DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27910#0034
SAMSON’S GATE, GAZA.
isolated mount Heres; although Joseph—no doubt the Ephraimites, possibly aided by Manasseh—coming to
the aid of the Danites, reduced the Amorites to tribute. It was in this state that the Danites, probably
in the earliest days after Joshua’s death, made an expedition to the extreme north of the Israelite territory,
and, having captured Laish, called it Dan. (Chap, xviii.)
When the great Philistine oppression began, Dan was the most exposed of all the tribes to the attacks
of the enemy. A compact and martial nation, the Philistines had a great advantage over the scattered and
peaceful Israelites. Then began a great struggle, which lasted for about two hundred years; while Israel
was under Samson, Eli, Samuel, Saul, and David. For the greater part of this time the heathen had the
advantage, and they were not finally overthrown until nearly the end of David’s reign. This is a period lull
of great deeds, in which many great figures of heroes rise like landmarks of history; no one of them is
more remarkable than that of Samson the judge, whose life presents a vivid picture of the condition of
Israel in those days.
The Philistines had already begun to oppress Israel, and no doubt their yoke was heaviest upon the
tribe of Dan. It was to Manoah, a Danite of Zorah, that Samson the deliverer was born, a child of promise,
and a Nazarite. The narrative of the appearance of the angel to Manoah strikingly portrays the simple faith
and the manners of the believing Israelites of those days. The first act recorded of Samson is his choice,
to the surprise of his parents, of a Philistine wife. On his way to his betrothed he proves his strength on
the lion. Then follows his marriage-feast, and the riddle he proposes to his Philistine companions, which
they resolve by deceit, when he pays them the promised reward by the slaughter and spoil of thirty of
their countrymen, an incident strikingly recalling the wars of Arab tribes. Samson’s wife is then given to
his friend, and he avenges himself by firing the standing corn, as well as the vineyards and olives of the
Philistines. They, in their rage at the immediate causes of this calamity, burn Samson’s wife and her
father. After this, he takes himself to the top of a rock, no doubt because his brethren were fearful of the
vengeance of their acknowledged rulers if they gave him shelter; but by his miraculous strength he baffles
the attempts of the heathen to take him, and slaughters a thousand of them. Then he goes to Gaza, and
we read that “it was told the Gazites, saying, Samson is come hither. And they compassed 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. 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 them upon
his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of an hill that is before Hebron.” (Chap. xvi. 1—3.)
More than once in the history of Samson do we see the weak side of his character; but this is most
evident in the account of the breach of his Nazarite vow at the entreaty of Delilah. The story of her
betrayal of Samson shows more than anything how great was his strength, and how the Philistines dreaded
him. Each time that she had been answered falsely by him as to the secret of his strength, the lords of the
Philistines themselves made no attempt to take him. At last he told her of his vow, and his hair was shaven
in his sleep. We read, “ And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before,
and shake myself. And he wist not that the Lord was departed from him. 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.” (Chap. xvi. 20, 21.) Not content with thus maiming and blinding their enemy, and
degrading him to the meanest work, the heathen would have Samson to make sport for them at their idol-
sacrifice in the house of Dagon. “ And Samson called unto the Lord, and said, 0 Lord God, remember
me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, 0 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
stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of 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 which he slew at his death
were more than [they] which he slew in his life.” (Chap. xvi. 28—30.) So great was the dismay of the
Philistines, that the family of Samson came and took him away, to bury him in his paternal burial-place.
isolated mount Heres; although Joseph—no doubt the Ephraimites, possibly aided by Manasseh—coming to
the aid of the Danites, reduced the Amorites to tribute. It was in this state that the Danites, probably
in the earliest days after Joshua’s death, made an expedition to the extreme north of the Israelite territory,
and, having captured Laish, called it Dan. (Chap, xviii.)
When the great Philistine oppression began, Dan was the most exposed of all the tribes to the attacks
of the enemy. A compact and martial nation, the Philistines had a great advantage over the scattered and
peaceful Israelites. Then began a great struggle, which lasted for about two hundred years; while Israel
was under Samson, Eli, Samuel, Saul, and David. For the greater part of this time the heathen had the
advantage, and they were not finally overthrown until nearly the end of David’s reign. This is a period lull
of great deeds, in which many great figures of heroes rise like landmarks of history; no one of them is
more remarkable than that of Samson the judge, whose life presents a vivid picture of the condition of
Israel in those days.
The Philistines had already begun to oppress Israel, and no doubt their yoke was heaviest upon the
tribe of Dan. It was to Manoah, a Danite of Zorah, that Samson the deliverer was born, a child of promise,
and a Nazarite. The narrative of the appearance of the angel to Manoah strikingly portrays the simple faith
and the manners of the believing Israelites of those days. The first act recorded of Samson is his choice,
to the surprise of his parents, of a Philistine wife. On his way to his betrothed he proves his strength on
the lion. Then follows his marriage-feast, and the riddle he proposes to his Philistine companions, which
they resolve by deceit, when he pays them the promised reward by the slaughter and spoil of thirty of
their countrymen, an incident strikingly recalling the wars of Arab tribes. Samson’s wife is then given to
his friend, and he avenges himself by firing the standing corn, as well as the vineyards and olives of the
Philistines. They, in their rage at the immediate causes of this calamity, burn Samson’s wife and her
father. After this, he takes himself to the top of a rock, no doubt because his brethren were fearful of the
vengeance of their acknowledged rulers if they gave him shelter; but by his miraculous strength he baffles
the attempts of the heathen to take him, and slaughters a thousand of them. Then he goes to Gaza, and
we read that “it was told the Gazites, saying, Samson is come hither. And they compassed 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. 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 them upon
his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of an hill that is before Hebron.” (Chap. xvi. 1—3.)
More than once in the history of Samson do we see the weak side of his character; but this is most
evident in the account of the breach of his Nazarite vow at the entreaty of Delilah. The story of her
betrayal of Samson shows more than anything how great was his strength, and how the Philistines dreaded
him. Each time that she had been answered falsely by him as to the secret of his strength, the lords of the
Philistines themselves made no attempt to take him. At last he told her of his vow, and his hair was shaven
in his sleep. We read, “ And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before,
and shake myself. And he wist not that the Lord was departed from him. 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.” (Chap. xvi. 20, 21.) Not content with thus maiming and blinding their enemy, and
degrading him to the meanest work, the heathen would have Samson to make sport for them at their idol-
sacrifice in the house of Dagon. “ And Samson called unto the Lord, and said, 0 Lord God, remember
me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, 0 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
stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of 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 which he slew at his death
were more than [they] which he slew in his life.” (Chap. xvi. 28—30.) So great was the dismay of the
Philistines, that the family of Samson came and took him away, to bury him in his paternal burial-place.