"But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison-house. Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven. Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice unto dagon their god, and to rejoice: for they said, Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hand. And they called for Samson out of the prison house; and he made them sport: and they set him between the pillars. 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. And Samson called unto the Lord, and said, O Lord God, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, 1 pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes. And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars on which the house stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left. And Samson said. Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death, were more than they which he slew in his life." Judges 16 : 21-30
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| From the original engraving by Henry Singleton. |
Gaza, where Samson was imprisoned, is about sixty miles from Jerusalem, and not more than two from the sea. From the earliest period of history, it is described as a place of importance. Alexander the Great besieged and took it from the Persians, and Alexander Jannseus reduced it to desolation; a misfortune foretold by the prophet Zephaniah. St. Luke calls it "desert;" but Constantino rebuilt it, and named it Constantia in honor of his son. Some remains of ancient Gaza still survive, consisting of pillars of grey granite, columns of marble, and fragments of sculpture. The inhabitants pretend to point out the ruins of the temple in which Samson avenged the injuries he had sustained at the hands of the Philistines; and, at the distance of two miles, they show the hill to which he carried the brazen gates of the city. Ruined walls, two miles in extent, encircle the eminence on which the city stands, while gardens and plantations, interspersed with substantial buildings, adorn its sides and summit.