Judges, Ruth: Revised Edition (The NIV Application Commentary)

by K. Lawson Younger

Gropingly finding the two support pillars, Samson bellows his last words, “Let me die with the Philistines!” (v. 30). Pushing the columns out of their sockets, he brings down the temple structure on the Philistines and himself. The excavation of a Philistine temple at Tell Qasile reveals a structure with “a long room whose roof was originally supported by two wooden pillars set on round, well-made stone bases, placed along the center axis.”125 The temple of Dagon in Gaza probably had a similar construction. It is perhaps ironic that unwittingly—it was certainly not his intention—Samson keeps the law about tearing down cultic installations (Deut 12:2–3) when Yahweh empowers him to destroy the temple of Dagon. Webb adeptly summarizes the transpiring spectacle: The ensuing scene of death and destruction is for Dagon a debacle of the greatest magnitude. The words of praise for their god must have died coldly on the lips of his devotees. Subtly, and without any crude fanfare of the explicit, the narrator underlines the power of Yahweh, the irrelevance of Dagon. The victory is unquestionably Yahweh’s, even if it is only achieved through the suffering of his servant.126 Samson kills more in his death than during his life. This is especially true since the dead in the temple include a god! In spite of Samson’s personal motive of revenge, Yahweh uses Samson to begin to deliver Israel, not so much in the political sphere as in the theological sphere. There can be no doubt as to who ...