Thus terminated the career of one of the most re- markable personages of all history, whether sacred or profane. The enrolment of his name by an apostolic pen (Heb. xi, 32) in the list of the ancient worthies, "who had by faith obtained an excellent repute," war- rants us, undoubtedly, in a favorable estimate of his character on the whole, while at the same time the fidelity of the inspired narrative has perpetuated the record of infirmities which must forever mar the lustre of his noble deeds. It is not improbable that the lapses with which he was chargeable arose, in a measure, from the very peculiarities of that pViysical temperament to which his prodigies of strength were owing ; but while this consideration may palliate, it cannot excuse the moral delinquencies into which he was betra\'ed, and of which a just Providence exacted so tremendous a penalty in the circumstances of his degradation and death. (See Weissenborn, l)e Morte Simsonis [Jena, 171)5]; Maichcl, Simson ab Crimiiie Vindicat. [Tubing. 1739].)
His relatives, we are told (Judg. xvi, 31), went and recovered his body, and interred it in the burying-place of liis father Manoah. The consternation ])roduced at Gaza by the catastrophe connected with his death, we can easih' conceive, would render this easier of accom- plishment. See Philistine.
2. Representative Relations. — Some of these have been in part touched upon in the foregoing narrative, but Samson was so striking a character that they need to be more specifically dwelt upon.
(1.) As a judge his authority seems to have been limited to the district bordering upon the country of the Philistines, and his action as a deliverer does not seem to have extended beyond desultory attacks upon the dominant Philistines, bj' which their hold upon Is- rael was weakened, and the w^ay prepared for the future emancipation of the Israelites from their j'oke. It is evident from Judg. xiii, 1, 5; xv, 9-11, 20, and the whole history, tliat the Israelites, or at least Judah and Dan, which are the onh- tribes mentioned, were sub- ject to the Philistines through the whole of Samson's juilgeship; so that, of course, Samson's twenty years of office would be included in the entire period of the Philistine dominion, which Usher and some others have hastily concluded was limited to the forty years of Eli's administration. From the angel's speech to Samson's mother (Judg. xiii, 5) it appears further that the Isra- elites were already subject to the Philistines at his birth ; and, as Samson cannot have begun to be judge before he was twenty years of age, it has erroneously been supposed that his judgeship must about have co- incided with the last twenty years of Philistine domin- ion. But when we turn to the first book of Samuel, and especially to vii, 1-14. we find that the Philistine dominion continue<i till the judgeship of Samuel. Hence it appears that Samson and Samuel were separated by the whole interval of Eli's judgeship and of Samuel's minority. See CiiKONOi,o(iV. There are, however, sev- eral points in the respective narratives of the times of Samson and Samuel which indicate great similarity of circumstances. First, there is the general prominence
SAMSO:^
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of the Pliilistines in their relation to Israel. Secondly, there is the remarkable coincidence of both Samson and Samuel being Nazarites (Judg. xiii, 5; xvi, 17; comp. 1 Sam. i, 11). It looks as if the great exploits of the young Danite Nazarite had suggested to Hannah the consecration of her son in like manner, or, at all events, as if for some reason the Nazaritish vow was at that time prevalent. No other mention of Nazarites occurs in the Scripture history till Amos ii, 11, 12; and even there the allusion seems to be to Samuel and Samson. Thirdly, there is a similar notice of the house of Dagon in .Judg. xvi, 23 and 1 Sam. v, 2. Fourthly, the lords of the Philistines are mentioned in a similar way in Judg. xvi, 8, 18, 27, and in I Sam. vii, 7. The effect of Samson's prowess must have been more of a preparato- ry kind, by arousing the cowed spirit of his peo])le, and shaking the insolent security of the Philistines, than in the way of decisive victory or deliverance. There is no allusion whatever to other parts of Israel during Samson's judgeship, except the single fact of the men of the border tribeofJudah, three thousand in numlier, fetching him from the rock Etam to deliver him up to the Philistines (Judg. xv, 9-13). The whole narrative is entirely local, and, like the following storj' concern- ing Micah (Judg, xvii, xviii) seems to be taken from the annals of the tribe of Dan. Still it does not follow that there were contemporary judges in other parts of the land. See .Judge.
(2.) As a Nazarite, Samson exhibits the law in Numb, vi in full practice. The eminence of such Naz- arites as Samson and Samuel would tend to give that dignity to the profession which is alluded to in Lam. iv, 7, 8. See N.\zaritk.
(3.) As an inspired person, Samson is one of those who are distinctly spoken of in Scripture as endowed with supernatural power by the Spirit of the Lord. Those specimens of extraordinary prowess, of which even the slaj'ing of the lion at Timnath without weap- ons was one, were doubtless the result of that special influence of the Most High which is referred to in Judg. xiii, 25 — "And the Sjiirit of the Lord began to move him at times in the camp of Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol." The import of the original word (□"E^) for moved is peculiar. As D?Q, the radical form, signifies an anril, the metaphor is probably drawn from the re- jjeated and somewhat riulent strokes of a workman with his hammer. It implies, therefore, a peculiar urgency, an impelliiif) influence, which he could not ^vell resist in himself, nor others in him. But we do not know that this attribute, in its utmost degree, constantly dwelt in him. So, in later exploits, it is said, " The Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax burned with fire;" "The Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, and slew thirty men of them." But, on the other hand, after his locks were cut, and his strength was gone from him, it is said " He wist not that the Lord was departed from him" (Judg. xiii, 25; xiv, 6, 19; XV, 1-1; xvi, 20). The phrase "the Spirit of the Lord came upon him" is common to him with Othniel and Gideon (Judg. iii, 10 ; vi, 34) ; but the connection of supernatural power with the integrity of the Naza- ritish vow, and the particular gift of great strength of body, as seen in tearing in pieces a lion, breaking his bonds asunder, carrying the gates of tlie city upon his back, and throwing down the pillars which sujjported the house of Dagon, are quite jieculiar to Samson. In- deed, his whole character and history have no exact parallel in Scripture. It is easy, however, to see how forcibly the Israelites would be taught by such an ex- ample that their national strength lay in their complete separation from idolatry and consecration to the true God; and that he could give them power to subdue their mightiest enemies, if onl}' they were true to his service (comp. 1 Sam. ii, 10). (See the Eclectic Review, Nov. 1861.)