Judges 16:23-31--The Death of Samson

Judges 16:23-31
English Standard Version

The Death of Samson
23 Now the lords of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to rejoice, and they said, “Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand.” 24 And when the people saw him, they praised their god. For they said, “Our god has given our enemy into our hand, the ravager of our country, who has killed many of us.” 25 And when their hearts were merry, they said, “Call Samson, that he may entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he entertained them. They made him stand between the pillars. 26 And Samson said to the young man who held him by the hand, “Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, that I may lean against them.” 27 Now the house was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there, and on the roof there were about 3,000 men and women, who looked on while Samson entertained.

​28 Then Samson called to the LORD and said, “O LORD God, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God, that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes.” 29 And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and he leaned his weight against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other. 30 And Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” Then he bowed with all his strength, and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he had killed during his life. 31 Then his brothers and all his family came down and took him and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had judged Israel twenty years.

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The Philistines were gathered together in the temple of Dagon to make a great sacrifice to Dagon for allowing them to capture Samson.  It was a time of celebration and feasting for the leaders and for the common people because for years they had feared Samson who they called "the ravager of [their] country" and the one who had killed many of their people.

After much merriment (they were probably very drunk at this point) they called for Samson to be brought out of the prison for their entertainment (they wanted to ridicule him to his face).  They made him stand between the pillars of the temple and Sampson acted weak and asked the men guarding him to let him put one hand on each of the [weight-bearing] pillars on which the temple rested so that he could lean on them for support.  Even though Samson's hair had started to grow back, his strength had not returned to him because, as we'll see here his strength had to do with the Spirit of the LORD resting upon him and had nothing to do with the length of his hair.

The text tells us that all the lords of the Philistines (the ones that just paid the bribe to Delilah) were there that day, and the whole temple was full of people, and there were even 3,000 men and women on the roof of the temple that day.  Everyone that could be there was there to celebrate the capture of Samson.  Samson knew this was probably his last chance to deliver a decisive blow to the Philistines, and he cried out to the LORD to once more restore his strength to him so that he might once again take out his vengeance on the Philistines (this time for his two eyes)."  He put one hand on each pillar and then finished his prayer by saying, "Let me die with the Philistines."

The LORD answers his prayer and gives him the strength the make the temple collapse and kill everyone that was inside and and all those that were standing on the roof so that in his death, he killed more Philistines than when he was alive.  His family came down and took his body and buried him in the tomb of his father.  The text again reminds us that he judges Israel for twenty years   Samson is the last of the major judges that we'll discuss in the book of Judges.  There are a few more chapters left that will take us all the way to the time of Samuel, the last Judge and the first of the Prophets that would serve during the time of the Kings--the final chapters will set things up for us so we understand the politics of why the people demand a king and they will choose a king from the tribe of Benjamin (not the tribe of Judah as they should have).  We'll then take a look at the book of Ruth which takes place during the time of the Judges to see a glimpse of what God is up to in the midst of all this moral and cultural depravity that we've been talking about.  God is still faithful to accomplish his gospel purposes for the nation of Israel and for the whole world, even though that is hard to see as we've been studying the book of Judges.