Judges 16

Judges 16:4-17

In this chapter, 1. Samson in great danger carries away the gates of Gaza, ver. 1—3. 2. He falls in love with Dalilah, ver. 4. 3. He tells her, and she tells the Philistines, whereas his strength lay, ver. 5—17. 4. They rob him of it, ver. 18—20. 5. They put out his eyes, and imprison him, ver. 21—24. 6. He pulls down the house in which the Philistine Lords were assembled, and dies in the ruins, ver. 26—31.

1. THEN went Samson to Gaza, and saw there an harlot, and went in unto her. 2. And it was told the Gazites, saying, Samson is come hither. And they compelled him in, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, In the morning, when it is day, we shall kill him. 3. And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and put down upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of an hill that is before Hebron.

2. 1—3. As woman first was man’s ruin, how often since hath she been his share? Other passions have slain their thousands, the love of women is ten thousands.

3. Samson, who could not be taken in the tolls of the Philistines, is enslaved with the attire of an harlot: to his flame the story is recorded. He went down to Gaza, on what occasion is not mentioned; but the bad tendency of familiarity with Philistines is left for our admonition. He saw a woman, who pleaded his eye, and, passion overcoming conscience, he went in to her. Note, (1.) The strongest in grace need deeply

C17 Before Chaff John sire. 4. ¶ Pl. iii. 7. Or, in Lehi. 1. Ills. 2. ap. 2. 1. a. The fraction of him that called or cried. Pl. year. 6. ¶ 2. vi. 1. About 1795 Or, in Lehi. 1. Ills. 2. ap. 2. 1. a. The fraction of him that called or cried. Pl. year. 6. ¶ 2. vi. 1. About 1795 Babam Chro Cry

cry, Lead us not into temptation. (2.) They who ramble into places of vain company, must not wonder if they smart for it.

3. Though perhaps he came in disguise, he was not long concealed; and whilst he is lying in the arms of an harlot, danger and death await him at the gate. Note, (1.) In our most secret fine God will find us out. (2.) Men would not sleep quiet on the bed of lewdness, could they see the wrath of God which is hanging over them. (3.) The more securely the finner sleeps, the more dangerous his state.

4. Whether the convictions of his conscience terrified him, or a dozen monitory of his danger awakened him, or some intelligence was brought him of the Philistines designs, at midnight he arose, and finding the gates of the city barred, and the guards asleep probably, little expecting such a visitant; he took up polls, gates, and bars together on his shoulders, and carried them to a distant hill, to let his enemies see how vain were their attempts against him. Thus Chroft, on his resurrection day, carried off the gates of death, mocking at the impotent designs of his enemies, and opening a passage for all his people to follow him to the hill of God.

5. ¶ And it came to pafs afterward, that ‘he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was ‘Delilah. 6. And the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and said unto her, ‘Entice him, and see wherein his great strength lords, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him: and ‘we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver. 6. And Delilah said to Samson, ‘Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lords, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee. 7. And Samson said unto her, If they bind me with seven green withs that were never dried, then ‘shall I be weak, and be as another man. 8. Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven green withs, which had not been dried, and she bound him with them. 9. (Now there were men lying in wait, abiding with her in the chamber) And she said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he broke the withs, as a thread of tow is broken when it toucheth the fire: ‘So his strength was not known. 10. And Delilah said unto Samson, Behold, thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: ’now tell me, I pray thee, wherewith thou mightest be bound. 11. And he said unto her, If they bind me fast with new ropes ’that never were occupied, then shall I be weak, and be as another man. 12. Delilah therefore took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. (And there were lions in wait abiding in the chamber) And he broke them from off his arms like a thread. 13. And Delilah said unto Samson, Hitherto thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: ’tell me wherewith thou mightest be bound. And he said unto her, If thou weavest the seven locks of my head with the web. 14. And the fastened is with the pin, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awaked out of his sleep, and ‘went away with the pin of the beam, and with the web. 15. ¶ And she said unto him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart is not with me? Thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lords. 16. And it came to pafs, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was ‘vexed unto death; 17. That ‘he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon mine head: for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother’s womb: ‘If I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.

We find here this mighty man fishing under the power of his befitting sin. Once and again he had been brought by it into the most imminent danger; yet again relapsing, and the third time, severely suffers. What a warning to every man of God to make a covenant with his eyes, and watch against and deny the sinful lusts of the lusts, which are as easily befitting, as difficult to be resisted.

1. Another harlot caught his eye, and enslaved his heart. In criminal conversation with her he passed the day, and him whom armies could not move, a woman enslaves.

2. The Philistines seize the opportunity, and hope at last to prevail against him. Persuaded that there was some charm or spell, which gave him such waschefs’ strength, which if once

discovered, they might be able to bind him, they offer Delilah a large bribe, amounting to near seven thousand pounds, to get the secret out of him; and, farther to induce her, engage not to kill, but only to disarm and secure him from doing them farther mischief. Note, (1.) Where the love of money is rooted in the heart, bribe high enough, and you may buy body, soul, and all. (2.) By this was the Son of God betrayed; the love of thirty pieces of silver prevailed on the traitor Judas.

3. On the first opportunity, when carefree had paved the way for an easier entrance into his heart, the wishes he would gratify her com愿y with informing her where lay his strength, and how he might be so bound, as to be unable to help himself. Loeb to declare the real secret, and hoping to put her off, he hesitates not at a lie; but when, to make the experiment, the others bound him, and an alarm of danger was given, the deceit appeared. Again she tries; again he misfortunes her: the new ropes were as tow on his hands. The third time, upbreaking him with his deceit, the wearies him to tell the truth; but still reluctant, he gives her a false information; and when she had wove his locks with her web, and fastened them to the beam, no sooner was the cry heard. ¶ The Philistines be upon thee, than pin, beam, and all were carried away. Note, (1.) We must never expect fidelity from those, who shew their utter unfaithfulness to God. (2.) When the heart is infatuated with lust, repeated warnings of danger will be disregarded. (3.) They who feel themselves unable to resist the opportunity of their temper, should instantly fly from their company.

4. At last, wearied out with her ceaseless upheadings, and enslaved by his evident passion for her, the fatal secret is extorted. He could not bear to be suspected as wanting in affection to her, and, rather than not convince her of it, by gratifying her most unreasonable requests, his own reputation, life, yes worse, God’s honour, and the people’s safety, are badly betrayed into the power of a faithless woman. Note, (1.) They who are slaves to their lusts, are the worst of slaves, and slick at nothing to gratify them. (2.) They who trust their honour with a vile woman, deserve to be betrayed.

5. And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up this once, for he hath shewed me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and ‘brought money in their hand. 19. And ‘she made him sleep upon her knees, and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head, and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him. 20. And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he will not that the LORD was departed from him. 21. ¶ But the Philistines took him, and ‘put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and ‘bound him with fetters of brass, and he did grind in the prison-house.

Judges 16:18-21

Fully convinced now, from the seriousness of his manner, or the name of God which he had used, that he had discovered to her his whole heart, the summons the lords of the Philistines once more to attend her, who, by being so often disappointed, had returned home in despair; and they, ready to attend her, take the money in their hands, and haith away. Behold and pray this unhappy victim, deblond now as a sheep to the slaughter. Note, It is just in God to give up those to suffer, who give themselves up to sin.

1. When her assitants were ready, this treacherous wretch spreads the soft lap of love, and, after dallance sweet, the mighty Samson links down to rest, and closes those eyes, that, fascinated with beauty’s charm, can see no danger in that pleasing pillow. But now the fatal razor approaches; his seven locks fall off; his strength departs; some symptoms of it in sleep perhaps appeared; and now the Philistines, at her cry, rush in, and, to his utter confusion, he discovers his irreparable ruin. At first when he awoke, he thought he might shake himself as before, and with not his dire mishap; but God was departed, and therefore resistance is vain. Note, (1.) Indulgence of sensual appetite stupifies the conscience, and rocks the soul asleep in security; but Satan wakes, and ostensibly leads us into the pit of ruin. (2.) Many a sinner closes his eyes in peace, which the alarm of death or judgment will open, only to discover his state of everlasting despair. (3.) When God is provoked to depart, though we may think we can die at other times, our weakness will appear to our confusion, and we shall sink under our wickedness. (4.) Let everyone who reads, beware of Samson’s sin, lest they bring themselves, like him, into the depths of misery.

2. The Philistines secure him fast. No longer now the terror of the mighty, they drag him down to Gaza in triumph, and, to disable him for ever, put out his eyes, and with fetters of brass chain him to the mill; at once to suffer and serve them.

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| 1. The mother of one Micah, of the tribe of Ephraim, had, by her frugality, hoarded up a large sum of money; which coming to the knowledge of her son, he made no scruple to steal it, for the use of his family; the mother, enraged at the loss of her silver, is in a rage, and denounces grievous imprecations on the thief, in the hearing of the son, whom perhaps she suspected. Stung with the sense of the evil of the deed, and fearing the curle, he confesses the theft, brings back the money to his mother; who hercups recalls her denunciations, and gives him her blessing. Note, (1.) Governments is the best-fitting sin of old age; they who can shorten enjoy the world, are usually most anxious to lay up the largest provisions. (2.) Parents by their niggardinesis put great temptations in their children’s way to rob them, or with them dead, that they may possess their boasts. (3.) He is a wicked son that robs his parents. (4.) The losses which make one man pray, make others curle and blasphem. (5.) They who are badly in their imprecations, will sometimes lay them where they would not wish. 4 A they | on this great deed, he lifts his heart to God in prayer, for power to avenge, as a public person, his own and Israel’s wrongs, and for his people’s sake cheerfully devotes himself to death. With arms extended then he grafts the maffy pillars, and feeling an answer to his prayer, in the renewed strength bestowed on him, he bows himself forward, the pillars rock, the building totters, the roof, incumbent with the weight of the spectators, rushes down, and death, in every tremendous shape, appears. Crushed under the load, or daffied to pieces in the fall, thousands expire; their music now is changed to dying groans; and shrieks of agonizing pain, instead of lungs of triumph, fill the air. Thus dies the mighty Samson, glorious in his fall, and more terrible to the Philistines in his death, than even during his life. Note, (1.) They who sport and mock at God’s servants, fill fast the measure of their iniquities. (2.) When we return unto God in penitent prayer, God will return unto us in mercy, and renew our strength. (3.) To die for our country is great, as do for God is greater still. (4.) Samson’s death is a type of Christ’s; his arms were thus extended on the cross; laying down a life that none could elie take from him; saving his people by shedding his own blood, and calling down thereby the throne of Satan, ruining his temple in the hearts of men, and destroying the power of sin, death, and hell, their mortal enemies. 3. His father and friends, during the confirmation, went up and took his dead body from the ruins, the Philistines not daring to oppose them, or, as having no just quarrel with them, permitting it quietly, and buried it in his father’s fe))^(1)th. To make their joy compleat Samson is led forth, insult added to his sufferings, and he degraded to be the sport of fools. Note, (1.) If even a Philistine could ascribe his victories only to his dung-hill god, how much more are we bound to give our God the glory due unto his name, for all he doth by us, in us, and for us. (2.) They who by their ill-conduct have brought dishonour upon God, justly deserve to bring contempt upon themselves. (3.) They who have sported in sin to their own deceiving, will find themselves at last exposed to everlasting shame, when even God himself will mock at their calamity. 2. Little thought the lords of the Philistines what ruin hung over their heads. In mirth and wine the joyful day was spent, and besides the capital nobility, a vast concourie of men and women crowded the temple within and without, on left than three thousand being on the roof: unhappy Samson stood the spectacle of their delight, fallen from his high attack, trumpeted upon by every foot, and led blind along by a little lad, the guide and guard of this once renowned hero. Either wearied with walking round, or grinding at the mill, he wanted to reft his limbs, or meditating the fatal blow, having informed himself of the supporters of the roof, he desires the lad to lead him, that he may lean against them; there pausing for awhile Vol. I. 23 | 1. The mother of one Micah, of the tribe of Ephraim, had, by her frugality, hoarded up a large sum of money; which coming to the knowledge of her son, he made no scruple to steal it, for the use of his family; the mother, enraged at the loss of her silver, is in a rage, and denounces grievous imprecations on the thief, in the hearing of the son, whom perhaps she suspected. Stung with the sense of the evil of the deed, and fearing the curle, he confesses the theft, brings back the money to his mother; who hercups recalls her denunciations, and gives him her blessing. Note, (1.) Governments is the best-fitting sin of old age; they who can shorten enjoy the world, are usually most anxious to lay up the largest provisions. (2.) Parents by their niggardinesis put great temptations in their children’s way to rob them, or with them dead, that they may possess their boasts. (3.) He is a wicked son that robs his parents. (4.) The losses which make one man pray, make others curle and blasphem. (5.) They who are badly in their imprecations, will sometimes lay them where they would not wish. 4 A they |

Before God they should light. (6.) The curle of a parent is a heavy load. (7.) When we have done ill we must confess and restore, if we would regain peace of conscience. (8.) They who return and repent will find the curle they have deserved turned into a blessing.

2. Better the money had been lost for ever, than found for the ule to which it is applied. Micah’s mother, either before it was stolen, or as a vow if the recovered it, had dedicated the money to the Lord, but in a way which was most abominable in his sight, to make a graven and a molten image with it; hereunto the son too easily complies, the silver is given to the founder, either the whole nine hundred for the images, and two hundred for the making, or a part only; the love of her money and of her idols dividing her heart, and making her willing to reserve the best share for herself of the dedicated sum. Note, The contending corruptions of a sinner’s heart oftentimes jar with each other, and one can only be indulged on the denial of another.

3. The images being made, Micah sets them up with an ephod and teraphin, little houshold gods for divination, in imitation of the arim and thummin; and having set apart a room of built a house for his gods, consecrated one of his sons, probably the eldest, as priest to minister before them. At first they seem to intend only the worship of Jehovah, in and through these representations of him; but the breach of one commandment soon destroyed the other, and fapped the foundation of all. Note, (1.) Corruptions in the church arise from small beginnings; to avoid idolatry we must keep from superposition. (2.) It matters little whether the idol be set up in the heart or the house; whatever alienates the affections from God leads us into idolatry.

4. The reason is given why this met no reproof: there was no judge in Israel; and they must be bad days indeed when no magistrates restrain sin, and ministers are negligent to reprove it.

5. ¶ And there was a young man out of Beth-lehem-judah, of the family of Judah, who was a Levite, and he sojourned there. 8. And the man departed out of the city from Beth-lehem-judah, to sojourn where he could find a place; and he came to mount Ephraim, to the house of Micah, as he journeyed. 9. And Micah said unto him, Wheree cometh thou? And he said unto him, I am a Levite of Beth-lehem-judah, and I go to sojourn where I may find a place. 10. And Micah said unto him, Dwell with me, and be unto me a father and a priest, and I will give thee ten shekels of silver by the year, and a suit of apparel, and thy victuals. So the Levite went in. 11. And the Levite was content to dwell with the man, and the young man was unto him as one of his sons. 12. And Micah consecrated the Levite, and the young man became his priest, and was in the house of Micah. 13. Then said Micah, ‘Now know I that the LORD will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest.’

6. 7—13. Micah had probably been content with his son’s service, if an accident had not brought him a more acceptable chaplain in a Levite of Beth-lehem-judah, who was, by his mother’s side, of the tribe of Judah, and had resided at Beth-lehem; either through the neglect of God’s worship, which began to take place, he could no longer gain a maintenance from the ministry, and was forced to seek a livelihood; or perhaps of a ramifying genius, unsettled, and untestify to be confined at home: it may be also bearing of Micah’s house of gods, and hoping for better preferment in his service, abominable as it was, than at the altar of God. Note, (1.) They must be bad times indeed, when God’s ministers want a maintenance. (2.) A roving spirit ill becomes a Levite’s office. (3.) The priest who sets out with an eye to preferment, is certainly in the high road to hell. (4.) The ministry is the best calling, but the worst trade in the world.

Micah having at the door enquired whence he came, and learned his profession, invites him in; offers, if he will officiate for him, to treat him with respect as a father; to provide him meat, drink and two furs a year, and give him beside ten shekels, about twenty-five shillings, as a salary. The Levite confesses, the bargain is concluded, and as he found it a good house, though the work was scandalous, and the wages meant, he thought himself well settled. Micah hereupon prefumptuously consecrates him for his priest, and shews him all respect and affection; foolishly concluding himself now happy in a Levite for his priest, and vainly promising himself God’s blessing, whilst taking the most direct means to bring down his curle upon him. Note, (1.) They whose office and duty it is to re-bake him, for the sake of their belly, and a good table, are often wicked and mean enough to fit by and countenance it. (2.) They who chuse their own delusions, would gain flatter themselves, that God approves of them. (3.) More, like Mi-

cah, derive their hopes from the priest and the altar, their worship, and external devotions, than from spirituality of temper and real purity of heart. (4.) The deeds the self-righteous behalf of, as most commending them to God’s favour, are those God most abhors, and which most effectually feel them up under wrath.