Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Judges 16:24
And when the people saw him, they praised their god: for they said, Our god hath delivered into our hands our enemy, and the destroyer of our country, which slew many of us.
24. saw him ] As Samson does not appear till the next verse, Lagrange suggests that him refers to Dagon, whose image was uncovered at this moment or carried out in procession. It is more likely that the order of the narrative has been disturbed; if we place Jdg 16:24 after Jdg 16:25 everything falls into natural sequence.
Our god hath delivered ] The song is constructed of four lines, each ending with a rhyming suffix -nu = our. The last line runs lit. ‘and who multiplied our slain.’ Other specimens of this kind of rhyme, common in Arabic poetry but rare in the O.T., may be seen in Jdg 14:18 b (‘my heifer my riddle’); Gen 4:23 ; 1Sa 18:7. It will be noticed that all these are popular, traditional verses.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Our God … – A portion of the Philistine triumphal song. Compare Judg. 5; Exo. 15.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
And when the people saw him,…. In the condition he was, blinded and fettered, of whom and of his great exploits they had heard so much: they praised their god; as Belshazzar did his, Da 5:4 in hymns and songs composed for them, the substance of which was as follows:
for they said, our god hath delivered into our hands our enemy, and the destroyer of our country; as he had been, by tying firebrands to the tails of three hundred foxes, and letting them go into their cornfields, vineyards, and oliveyards:
which slew many of us; thirty men at Ashkelon, more at Timnath, and 1000 with the jawbone of an ass at Lehi.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
24. When the people saw him In all his apparent misery and helplessness.
Praised their god They ascribed to Dagon the glory of making this great national enemy a blind and helpless captive. They gazed and wondered at the spectacle of one who had been so great a terror to all Philistia brought to the low condition of a blind and insulted prison slave. None but a god could, in their view, have wrought a victory like this, and they very naturally recognised, with festal rejoicings, the superiority of their national marine god over Jehovah, the national god of the Hebrews.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘ And when the people saw him, they praised their god for they said, “Our god has delivered into our hand our enemy, and the destroyer of our country who has killed many of us.” ’
The order in which the verse comes is not strictly chronological. They would see him first when he was led bound through the streets in triumph, and then when they visited the prison house to gloat over him, and finally when they called for him to be brought to the temple of Dagon. Blinded and fettered he appeared to be a triumph for them and for their god, for they remembered how he had burned their crops and olive orchards and how he had slain their dead. Note how the rejoicing and celebration is stressed. They made a great show of it and this is in fact a victory song which we might render:
“He has given, our God,
Into our hands, our enemy,
Ravager, of our land,
Multiplier, of our slain.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jdg 16:24 And when the people saw him, they praised their god: for they said, Our god hath delivered into our hands our enemy, and the destroyer of our country, which slew many of us.
Ver. 24. And when the people saw him, they praised their god. ] Magnates, magnetes; the multitude do as their rulers; and, as in beasts, the body followeth the head, so here.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
praised: Deu 32:27, Isa 37:20, Eze 20:14, Dan 5:4, Dan 5:23, Hab 1:16, Rev 11:10
which slew many of us: Heb. and who multiplied our slain, Jdg 15:8, Jdg 15:16
Reciprocal: Num 31:2 – Avenge Jdg 15:14 – the Philistines 1Sa 31:9 – to publish 2Sa 1:20 – Tell 1Ch 10:9 – tidings Dan 1:2 – and he