observed by the people, amidst their noise and mirth; and if it was heard, it might only furnish out more ridicule and contempt; and be it as it may, the prayer must have been preserved by the Lord himself, and given by inspiration to the writer of this book; since there were none that heard it that lived to relate it to others, no, not Samson... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Judges 16:29

And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars, upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up ,.... Some have objected, that a building so large and so capacious as this was could not be supported by two pillars, and those placed in the middle, and so near to each other that Samson could lay hold on them; on which it has been observed, that the architecture of the ancients is little known to us, and they might have curious and ingenious arts of building, now lost; and several... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Judges 16:30

And Samson said, let me die with the Philistines ,.... He sought their death, and was content to lose his own life to be avenged on them; in neither of which did he act a criminal part as a judge of Israel; and from a public spirit he might desire the death of their enemies, and seek to effect it by all means possible; and was the more justifiable at this time, as they were not only insulting him, the representative of his nation, but were affronting the most high God with their idolatries,... read more

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