Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Judges 16:27
Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philistines [were] there; and [there were] upon the roof about three thousand men and women, that beheld while Samson made sport.
27. and all the lords three thousand men and women ] No doubt an insertion to heighten the effect; grammatically full of men and women is carried on by that beheld, shewing that the intervening words are not original. No mention of the people on the roof is made in Jdg 16:30. The LXX. cod. B has 70 for 3000.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
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.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The roof, after the manner of the times, was flat, and had windows through which they might see what was done in the lower parts of the house.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
27. there were upon the roof aboutthree thousand men and women, that beheld while Samson madesportThis building seems to have been similar to the spaciousand open amphitheaters well known among the Romans and still found inmany countries of the East. They are built wholly of wood. Thestanding place for the spectators is a wooden floor resting upon twopillars and rising on an inclined plane, so as to enable all to havea view of the area in the center. In the middle there are two largebeams, on which the whole weight of the structure lies, and thesebeams are supported by two pillars placed almost close to each other,so that when these are unsettled or displaced, the whole pile musttumble to the ground.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Now the house was full of men and women,…. Within it, who were gathered together from all parts of the city, and perhaps from other places on this occasion:
and all the lords of the Philistines were there; their five lords, the lords of Gaza, Ashdod, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron:
and there were upon the roof three thousand men and women; it being a flat roof, as the houses in Canaan and Phoenicia, and the places adjacent, were; see De 22:8 and there might be some openings or windows in several parts of it, through which the people might see who were below them, and were within the house, and what was doing there, and particularly could have a sight of Samson through them as follows:
that beheld while Samson made sport; or was made a sport of; while he was buffeted and used in a ludicrous manner.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(27) The house was full of men and women . . . upon the roof about three thousand men and women.The words for men and women in the first clause are anashim and nashim, and in the second eesh and eeshsha. The more distinguished people were with the lords in the house itself; the common people were on the flat roof.
There were upon the roof.The temple may have been like a Turkish kiosk, a spacious hall, of which the roof rested in front upon four columns, two of them standing at the ends, and two close together in the centre. Under this hall the chief Philistines celebrated a sacrificial meal, whilst the people were assembled above upon the top of the roof, which was surrounded by a balustrade (Faber, Archol. d. Hebr., quoted by Keil). His puissant locks, as Milton says, sternly shook thunder with ruin upon the heads of those his evil counsellors, but not without great affliction to himself. In the life of Samson and the incidents of Judges 18 we find the chief illustrations of the character of his tribe as described in Jacobs blessing Gen. 49:16-17). Hence, perhaps, he is called Bedan in 1Sa. 12:11, if we follow the improbable gloss of the Targum in making the word there mean a Danite.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
27. Upon the roof about three thousand A roof one hundred and fifty feet square would afford a space of nearly a square yard for each one of these, and probably the roof of this building was still larger than this.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘ Now the house was full of men and women, and all the lords of the Philistines were there, and there were on the roof three thousand men and women who watched while Samson made sport.’
This was a special occasion and it is stressed that the temple was dangerously packed. The crowded roof, with the crowds peering over to watch Samson, was probably already affecting the temple’s structure, especially when he was led to the pillars and they had to lean over to see him. Everyone was there to see him, including the five great Tyrants of Ashdod, Ashkelon, Ekron, Gath and Gaza.
“Men and women.” The mixing of the sexes like this was not a Semitic custom, but was well accepted in Crete from where the Philistines came.
“Three eleph.” Three large groups. The number is probably a rough approximation, based on divisions of the crowd. An ‘eleph’ is a large group.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jdg 16:27. Now the house was full, &c. It is not certain, whether this was the temple of Dagon, or a kind of theatre built for public sports. Dr. Shaw gives us the best commentary on this passage. “This method of building,” says he, whereof he had just spoken, “may further assist us in accounting for the particular structure of the temple or house of Dagon, (Judges 16.) and the great number of people who were buried in the ruins of it, by the pulling down of the two principal pillars which supported it. We read, Jdg 16:27 that about three thousand persons were upon the roof to behold while Samson made sport, viz. to the scoffing and deriding Philistines. Samson, therefore, must have been in a court or area below; and consequently the temple will be of the same kind with the ancient , or sacred inclosures, which were only surrounded either in part or on all sides with some plain or cloistered buildings. Several palaces and douwanas, as the courts of justice are called in these countries, are built in this fashion; where, upon their public festivals and rejoicings, a great quantity of sand is strewed upon the area for the pellowans or wrestlers to fall upon; whilst the roofs of these cloisters are crouded with spectators to admire their strength and activity. I have often seen numbers of people diverted in this manner upon the roof of the Dey’s palace at Algiers, which, like many more of the same quality and denomination, has an advanced cloister over against the gate of the palace, (Est 5:1.] made in the fashion of a large pent-house, supported only by one or two contiguous pillars in the front, or else in the centre. In such open structures as these, the bashaws, kadees, and other great officers, distribute justice, and transact the public affairs of their provinces. Here likewise they have their public entertainments, as the lords and others of the Philistines had in the house of Dagon. Upon a supposition, therefore, that in the house of Dagon there was a cloistered building of that kind, the pulling down the front or centre pillars, which supported it, would alone be attended with the like catastrophe that happened to the Philistines.” See Travels, p. 216. Our great English architect, Sir Christopher Wren, is of opinion, that this building was an oval amphitheatre, the scene in the middle; where a vast roof of cedar beams resting round upon the walls, centered all upon one short architrave, which united two cedar-pillars in the middle. One pillar would not be sufficient to unite the ends of at least one hundred beams which tended to the centre; therefore there must be a short architrave, or concentric circle resting upon two pillars, upon which all the beams tending to the centre of the amphitheatre might be supported. Now, if Samson, by his miraculous strength, moved one of those pillars from the basis, the whole roof must necessarily fall. The supposing that the ends of the beams were united in a circle in the middle, will remove the difficulty which may arise from considering that no less than three thousand persons were spectators of Samson’s ill treatment from the roof; for this manner of construction would have afforded them conveniency enough for this purpose. See Wren’s Parentalia, p. 359. Pliny mentions two theatres built at Rome by Caius Curio, which were large enough to contain the whole Roman people, and yet of so singular a structure as to depend each upon one hinge or pivot. See Nat. Hist. lib. 36: cap. 15. And in Tacitus, we read of a destruction by the fall of an amphitheatre similar to this occasioned by Samson. Annals, lib. 6: cap. 62.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Jdg 16:27 Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philistines [were] there; and [there were] upon the roof about three thousand men and women, that beheld while Samson made sport.
Ver. 27. Now the house. ] Dagon’s temple: that where they had sinned, there they might suffer. So Ahab’s blood was licked up by dogs in the place where he had slain Naboth. 1Ki 21:19 So Henry III of France was stabbed to death in that very chamber where he had contrived the massacre of Paris.
Was full of men and women.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
and there: “Samson, therefore,” says Dr. Shaw, “must have been in a court or area below; and consequently the temple will be of the same kind with the ancient, , or sacred enclosures, which were only surrounded either in part, or on all sides, with some plain or cloistered buildings. Several palaces, doutwanas, (as the courts of justice are called in those countries) are built in this fashion. On their public festivals and rejoicings, the roofs of these cloisters are crowded with spectators. I have often seen numbers of people diverted in this manner on the roof of the dey’s palace at Algiers; which, like many others, has an advanced cloister, over against the gate of the palace, like a long pent-house, supported by one or two contiguous pillars in front, or centre.”
the roof: Jdg 9:51, Deu 22:8, Jos 2:8, 2Sa 11:2
Reciprocal: 2Ki 10:21 – full from one end to another
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jdg 16:27. There were upon the roof, &c. The roof was flat, and had windows, through which they might see what was done in the lower parts of the house.