Judges 16:1

THE TRAGIC STORY ENDS WITH THE DEATH OF SAMSON

We are annoyed by the RIDICULOUS assertions of some scholars, claiming that: "The Samson story terminated in Judges 15:19, and that in Judges 16 is a `later addition'";[1] or that, "The attitude of the Deuteronomic editor is reflected here in what he did not say."[2] Neither comment can be accepted because, "Whoever heard of the story of any man, much less that of a hero like Samson, ending BEFORE his death?" As for that alleged Deuteronomic editor, no such person is known. The author of the Samson story was inspired of God, and a possessor of God's Spirit, and if that had not been the case, we could never have received the exact words of Samson's prayer as recorded upon the occasion of his death. As we go further and further into this remarkable narrative, the opinion of Sir Isaac Newton appears more and more attractive - that the inspired Samuel must be received as the author of it.

This narrative of Samson is an unmitigated tragedy. "No potential saviour-figure offered MORE promise than Samson, or delivered LESS. Israel had sunk to a new low; and these two final incidents fully expose Israel's plight."[3]

It is difficult indeed to imagine a more shameful situation for God's Chosen People than that in which their Judge and accepted leader was blinded and made to do the work of a donkey, grinding wheat in the mill of the Philistines, and suffering the humiliation of being compelled to entertain his captors at the very festival where they were celebrating Samson's defeat.

With the story of Samson, the era of the Judgeship in Israel was concluded. Samuel indeed judged Israel for awhile, but it was he who anointed Saul as Israel's first king, thus bringing in the institution of the monarchy. It is not hard to understand why many in Israel began to clamor for a king.

Many writers of Biblical commentaries have spoken of Samson, and even John Milton, the great English poet, wrote "Samson Agonistes," which, is in general an excellent commentary on this remarkable character. "Just as Samson's love for a daughter of the Philistines had furnished Samson with his great opportunity to show God's superiority over the pagan deities of the Philistines, just so, it was the degradation of that love into animal lust that supplied the occasion for his fall and death."[4] It is this shameful development which the sacred author narrates in this chapter.

SAMSON CARRIES AWAY THE GATES OF GAZA

"And Samson went to Gaza, and saw there a harlot, and went in unto her. And it was told the Gazites, saying, Samson is come hither. And they compassed him in, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all night, saying; Let be till morning light, then we will kill him. And Samson lay till midnight, and laid hold of the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and plucked them up, bar and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of the mountain that is before Hebron."

"Samson went down to Gaza" (Judges 16:1). "Gaza was the last coast town on the way down to Egypt and was about thirty miles from Samson's home."[5] The city is still there, sustaining a population in excess of 10,000. "It is located two miles from the Mediterranean coast."[6] "

We agree with Hervey that this episode "came many years after Samson's victory at Lehi, near the latter part of Samson's twenty-year judgeship."[7] This appears to be evident from the mention of that 20-year interval in the last verse of Judges 15, that being the purpose of its mention there, and not the indication of "separate sources," as some vainly suppose. As Keil said regarding Judges 15:20, "It is impossible to draw any critical conclusions from the position in which this remark occurs, as to a plurality of sources for the story of Samson."[8]

The alleged "confusion" and "improbabilities" spoken of by some writers are non-existent here. Strahan stated that, "Judges 16:2b does not agree with Judges 16:2a, because there would be no need to keep watch by night when the gates were closed."[9] Hervey explains what is said here. "`Laid wait for him all night' is merely a reference to the ambush they planned in the city gates."[10] These liers-in-wait did not stay awake all night, supposing it to have been unnecessary. The text clearly states that, "They were quiet all night," meaning that they went to sleep, of course. They no doubt slept, "In the guardroom by the side of the gate."[11] The ambush had been planned the previous evening in anticipation that Samson would leave early the next day.

"Samson arose at midnight" (Judges 16:3). We are not told just why Samson decided to leave at midnight. We might suppose that he had become suspicious of the harlot he visited, and that he suspected her of telling the Gazites of his presence in that city, but Samson, as we may judge from the rest of the narrative, was incapable of suspecting his various female companions. It could be that this particular harlot warned him of his danger. "The doors of the gate of the city, the two posts, bars and all" (Judges 16:3). Superhuman strength indeed would have been required to load such a mass upon one's shoulders and carry it away.

"He carried them up to the top of the mountain that is before Hebron" (Judges 16:3). There are two ways of looking at this. "That is before Hebron" can be interpreted as, "in the direction of Hebron," or as meaning one of the foothills of the mountain near Hebron. Accordingly, Keil gave the distance that Samson carried the gates as about "Nine geographical miles,"[12] but Strahan gave it as "Forty miles"; Armerding made it "Thirty-eight miles";[13] and Kyle Yates wrote that, "Samson was able to lift the gates of the city, with their posts and the bar which fastened them, and carry them forty miles to the vicinity of Hebron."[14]