Judges 16:28

DAGON'S TEMPLE DEMOLISHED; SAMSON'S DEATH AND BURIAL

"And Samson called unto Jehovah, and said, O Lord Jehovah, 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. And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house rested, and leaned upon them, the one with his right hand, the other with his left. And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead that he slew at his death were more than they that he slew in his life. Then his brethren and all the house of his father came down and took him, and brought him up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the burying-place of Manoah his father. And he judged Israel twenty years."

"And Samson called unto Jehovah" (Judges 16:28). This is the first record of a prayer by Samson since he had prayed God to save him from death by thirst at Lehi, signifying a wholesome and glorious change in Samson. The awful punishments for his sins had, at last, brought him to his senses, and in the extremity of his shame and humiliation he cried out for God to remember him.

"Lord ... Jehovah ... God" (Judges 16:28). All three of these names for God were used in Samson's appeal, the same being another proof, along with a thousand others, that multiple names of God are not an indication of multiple sources. "The three-fold name by which Samson addresses God implies great tension of spirit. The language is very serious."[27]

The liberal writers who glibly assign this narrative to "editors," "redactors," or "compilers," should explain to us how anyone except an inspired writer in possession of the Spirit of God could have revealed this dying appeal of Samson. The inspired Samuel could have done it, but who else?

"That I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes" (Judges 16:28). Keil preferred the marginal reading here, which is, "that I may be avenged for one of my two eyes." "This shows how painfully Samson felt the loss of his two eyes, a loss, the severity of which even the terrible vengeance he was about to execute could never outweigh."[28] If Samson could have kept those precious eyes off of the immoral women that he met, he might have been able to keep them until life's end.

"Let me die with the Philistines" (Judges 16:30). This was Samson's prayer for God to allow him to die, that being the only way out of the terrible disgrace into which he had fallen. God did hear Samson, and God answered his prayer. Samson should not be classified as a suicide. "He was not a suicide, but a hero, who saw that it was necessary for him to plunge into the midst of his enemies with the inevitable certainty of death, in order to effect his deliverance of God's people and to demonstrate the superiority of Jehovah."[29]

If Samson had survived, he would have still been a slave of the Philistines, grinding at the mill, led around by the hand, the laughing-stock of his enemies. The mercy of God granted deliverance from the continuation of that fate to Samson.

With regard to the type of construction in that temple of Dagon, recent archaeological discoveries have confirmed all of the details of it mentioned in the Book of Judges. In 1973, an expedition excavated such a temple in the Philistine city of Tel Quasile. "What makes it so interesting is its unusual construction. Two large wooden columns on stone bases only a few feet apart in the center of the temple next to the place of the idol supported the rest of the mud-brick building."[30]

"The dead that he slew at his death were more than they that he slew in his life" (Judges 16:30). We are not informed of the number of fatalities resulting from the destruction of Dagon's temple, probably because nobody knew how many died. With regard to who might have been among the casualties, we have a natural curiosity regarding Delilah.

Was Delilah among those whom Samson "liquidated" by this feat? We feel that only an affirmative answer is possible. Would the lords of the Philistines have staged such a tremendous celebration of their victory over Samson, in which their favorite prostitute had played such an important part, without inviting her?

Certainly not! There sat Delilah with her benevolent "customers," the lords of the Philistines; and when the slain were removed, we feel a positive certainty that Delilah, along with the lords who bribed her, received the just reward of her deeds.

"His brethren ... came and took him and buried him in the burial-place of his father" (Judges 16:31). It is evident, of course, that Manoah was deceased at that time. Despite all of Samson's sinful escapades, Israel continued to honor his memory, and in the N.T., the author of Hebrews inscribed his name among the heroes of faith (Hebrews 11:32).

The very fact that Samson's body was recovered from the Philistine temple is proof of the enormous casualties that had marked its collapse. Under normal conditions, the Philistines would have abused the body of Samson as they did that of King Saul, but on this occasion, "The Philistines were in such a state of confusion following the collapse of their temple and the death of their lords and thousands of others that the brothers and family of Samson were allowed to remove the body and bury it in the hill-country overlooking the Valley of Sorek."[31]