Judg 16:22-27 | Clarke | STEP | Verse 22 The hair of his head began to grow again - And may we not suppose that, sensible of his sin and folly, he renewed his Nazir vow to the Lord, in consequence of which his supernatural strength was again restored?

Judges 16:22-27

Verse 22

The hair of his head began to grow again - And may we not suppose that, sensible of his sin and folly, he renewed his Nazir vow to the Lord, in consequence of which his supernatural strength was again restored? Verse 23

Unto Dagon their god - Diodorus Siculus describes their god thus: Το μεν προσωπον εχει γυναικος, το δ' αλλο σωμα παν ιχθους; "It had the head of a woman, but all the rest of the body resembled a fish."

Dagon was called Dorceto among the heathens. Horace, in the following lines, especially in the third and fourth, seems to have in view the image of Dagon: -

Humano capiti cervicem pictor equinam

Pingere si velit; et varias inducere plumas,

Undique collatis Inembris; ut turpiter atrum

Desinat in piscem mulier formosa superne;

Spectatum admissi risum teneatis amici?

De Art. Poet., V. 1. "Suppose a painter to a human head

Should join a horse's neck; and wildly spread

The various plumage of the feather'd kind

O'er limbs of different beasts, absurdly join'd;

Or if he gave to view a beauteous maid,

Above the waist with every charm array'd,

Should a foul fish her lower parts infold,

Would you not smile such pictures to behold?"

Francis. Verse 25

Call for Samson, that he may make us sport - What the sport was we cannot tell; probably it was an exhibition of his prodigious strength. This seems to be intimated by what is said, Jdg 16:22, of the restoration of his hair; and the exertions he was obliged to make will account for the weariness which gave him the pretense to ask for leave to lean against the pillars. Some think he was brought out to be a laughing-stock, and that he was variously insulted by the Philistines; hence the version of the Septuagint: και ερραπιζον αυτον, and they buffeted him. Josephus, Antiq. Jud. lib. v., cap. 8, s. 12, says: He was brought out, ὁπως ενυβρισωσιν αυτον παρα τον ποτον, that they might insult him in their cups. Verse 27

Now the house was full of men - It was either the prison-house, house of assembly, or a temple of Dagon, raised on pillars, open on all sides, and flat-roofed, so that it could accommodate a multitude of people on the top.