(5.) The Philistines were from this time held in such contempt by their victor that he went openly into the city of Gaza, where he seems to liave suffered himself weakly to be drawn into the company of a woman of loose character, the yielding to whose enticements ex- posed him to the most imminent peril (Judg. xvi, 1-3), His presence being soon noised abroad, an alten)pt was made during the night forcibly to detain him by clos-
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ing the gates of- the city, and making them fast; but Samsiin, apprised of it, rose at midniglit, and, breaking away bolts, bars, and hinges, departed, carrying the gates upon his shoulders to the top of a neighboring hill that looks toicanls Hebron ("T'Dn "^33 P"; Sept. im rrpo- fftoTTOv Toi' Xfi3pu)v,facinff Uebroii). The common ren- dering, " before Hebron," is less appropriate, as the dis- tance between the two cities is at least twenty miles. The hill lay, doubtless, somewhere between the cities, and in full view of both. See Gaza.
(().) After this his enemies strove to entrap him by guile rather than by violence, and they were too suc- cessful in the end. Falling in love with a woman of Sorek, named Delilah, he became so infatuated by his passion that nothing but his bodily strength could equal ills mental weakness. (But see Oeder, Ik Simsone Cas- io [Onold. 1718].) The princes of the Philistines, aware of Samson's infirmity, determined by means of it to get possession, if possible, of his person. For this purpose they propose a tempting bribe to Delilah, and she en- ters at once into the treacherous compact. She em- ploys all her art and blandishments to worm from him the secret of his prodigious strength. Having for some time amused her with fictions, he at last, in a moment of weakness, disclosed to her the fact that it lay in his hair, which, if it were shaved, would leave him a mere common man. Not that his strength really \ny in his hair; for this, in fact, had no natural influence upon it one way or the other. His strength arose from his re- lation to God as a Nazarite ; and the preservation of his hair unshorn was the mark, or sign, of his Nazariteship, and a pledije, on the part of God, of the continuance of his miraculous physical powers. If he lost this sign, the badge of his consecration, he broke his vow, and consequently forfeited the thing signified. God aban- doned him; and he was thenceforward no more, in this respect, than an ordinary man. His treacherous para- mour seized the first opportunity of putting his decla- ration to the test. She shaved his head while he lay sleeping in her lap ; and, at a concerted signal, he was instantly arrested by his enemies lying in wait. Be- reft of his grand endowment, and forsaken of God, the champion of Israel could now well adopt the words of Solomon : " I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets, and her hands are bands; whoso pleaseth God shall escajje from her; but the sin- ner shall be taken by her." Having so long presumpt- uoush' played with his ruin, Heaven leaves him to him- self, as a punishment for his former guilty indulgence. He is made to reap as he had sown, and is consigned to the hands of his relentless foes. His punishment was indeed severe, though he amply revenged it, as well as redeemed, in a measure, his own honor, by the manner in which he met his death. The Philistines, having deprived him of sight, at first immured him in a prison, and made him grind at the mill like a slave (Judg. xvi, 4-21 ). As this was an employment which, in the East, usually devolves on women, to assign it to such a man as Samson was virtually to reduce him to the lowest state of degradation and shame. To grind corn for others was, even for a woman, a proverbial term ex- pressive of the most menial and oppressed condition. How much more for the hero of Israel, who seems to have been made grinder-general for the prison-house! (See Lehmann, De tSlwxone Jlfolitore (Yiteb. 1711].)
(7.) In [)rocess of time, while remaining in this con- finement, his iiair recovered its growth, and with it such a profound repentance seems to have wrought in his heart as virtually reinvested him with the character and the powers lie had so culpably lost. Of this fact his enemies were not aware. Still exulting in their possession of the great scourge of their nation, they kept him, like a wild beast, for mockery and insult. On one of tliese occasions, when an immense multitude, including the princes and nobility of the Philisiiues, were convened in a large amphitlieatre to celebrate a
feast in honor of their god Dagon, who had delivered their adversary into their hands, Samson was ordered to be brought out to be made a laughing-stock to his enemies, a butt for their scoffs, insults, mockeries, and merriment. Secretly determined to use his recovered strength to tremendous effect, he persuaded the boy who guided his steps to conduct him to a spot where he could reach the two pillars upon which the roof of the building rested (see Thomson, Land and Book, ii, 343). Here, after pausing for a short time while he prefers a brief prayer to Heaven, he grasps the massy pillars, and, bowing with resistless force, the whole build- ing rocks and totters, and the roof, encimibered with the weight of the spectators, rushes down, and the whole assembly, including Samson himself, are crushed to pieces in the ruin (Judg. xvi, 22 sq.).