Judges 16:21-31- The End Of Samson's Story

Our text is found in Judges 16:21-31, “And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles. And he ground at the mill in the prison. But the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.

Now the lords of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to rejoice, and they said, “Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand.” And when the people saw him, they praised their god. For they said, “Our god has given our enemy into our hand, the ravager of our country, who has killed many of us.” And when their hearts were merry, they said, “Call Samson, that he may entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he entertained them. They made him stand between the pillars. And Samson said to the young man who held him by the hand, “Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, that I may lean against them.” Now the house was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there, and on the roof there were about 3,000 men and women, who looked on while Samson entertained.

Then Samson called to the Lord and said, “O Lord God, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God, that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes.” And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and he leaned his weight against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other. And Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.” Then he bowed with all his strength, and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he had killed during his life. Then his brothers and all his family came down and took him and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had judged Israel twenty years.”

On February, 28^th 2026 we discovered that during the night there had been an American-Israeli attack on Iran. In the opening moments of that conflict there were about twenty Iranian leaders who were killed in a surprise attack.

As a result of that bombing raid most of Iran’s top leaders were killed. I’d ask you to bear with me as I read the positions of these men so that we can appreciate the importance of what happened that night. That bombing mission killed the Supreme Leader, Secretary of the Iranian Defense Force, IRGC commander, Chief of General, Minister of Defense, Head of Military Office, Head of Nuclear Research, former Head of Nuclear Research, Deputy Logistics Chief, Police Intelligence Commander, Head of Operations Planning, Senior Intelligence Official, Armed Forces Intelligence Deputy, and the Deputy Head of Commander-in-chief’s Office.

Because of the death of so many high ranking officials many have said that this was a very successful military attack. I wonder, did the news of this make you consider what it would be like to experience something like this among the leadership of our country? I would imagine that f this were to happen to us, we would feel insecure, scared, and unsure about our future.

In our text today we see that something similar happens to the Philistines. In the final moments of his life Samson was used by the LORD to kill many of the most influential and powerful Philistines who were ruling over Israel. We are not given a list of the leaders in the scriptures who died that day but I bet that list would be larger than the list of names that I just listed for you regarding those who were killed in Iran.

For example, when Samson does this the five kings of the Philistines were killed and many others who would have held great positions of power and influence throughout the Philistine communities. Undoubtedly there were many military leaders, political leaders, religious leaders, and wealthy business leaders would have been killed during this event.

If this was the case, it would be important for us to consider the devastating effect that this would have had upon the Philistines. However, shockingly, the Philistines would continue to rule over Israel after this happened. The LORD made it clear in Judges 13 that Samson would ‘begin to deliver Israel from the Philistines’. (13:6) Samson would begin this task, later king Saul would fight against the Philistines, and then David would complete the job during his reign.

Why would Samson not be able to finish this task? Because of the spiritual condition of Samson and the people of Israel. Even as we come to the end of Samson’s story Israel is still not repenting and calling out to the LORD for help. In the near future Israel will reject the LORD as their King and ask Samuel to give them a king like all the other nations. This is why even though the Philistines have suffered a great defeat they will not be defeated and removed from the Promised Land. After so many of their leaders are killed like this it is hard to imagine that the Philistines could continue to dominate Israel but they will.

In a similar way American and Israeli forces appear to be dominating the battlefield in Iran, but in the end who knows what this will lead too. Instead of putting all our trust in our military we ought to pray to the LORD. If we do this, the LORD will respond, but if we don’t do this then we may have no assurance that our enemies will fall and be unable to harm us in the future. Therefore, we should heed the exhortation of our story today.

Many have speculated as to whether it was a mistake for so many of Iran’s leadership to have gathered together for that meeting. At the end of the story of Samson we see that the Philistines are all gathering together. They are not doing this to plan a military strike. No, they had come together to have a great banquet to celebrate the fact that they had defeated their great enemy- Samson.

In recent days the Philistines were able to capture Samson. We read these words in Judges 16:21-22, “And the Philistines seized Samson and gouged out his eyes and brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles. And he ground at the mill in the prison.”

The word ‘gouged’ is only used a handful of times in the scriptures and most of those uses are applied to this sort of situation where someones eyes have been put out. When Samson had his eyes put out he experienced a humiliation that only a few people in scripture have experienced. It is this part of Samson’s humiliation that he speaks of to the LORD in verse 28, “Then Samson called to the Lord and said, ‘O Lord God, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God, that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes.’”

Because Samson had been captured, the Philistines planned a great celebration and invitations were being sent out to the MVP’s throughout the land. While these plans were being made, verse 22 shows us that there is hope for Samson in this situation, saying, “But the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.”

During this time verse 21 told us that Samson was forced to grind the grain in the mill in prison. In the past this manual labor would not have been difficult for Samson, but now Samson was now just like any other man and he would have been very weak. Samson no longer had the Spirit and so he no longer possessed the strength that he once did. In some ways, Samson’s body was being made weaker by the labor he was doing and the treatment that he was receiving from the Philistines.

Application: Samson had taken for granted the Spirit of God and the strength that the LORD had provided, but now Samson probably appreciated these things more than he ever has. Similarly, you and I tend to depend upon our flesh even though it is weak. Instead, we need to entrust ourselves to God, walk by the Spirit, and be strengthened by grace. We need to remember what Jesus said, “The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

The Philistines, unaware of the danger that they were in, gathered together and we read in Judges 16:23-24, “Now the lords of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god

and to rejoice, and they said, ‘Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand.’ And when the people saw him, they praised their god. For they said, ‘Our god has given our enemy into our hand, the ravager of our country, who has killed many of us.’”

The ‘lords of the Philistines’ is a reference to the rulers of the five ruling cities of the Philistines: Gaza, Gath, Ekron, Ashkelon, Ashdod. (Joshua 13:3) These are the five men who had given Delilah 5,500 pieces of silver for getting Samson to reveal the secret of his strength. They had spared no expense to capture Samson and they spare no expense to celebrate his capture.

Verse 23 says, “Now the lords of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to rejoice.” There is only one other time in the scriptures where the words ‘great sacrifice’ appears. In 2 Kings 10 Jehu says to the people, “Ahab served Baal a little, but Jehu will serve him much.” Jehu says this to draw together into one place all of the false prophets of Baal. Ahab was one of the most wicked kings in Israel and under his rule these prophets flourished. 1 Kings 16:33 says that Ahab did more to provoke the LORD’s anger than any other king in Israel through his wickedness and idolatry.

Jehu calls for a ‘great sacrifice’ to be observed among all the prophets, priests, and worshipers of Baal. He commands that all of the prophets of Baal are to be gathered from throughout Israel into one place for this ‘great sacrifice’, but they do not know that they will soon be destroyed because of their wicked idolatry.

By taking a closer look at the adjective ‘great’ we can get an even better picture this event.

• This adjective is connected to the size of the sacrifice and the festivities surrounding this event. This event was to celebrate what Dagon had done for them, saying, “Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand.” There were over 3,000 people on the roof of this building and many more people would have been inside. (27)

• This adjective would also speak of both the number of people associated with this event and the status of those people who were there. All five of the Philistine lords and those associated with them had gathered at this feast. Acts 25:23 shows us the type of pomp that surrounds people of this stature, “So on the next day Agrippa and Bernice came with great pomp, and they entered the audience hall with the military tribunes and the prominent men of the city.”

• This adjective ‘great’ is sometimes associated with how loud something is. You can imagine how loud it would have been when these people gathered and cried out, “Our god has given our enemy into our hand, the ravager of our country, who has killed many of us.” We can assume that it became even louder when we read about what happened next in Judges 16:25-27, “And when their hearts were merry, they said, “Call Samson, that he may entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison, and he entertained them. They made him stand between the pillars. And Samson said to the young man who held him by the hand, “Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, that I may lean against them.” Now the house was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there, and on the roof there were about 3,000 men and women, who looked on while Samson entertained.”

The word ‘merry’ shows up 15 times in the ESV and 13 of those verses speak of the joy and merriment that is associated with wine drinking. At the height of their merriment the command is given, “Call Samson, that he may entertain us.” They want to make Samson a spectacle and make sport of him as he is paraded in front of them for their entertainment.

When Samson was brought in he was presented before the rulers of the people. Verse 27 gives us this description, “Now the house was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there, and on the roof there were about 3,000 men and women, who looked on while Samson entertained.”

Recently I enjoyed looking at Psalm 35. In that psalm David describes a time in his life when everyone turned against him. He describes a time when even his close friends had turned upon him. In the psalm he speaks of how many people came and gathered around him to make sport of him in his suffering. (35:15,25) This is what is happening to Samson as he is paraded before the Philistines. But even in this moment the LORD was with him.

While the Philistines were enjoying this entertainment as a young boy now lead Samson around the room. What a picture! This man who possessed such great strength, who had carried away the city gates, who had killed 1,000 men with the jawbone of a donkey, is now being led around by a child.

At some point Samson says to the boy, “Let me feel the pillars on which the house rests, that I may lean against them.” Then we read in verse 28, “Then Samson called to the Lord and said, ‘O Lord God, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God, that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes.’” We mentioned earlier how humiliating it would be if you were defeated by an enemy and to have your eyes put out. This helps us to understand why Samson prays and says, “...that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes.”

Samson also prays, saying, “please remember me”. Samson is a blind man who has to be lead around everywhere by the hand of a child. All of the things that Samson has gone through has humbled him and caused him to rely upon God and His grace for strength. This humbled man now does the only thing he can do. He prays to the LORD for help. Isn’t this a great picture of God’s grace towards sinners. We are all spiritually blind, spiritually weak, and incapable of finding God on our own. Before we are saved every sin we commit only serves to blind our consciences even more. But when the light of the glory of Jesus breaks through and we call out to the LORD he saves us. In that moment the old man of flesh is killed but the Spirit gives that person life.

Before we read the end of this story let’s remember how it began, “Now the lords of the Philistines gathered to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to rejoice, and they said, ‘Our god has given Samson our enemy into our hand.’ And when the people saw him, they praised their god. For they said, ‘Our god has given our enemy into our hand, the ravager of our country, who has killed many of us.’”

How quickly the events of this day will change on this day. This great sacrifice will end in tragedy for the Philistines. The great rejoicing that is going on among the Philistines will quickly be silenced. The praises of the Philistines will soon be turned into helpless screams after Samson prays one last time at the end of his life. We read these words in Judges 16:29-31, “And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and he leaned his weight against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other. And Samson said, ‘Let me die with the Philistines.’ Then he bowed with all his strength, and the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people who were in it. So the dead whom he killed at his death were more than those whom he had killed during his life. Then his brothers and all his family came down and took him and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had judged Israel twenty years.”

In the final moments of his life Samson cried out, ‘Let me die with the Philistines’, and in his death Samson was given a great victory over Israel’s enemies and their god Dagon. In the end, Dagon is defeated and many Philistines were killed even as their hearts were merry with wine and amusement. They died as their tongues rejoiced in their god and his praises on their lips.

Out of all of those people in the temple that day there was one man whose tongue called upon the LORD and was made ‘strong out of weakness’. (Heb. 11:34) In the end, God’s enemies were killed, but God’s man of faith was saved. Samson died with the Philistines that day and his body was buried in the tomb of his father, but Samson’s soul ‘obtained the promise’ of God for which he had believed. (Heb. 11:32-33) In the end, God gets great glory for two things. First, God defeated His enemies and their false gods. Second, God saves His servant who had faith in Him and His promises.

Similarly, in Christ all of our enemies have been defeated and our hope in Christ gives us an unwavering hope. As a result of these things let us respond in faith towards God and His Son Jesus Christ. Let our hearts and mouths be full of the praise that is due Him for His mercy and grace. Let our hearts be full of joy since Christ has defeated all our foes and shown us His great grace in saving us from all of our sins.