The History of the Old Testament Methodized, Chapter 4 · Section 150
SECT. CL.
SAmſon now going ſecretly to Gaza (but for what purpoſe is not mentioned) he was on a ſudden intangled with the fight of an harlot, and ſo drawn to commit folly with her. The Gazites hearing that he was come into their City, they took order that the Gates ſhould be ſhut, and narrowly watched, intending in the morning to ſurprize and kill him. Samſon knowing (as it ſeems) by ſome inſtinct from God, that they lay in wait for him, he roſe at midnight, and finding the Gate locked, barr'd and bolted, he pulled up the two poſts upon which it hung, and carried all away, poſts, gate and bar upon his ſhoulders (the watchmen probably running away) to the top of an Hill that lay Eaſtwards of Gaza, and from whence Hebron might be ſeen.
Samſon after this falls in love with a woman in the valley of Sorek (a)Where there were excellent Vines. The river or torrent of this name divides Dan and Simeon., a Philiſtine Harlot, whoſe name was Dalilah; the Lords of the Philiſtines underſtanding this, came to her, and promiſed to give her, each of them an eleven hundred pieces of ſilver, (which at 2 s. 6 d. per ſhekel come to 687 l. 10 s. of our money) if ſhe would intice him to diſcover to her wherein his great ſtrength lay, and by what means they might prevail againſt him, that ſo they might bind him and humble him. She accepts the terms, and accordingly applys her ſelf to Samſon, and allures him with all ſigns of her love, (and probably in a way of ſport) to diſcover to her (for the ſatisfaction of her curioſity) wherein his great ſtrength lay, and whither any thing could weaken it, and make him like other men, promiſing (its like) moſt ſolemnly, and ſwearing to him that ſhe would keep it to her ſelf as a great ſecret. Samſon tells her that if they bound him with ſeven green withes he ſhould be as other men; 'tis like he hoped this would have ſatisfied her without making any trial thereof. But therein he was deceived, for the Lords of the Philiſtines having furniſhed her with green withes ſhe bound Samſon with them, and having laid ſome Philiſtines ready at hand to ſeize upon him if ſhe found he could not break his bands, ſhe cried out (as if ſhe had been in ſport) Samſon the Philiſtines are upon thee, what wilt thou do now? and he brake the withes as eaſily as if they had been a thread of tow; ſo where his ſtrength lay was not made known to her. Some time after (probably in a way of ſportful dalliance) ſhe renews her deſire to him, telling him he had before deceived her, and mocked her, but ſhe would not be ſo put off again. He tells her that if they bound him with new ropes that never had been uſed, then he ſhould be as weak as other men. She accordingly bound him with ſuch cords, and then to try the experiment, and as it were in jeſt, cried out again, Samſon, the Philiſtines are upon thee, how wilt thou now help thy ſelf? and he ſnapt the ropes in ſunder like a thread. She ſets upon him a third time, and then tells him he had hitherto deceived her with lyes; but now ſhe deſires him to tell her truly how he might be bound. He tells her if ſhe weaved the ſeven locks of his hair with a web, and did wind them both about the beam of the Loom, he ſhould be then unable to ſtir, and as weak as other men. She tryes this alſo, and for more ſecurity faſtened the beam with a pin, that when Samſon aroſe it might not turn or move; ſhe crys again, Samſon the Philiſtines are upon thee; and he awaking, bore away pin and web and beam upon which his hair was wound. She ſet upon him a fourth time, and told him that ſurely he did not love her whatever he pretended, ſeeing he had deceived her now three times, and would not tell her where his great ſtrength lay; ſo urging him again, and following him with inceſſant importunity, his mind was ſo perplex'd he knew not what to do, being extream loath to diſcover to her a ſecret which ſo much concern'd him, and yet unwilling to diſpleaſe her upon whom he ſo impotently doted. So that this perplexity and diſtraction of thoughts was almoſt as bitter as death to him. Hereupon being tired out with her importunity, he at length opened his heart unto her, and told her that he had from his mothers womb been a Nazarite unto God, and no razor had come on his head; therefore if he were ſhaven, and his locks *His ſtrength did not lye in his hair, but was the free gift of God conferred on him particularly and not upon another Nazarite; and it ſeems God had beſtowed it upon him, upon condition of his ſtrict obſerving this Law of the Nazarite in keeping his hair uncut, and probably God had ſome way or other revealed this to Samſon himſelf.cut, his ſtrength would depart from him, and he ſhould be but like other men. Behold here the weakneſs of man when left to himſelf. Samſon one of Gods great Worthies, commended for his faith, Heb. 11.32. and innobled by his Glorious victories, who with his bare hands rent a roaring Lion as if he had been a Kid, and ſlaughtered and routed an whole army of his enemies, is now become ſo weak as to reveal a ſecret that concern'd his life to a treacherous Harlot. Thus God did juſtly leave him to fall into the following miſeries that thereby he might ſeverely (yet deſervedly) correct him for his former uncleanneſs, and relapſing again into the ſame ſin. But to proceed, when Dalilah ſaw by his ſerious carriage in this relation that he had told her his very heart, ſhe ſent for the Lords of the Philiſtines to come to her once again, aſſuring them that though before they had loſt their labour, yet they ſhould not do ſo now, for Samſon had diſcovered his whole heart to her. Hereupon they came up and brought the money with them they had promiſed to give her, to engage her to be faithful to them. Then Dalilah getting Samſon upon a time to lay his head, and ſleep upon her lap, ſhe cauſed a man to cut off his ſeven locks; ſhe might have ſuddenly diſpatched him by cutting his throat, but God did not permit her to take away his life that he might have ſpace to repent, and having his ſtrength renewed might deſtroy more of the Philiſtines at his death than he had done in his life. Dalilah now jogging and rouzing him out of his ſleep, and telling him the Philiſtines were upon him, he ſuddenly awoke and thought to have gone out and to have ſhaken up himſelf, and rouz'd up his ſpirits to do as he uſed to do; but he ſoon found the caſe altered with him, for his locks being cut, God had withdrawn his ſupernatural ſtrength from him, whereof his hair was a ſign. Being thus deprived of his ſtrength, the Philiſtines (that lay in wait) came and took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of braſs, and made him grinde in their Priſon-houſe. See Exod. 11.5. Herein the Philiſtines had their ends, and God had his, unto which he made theirs ſubſervient. Samſon had by the wanton and luſtful glances of his eyes upon Harlots, highly offended God, and now God permits the Philiſtines to put out his eyes; they carry him down in triumph to Gaza, and that muſt be the place of his puniſhment, where he firſt acted his ſin of uncleanneſs; and he that had inſlav'd himſelf to an Harlot, is now condemn'd to that mean and abject ſlavery, to grind in a mill. It ſeems it was a good while *Per tres forte aut quatuor menſes in carcere fuit.that Samſon continued in this ſlavery before they brought him forth to make them ſport at Dagons (d)Dagon was an Idol-god of the Philiſtines, his Image was in the upper part like a man, and in the neather like a Fiſh, as may be gathered from 1 Sam. 5 4: perhaps the Philiſtines whoſe land lay on the Sea-coaſt, worſhipped him as the God of the Sea. As the Heathens did their Neptune, or Triton. Dagon ſeems to be derived from the Hebrew word Dag ſignifying a Fiſh:Feaſt. During which time reconciling himſelf to God by unfeigned repentance, his hair (the ſign of his ſtrength) began to grow again. After ſome time the Lords of the Philiſtines and their chief men met together at Gaza to offer a great ſacrifice to Dagon their god (for delivering Samſon their enemy, and the deſtroyer of their Country into their hands), and to feaſt and rejoice together. When they were frolick and in their cups, they call'd to have Samſon brought forth to them out of the Priſon to make them ſport, and that they might laugh at him. Samſon being brought into that magnificent houſe, and Idol-temple, where there were gathered together all the Lords of the Philiſtines from the ſeveral Lordſhips of the Country, with a vaſt number of other perſons of note both men and women, and about 3000 people having got up to the roof of the Temple that was flat (f)Tecta in Palaeſtina Plana erant ut in illis commode ambulare liceret, habebant que feneſtras ita diſpoſitas ut videre poſſent quidquid erat in inferiori domus parte: Menoch., that they might thorough the windows and lattices that were thereon ſee the ſport; Samſon deſiring the Lad that led him to ſuffer him to feel the Pillars on which the houſe mainly leaned, he prayed unto the Lord and ſaid, Remember me now, O Lord, I beſeech thee, and ſtrengthen me this once that I may be avenged on the Philiſtines for my two eyes; for they have not only done me a private injury in my own perſon, but have thereby diſabled me to fight in thy quarrel for the deliverance of thy people. Then being moved by an extraordinary inſtinct (g)Ut patet a viribus ei a Deo ſubminiſtratis ad patrandum hoc miraculum.of the Spirit of God, (not to murder (h)Quamvis directe, primario & per ſe ſuam ipſius mortem deligere & procurare non liceat, Licet tamen indirecte, ſecundario & per aliud quod per ſe bonum & honeſtum cum ſit non poteſt niſi morte noſtra obtineri. Patet in quotidianis bellicae fortitudinis, & Martyris exemplis. Leſſius. Non eligitur (inquit Cajetanus) in hujuſmodi caſibus mors propria in ſeipſa; ſed per ſe eligitur mors hoſtium, & concomitans propria mors toleranda admittitur propter bonum ultionis. Non proprie & phyſice ſeipſum occidit Samſon, ſed tantum indirecte, & permiſſive ſe in eadem clade quam evadere non poterat, involvit: quod ſicut magnae fortitudinis fuit, ſic & magna pro praeteritis culpis poena fuit. A Lapid.himſelf, but) to undervalue his own life, ſo he might thereby as a Judg and publick perſon execute Gods vengeance upon his and his peoples enemies, he took hold on the two Pillars, by which the houſe was born up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left, and bowing himſelf with all his might, and crying, let me die with the Philiſtines, the houſe fell upon the Lords, and all the people that were therein, and killed them, and Samſon himſelf with them. So the dead which he ſlew at his death were more than thoſe he ſlew in his life. His Bretheren and all the houſe of his Father (hearing of his death) came down and took his dead body, and brought it up, and buried it in his Fathers burying place, between Zorak and Eſhtaol; the Philiſtines (by the over-ruling Providence of God) not oppoſing it, whoſe pride and power by this fatal blow given to their Princes, and ſo many of their people was much abated and pulled down, ſo that they thought this was no fit time to provoke the Iſraelites by denying them ſuch a thing.
Judg. Ch. 16. whole Chapter.