Commentaria in Judices
Chapter 16
Samson, besieged at Gaza by the Philistines, the gates of the city being taken away, goes out; soon, verse 4, loving Dalila, he is variously tempted by her, at the urging of the Philistines, to disclose in what his strength lies; overcome by her continual importunity, verse 17, he indicates that it lies in his hair; Dalila therefore cuts it off him while he sleeps, and so betrays and delivers him to the Philistines. They bind him, put out his eyes, imprison him, and keep festal days and games. At length, verse 26, Samson, his hair and strength growing again, shaking the two pillars of the house, overwhelms and buries with himself in its ruin the princes and three thousand Philistines, and slays more dying than living.
1. He went also to Gaza, and saw there a harlot, and went in unto her. 2. And when the Philistines heard of it, and it was noised abroad among them that Samson was come into the city, they surrounded him, setting guards at the gate of the city, and there watching all night in silence, that in the morning when he went out they might kill him. 3. But Samson slept till midnight, and rising thence he took both the doors of the gate with the posts and the bar, and laying them on his shoulders carried them to the top of the hill which looketh toward Hebron. 4. After this he loved a woman who dwelt in the valley of Sorec, and she was called Dalila. 5. And the princes of the Philistines came to her, and said: Deceive him, and learn of him wherein his great strength lieth, and how we may be able to overcome him, and bind him fast to afflict him; and if thou do this, we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver. 6. And Dalila said to Samson: Tell me, I beseech thee, wherein thy greatest strength lieth, and what it is wherewith thou mayst be bound and not break loose? 7. And Samson answered her: If I should be bound with seven cords of sinews not yet dry, and still moist, I shall be weak like other men. 8. And the lords of the Philistines brought her seven cords, as he had said, with which she bound him, 9. there being ambushes laid for him in the chamber, and they waiting for the end of the matter, and she cried out to him: The Philistines are upon thee, Samson. And he broke the bands, as if a man should break a thread of tow twisted with spittle, when it hath smelled the fire; and it was not known wherein his strength lay. 10. And Dalila said to him: Behold thou hast mocked me, and hast told me a lie; at least now tell me wherewith thou mayst be bound. 11. And he said to her: If I be bound with new ropes, which have never been used, I shall be weak, and like other men. 12. Dalila again bound him with these, and cried out: The Philistines are upon thee, Samson, there being an ambush in the chamber. But he broke the ropes like threads of cobwebs. 13. And Dalila said to him again: Why dost thou mock me, and tell me lies? shew me wherewith thou mayst be bound. And he answered: If thou plait the seven locks of my head with a lace, and fasten them round about a nail in the ground, I shall be weak. 14. And when Dalila had done so, she said to him: The Philistines are upon thee, Samson. And awaking out of his sleep he plucked out the nail with the hair and the lace. 15. And Dalila said to him: How dost thou say that thou lovest me, when thy mind is not with me? Thou hast lied to me these three times, and wouldst not tell me wherein thy great strength lieth. 16. And when she was troublesome to him, and continually hung upon him for many days, giving him no time to rest, his soul fainted away, and was wearied even unto death. 17. Then opening the truth of the thing, he said to her: The razor hath never come upon my head, for I am a Nazarite, that is to say, consecrated to God, from my mother’s womb; if my head be shaven, my strength will depart from me, and I shall become weak, and shall be like other men. 18. And she seeing that he had discovered to her all his mind, sent to the princes of the Philistines, and said: Come up this once, for now he hath opened his heart to me. And they went up, taking with them the money which they had promised. 19. But she made him sleep upon her knees, and lay his head in her bosom. And she called a barber, and shaved his seven locks, and began to drive him away, and to thrust him from her; for immediately his strength departed from him, 20. and she said: The Philistines are upon thee, Samson. And he awaking out of his sleep, said in his mind: I will go out as I did before, and shake myself, not knowing that the Lord was departed from him. 21. And the Philistines took him, and presently put out his eyes, and brought him bound in chains to Gaza, and shut him up in prison, and made him grind. 22. And now his hair began to grow again, 23. and the princes of the Philistines assembled together to offer great sacrifices to Dagon their god, and to feast, saying: Our god hath delivered our enemy Samson into our hands. 24. And the people also seeing this, praised their god, and said the same: Our god hath delivered our adversary into our hands, who destroyed our land, and slew very many. 25. And rejoicing in their feasts, when they had now taken their meal, they commanded that Samson should be called, and should play before them. And being brought out of prison he played before them, and they made him stand between two pillars. 26. And he said to the lad that guided his steps: Suffer me to touch the pillars which support the whole house, that I may lean upon them, and rest a little. 27. Now the house was full of men and women, and all the princes of the Philistines were there, and from the roof and the upper part about three thousand persons of both sexes were looking on while Samson played. 28. But he, calling upon the Lord, said: O Lord God, remember me, and restore to me now my former strength, O my God, that I may revenge myself on my enemies, and for the loss of my two eyes I may take one revenge. 29. And taking hold of the two pillars on which the house rested, and holding the one with his right hand, and the other with his left, 30. he said: Let my soul die with the Philistines, and shaking the pillars strongly, the house fell upon all the princes, and the rest of the multitude that was there: and he killed many more at his death than he had killed before in his life. 31. And his brethren and all his kindred went down, and took his body, and buried it between Saraa and Esthaol in the burying-place of his father Manue, and he judged Israel twenty years.
1. HE SAW THERE A HARLOT, AND WENT IN UNTO HER,—not to commit fornication with her, but for another business or mystery, says St. Augustine, serm. 107 On the Time. But to go in to a harlot in Scripture signifies to commit fornication and play the harlot. Wherefore Samson fornicated here.
3. AND LAYING THEM (the gates of Gaza) ON HIS SHOULDERS CARRIED THEM TO THE TOP OF THE HILL.—Samson sinned mortally by fornicating with a harlot, and yet he retained his supernatural strength, by which he carried the gates of the city laid on his shoulders to the hill; because this strength was a grace freely given, not making pleasing, and consisted with mortal sin. For it was lodged in his Nazariteship, that is in his unshorn hair and abstinence from wine and strong drink; but fornication did not take away his Nazariteship, and consequently not his strength.
Allegorically, Samson at midnight taking away the gates of Gaza represents Christ, rising from the sepulchre after midnight, and removing the stone of the sepulchre, and moreover taking away the gates of death and hell, and thence leading out in triumph the Patriarchs and Prophets and all the Saints. So St. Augustine, serm. 107 On the Time, St. Jerome on chap. i to the Ephesians, St. Gregory, homily 9 on the Gospels, whom hear: “Whom does that Samson signify but the Redeemer? What does the city Gaza designate but hell? What is shown by the Philistines but the perfidy of the Jews? Who, when they saw the Lord dead and his body already laid in the sepulchre, at once appointed guards, and rejoiced as if they had caught Samson in Gaza, having him who had shone as the author of life held in the barriers of hell. But Samson at midnight not only went out, but also took the gates; because our Redeemer, rising before light, not only went out free from hell, but also destroyed the very barriers of hell. He took the gates, and went to the top of the hill, because by rising he took away the barriers of hell, and by ascending he entered the kingdoms of heaven. This glory of his resurrection, therefore, dearest brethren, which was both shown beforehand by a sign, and afterwards made plain by the fact, let us love with all our mind, and for love of him let us die.”