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 whom he slew at his death were more than they whom he slew in his life.
All Commentaries on Judges 16:30 Go To Judges 16
Ambrose of Milan
AD 397
With the passage of time his hair began to grow; then, during a crowded banquet of the Philistines, Samson was brought from prison and shown before the people. About three thousand men and women were there. They taunted him with cruel remarks, they surrounded him with mocking jests which he bore with greater stamina and beyond what his blind appearance suggested, for he was a man of great native strength. To live and to die are functions of nature, but mockery belongs to the baseborn. The wish arose in him, therefore, either to compensate for such insults by revenge or preclude any more insults by death. He pretended that he could no longer support himself, because of the weakness of his body and the knots of his shackles, and he asked a servant boy, who was guiding his steps, to put him near the pillars which supported the house. Placed there, he grasped with both hands the support of the entire building and, while the Philistines were intent upon the sacrifices of the feast in honor of their god Dagon, through whom they thought the adversary had come into their hands, accounting the woman’s treachery among the benefits of heaven, he called to the Lord, saying, “Lord, once more remember your servant so that I may revenge myself on the Gentiles for my two eyes. Do not allow them to give glory to their gods, because with their help they have got me in their power. I count my life as of no worth. Let my soul die with the Philistines, so that they may know that my weakness no less than my strength is deadly.”
So he shook the columns with mighty force and loosened and shattered them. The crash of the roof came next and fell on him and hurled headlong all those who were looking on from above. There in great confusion lay heaps of men and women. Though slain, Samson attained his wished-for triumph, greater than all his former victories, and a death not inglorious or lacking luster. Although he was unassailable here and hereafter, and was not to be compared in his life with men who experienced war, in his death Samson conquered himself and made his invincible soul despise death, giving no thought to the end of life which all people fear.
Through his valor he ended his days with numerous victories and found the captive not undone but triumphing. The fact that he was outwitted by a woman must be attributed to his nature, not to his person; his condition was human rather than his fault. He was overwhelmed and yielded to the enticements of sin. And when Scripture bears witness that he killed more in death than when he possessed the light of life, it seems that Samson was made a captive more to work the ruin of his adversaries than to become cast down or counted less. He never experienced degradation, for his grave was more famous than had been his power. Finally, he was overwhelmed and buried not by weapons but by the dead bodies of his enemies, covered with his own triumph, leaving to posterity a glorious renown. Those people of his, whom he had found captive, he ruled in liberty for twenty years. Then, entombed in the soil of his native land, he left behind the heritage of liberty.
Because of this example, men should avoid marriage with those outside the faith, lest, instead of love of one’s spouse, there be treachery.
