1Samson se jednou vydal do Gazy. Uviděl tam jednu nevěstku a šel k ní. 2Mezi obyvateli Gazy se rozneslo: „Samson je tu!“ Obcházeli tedy kolem a celý den na něj číhali v městské bráně. Celou noc ale byli v klidu, protože si říkali: „Zabijeme ho, až se rozední.“ 3Samson ale zůstal ležet jen do půlnoci. O půlnoci vstal, popadl vrata městské brány a vytrhl je i s oběma veřejemi a závorou. Naložil si je na záda a vynesl je až na vrchol té hory před Hebronem. 4Jednou se pak zamiloval do jedné ženy v údolí Sorek. Jmenovala se Dalila. 5Přišli za ní filištínští vládci a žádali ji: „Sveď ho a zjisti, v čem je ta jeho veliká síla a jak bychom ho mohli přemoci, spoutat a zkrotit. Každý z nás ti dá jedenáct set šekelů stříbra.“ 6Dalila se tedy Samsona vyptávala: „Prozraď mi, prosím, v čem je ta tvoje veliká síla? Čím bys mohl být spoután a zkrocen?“ 7Samson jí řekl: „Kdyby mě spoutali sedmi novými tětivami, které ještě nevyschly, byl bych slabý jako každý jiný.“ 8Filištínští vládci za ní tedy přišli se sedmi novými tětivami, které ještě nevyschly, a ona ho jimi spoutala. 9(V pokoji přitom měla ukryté muže.) Vtom na něj zavolala: „Samsone, Filištíni jdou na tebe!“ On ale ty tětivy roztrhal, jako se trhá koudel, když se jí dotkne plamen. Tajemství jeho síly tedy nebylo odhaleno. 10Dalila pak Samsonovi vyčítala: „Ach, tys mě oklamal, říkal jsi mi lži! Teď už mi ale pověz, čím bys mohl být spoután.“ 11Řekl jí tedy: „Kdyby mě pevně spoutali novými provazy, které se ještě na nic nepoužily, byl bych slabý jako každý jiný.“ 12Dalila pak vzala nové provazy a spoutala ho jimi. Vtom na něj zavolala: „Samsone, Filištíni jdou na tebe!“ (V pokoji přitom měla ukryté muže.) On si ale ty provazy strhal z paží jako nitě. 13Dalila pak Samsonovi vyčítala: „Až doteď jsi mě klamal, říkal jsi mi lži! Pověz mi, čím bys mohl být spoután?“ Řekl jí tedy: „Kdybys těch sedm copů, co mám na hlavě, vpletla do osnovy a utáhla kolíkem, byl bych slabý jako každý jiný.“ 14Když pak usnul, Dalila vzala sedm copů na jeho hlavě, vpletla je do osnovy a utáhla kolíkem. Vtom na něj zavolala: „Samsone, Filištíni jdou na tebe!“ Probudil se ze spánku a vytrhl kolík i se stavem a osnovou. 15A tak mu vyčítala: „Jak můžeš říkat, že mě miluješ, když u mě nemáš srdce? Už třikrát jsi mě oklamal! Copak mi nepovíš, v čem je ta tvoje veliká síla?“ 16Těmi řečmi ho mučila den co den, až jednou měl toho dotírání k smrti dost. 17Tehdy jí všechno prozradil: „Mé hlavy se nedotkla břitva, protože jsem už od matčina lůna zasvěcen Bohu jako nazír. Kdyby mě oholili, má síla by mě opustila a byl bych slabý jako každý jiný.“ 18Dalila poznala, že jí všechno prozradil, a tak poslala pro filištínské vládce: „Přijďte ještě jednou – všechno mi prozradil!“ Filištínští vládci k ní tedy přišli a přinesli s sebou peníze. 19Potom uspala Samsona na klíně a zavolala někoho, ať mu z hlavy oholí těch sedm copů. Tak ho ovládla a podmanila; jeho síla ho opustila. 20Vtom zavolala: „Samsone, Filištíni jdou na tebe!“ Probudil se ze spánku a řekl si: „Z toho se dostanu jako už tolikrát; setřesu to ze sebe.“ Nevěděl, že od něj Hospodin odstoupil. 21Filištíni ho popadli a vyloupli mu oči. Potom ho odvedli dolů do Gazy, kde ho spoutali bronzovými řetězy a ve vězení musel otáčet mlýnským kamenem. 22Vlasy na mu ale na oholené hlavě začaly znovu růst. 23Filištínští vládci se sešli, aby přinesli velikou oběť svému bohu Dágonovi a aby oslavovali. Prohlašovali totiž: „Do rukou nám bůh náš dal našeho nepřítele Samsona!“ 24Lid při pohledu na něj chválil svého boha: „Do rukou nám bůh náš dal našeho nepřítele, naší země ničitele – tolik našich zmordoval!“ 25A když byli v nejlepším, řekli: „Zavolejte Samsona, ať je zábava!“ Zavolali tedy Samsona z vězení, aby je bavil. Když ho postavili mezi sloupy, 26Samson požádal chlapce, který ho vedl za ruku: „Nech mě sáhnout na sloupy, které drží tenhle chrám. Chci se o ně opřít.“ 27Chrám byl plný mužů i žen. Byli tam i všichni filištínští vládci. I na střeše bylo kolem tří tisíc mužů a žen, kteří chtěli vidět tu zábavu se Samsonem. 28Tehdy Samson volal k Hospodinu: „Hospodine, Pane můj, rozpomeň se na mě! Ještě jednou mi prosím dej sílu, Bože! Ať se Filištínům najednou pomstím za obě své oči!“ 29Pak nahmatal oba prostřední sloupy, které držely chrám, a opřel se o ně, pravicí o jeden a levicí o druhý. 30„Ať zemřu i s těmi Filištíny“ zvolal Samson a zatlačil vší silou, takže se chrám zřítil na vládce i na všechen lid uvnitř. Tak jich zabil při své smrti více než za svého života. 31Potom tam přišli jeho bratři a celá jeho rodina, aby si ho vzali. Odnesli ho a pohřbili mezi Coreou a Eštaolem v hrobě jeho otce Manoacha. Soudil Izrael dvacet let.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 SAMSON CARRIES AWAY THE GATES OF GAZA. (
Judg 16:1-
Judg 16:3)
Gaza--now Guzzah, the capital of the largest of the five Philistine principal cities, about fifteen miles southwest of Ashkelon. The object of this visit to this city is not recorded, and unless he had gone in disguise, it was a perilous exposure of his life in one of the enemy's strongholds. It soon became known that he was there; and it was immediately resolved to secure him. But deeming themselves certain of their prey, the Gazites deferred the execution of their measure till the morning.
3 Samson . . . arose at midnight, and took the doors of the gate of the city--A ruinous pile of masonry is still pointed out as the site of the gate. It was probably a part of the town wall, and as this ruin is "toward Hebron," there is no improbability in the tradition.
carried them up to the top of an hill that is before Hebron--That hill is El-Montar; but by Hebron in this passage is meant "the mountains of Hebron"; for otherwise Samson, had he run night and day from the time of his flight from Gaza, could only have come on the evening of the following day within sight of the city of Hebron. The city of Gaza was, in those days, probably not less than three-quarters of an hour distant from El-Montar. To have climbed to the top of this hill with the ponderous doors and their bolts on his shoulders, through a road of thick sand, was a feat which none but a Samson could have accomplished [VAN DE VELDE].
4 DELILAH CORRUPTED BY THE PHILISTINES. (
Judg 16:4-
Judg 16:14)
he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek--The location of this place is not known, nor can the character of Delilah be clearly ascertained. Her abode, her mercenary character, and her heartless blandishments afford too much reason to believe she was a profligate woman.
5 the lords of the Philistines--The five rulers deemed no means beneath their dignity to overcome this national enemy.
Entice him, and see wherein his great strength lieth--They probably imagined that he carried some amulet about his person, or was in the possession of some important secret by which he had acquired such herculean strength; and they bribed Delilah, doubtless by a large reward, to discover it for them. She undertook the service and made several attempts, plying all her arts of persuasion or blandishment in his soft and communicative moods, to extract his secret.
7 Samson said . . ., If they bind me with seven green withs--Vine tendrils, pliant twigs, or twists made of crude vegetable stalks are used in many Eastern countries for ropes at the present day.
8 she bound him with them--probably in a sportive manner, to try whether he was jesting or in earnest.
9 there were men lying in wait, abiding . . . in the chamber--The Hebrew, literally rendered, is, "in the inner," or "most secret part of the house."
10 And Delilah said--To avoid exciting suspicion, she must have allowed some time to elapse before making this renewed attempt.
12 new ropes--It is not said of what material they were formed; but from their being dried, it is probable they were of twigs, like the former. The Hebrew intimates that they were twisted, and of a thick, strong description.
13 If thou weavest the seven locks of my head--braids or tresses, into which, like many in the East, he chose to plait his hair. Working at the loom was a female employment; and Delilah's appears to have been close at hand. It was of a very simple construction; the woof was driven into the warp, not by a reed, but by a wooden spatula. The extremity of the web was fastened to a pin or stake fixed in the wall or ground; and while Delilah sat squatting at her loom, Samson lay stretched on the floor, with his head reclining on her lap--a position very common in the East.
14 went away with the pin of the beam, and with the web--that is, the whole weaving apparatus.
16 HE IS OVERCOME. (
Judg 16:15-
Judg 16:20)
she pressed him daily with her words--Though disappointed and mortified, this vile woman resolved to persevere; and conscious how completely he was enslaved by his passion for her, she assailed him with a succession of blandishing arts, till she at length discovered the coveted secret.
17 if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me--His herculean powers did not arise from his hair, but from his peculiar relation to God as a Nazarite. His unshorn locks were a sign of his Nazaritism, and a pledge on the part of God that his supernatural strength would be continued.
19 she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head--It is uncertain, however, whether the ancient Hebrews cut off the hair to the same extent as Orientals now. The word employed is sometimes the same as that for shearing sheep, and therefore the instrument might be only scissors.
20 he wist not that the Lord was departed from him--What a humiliating and painful spectacle! Deprived of the divine influences, degraded in his character, and yet, through the infatuation of a guilty passion, scarcely awake to the wretchedness of his fallen condition!
21 THE PHILISTINES TOOK HIM AND PUT OUT HIS EYES. (
Judg 16:21-
Judg 16:22)
the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes--To this cruel privation prisoners of rank and consequence have commonly been subjected in the East. The punishment is inflicted in various ways, by scooping out the eyeballs, by piercing the eye, or destroying the sight by holding a red-hot iron before the eyes. His security was made doubly sure by his being bound with fetters of brass (copper), not of leather, like other captives.
he did grind in the prison-house--This grinding with hand-millstones being the employment of menials, he was set to it as the deepest degradation.
22 Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again--It is probable that he had now reflected on his folly; and becoming a sincere penitent, renewed his Nazarite vow. "His hair grew together with his repentance, and his strength with his hairs" [BISHOP HALL].
23 THEIR FEAST TO DAGON. (
Judg 16:23-
Judg 16:25)
the lords of the Philistines gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon--It was a common practice in heathen nations, on the return of their solemn religious festivals, to bring forth their war prisoners from their places of confinement or slavery; and, in heaping on them every species of indignity, they would offer their grateful tribute to the gods by whose aid they had triumphed over their enemies. Dagon was a sea idol, usually represented as having the head and upper parts human, while the rest of the body resembled a fish.
27 HIS DEATH. (
Judg 16:26-
Judg 16:31)
there were upon the roof about three thousand men and women, that beheld while Samson made sport--This building seems to have been similar to the spacious and open amphitheaters well known among the Romans and still found in many countries of the East. They are built wholly of wood. The standing place for the spectators is a wooden floor resting upon two pillars and rising on an inclined plane, so as to enable all to have a view of the area in the center. In the middle there are two large beams, on which the whole weight of the structure lies, and these beams are supported by two pillars placed almost close to each other, so that when these are unsettled or displaced, the whole pile must tumble to the ground.
28 Samson called unto the Lord--His penitent and prayerful spirit seems clearly to indicate that this meditated act was not that of a vindictive suicide, and that he regarded himself as putting forth his strength in his capacity of a public magistrate. He must be considered, in fact, as dying for his country's cause. His death was not designed or sought, except as it might be the inevitable consequence of his great effort. His prayer must have been a silent ejaculation, and, from its being revealed to the historian, approved and accepted of God.
31 Then his brethren and all the house of his father came down, and took him, and brought him up, and buried him--This awful catastrophe seems to have so completely paralyzed the Philistines, that they neither attempted to prevent the removal of Samson's corpse, nor to molest the Israelites for a long time after. Thus the Israelitish hero rendered by his strength and courage signal services to his country, and was always regarded as the greatest of its champions. But his slavish subjection to the domination of his passions was unworthy of so great a man and lessens our respect for his character. Yet he is ranked among the ancient worthies who maintained a firm faith in God (
Heb 11:32).