Then his family came down and took his body and brought it up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had judged Israel twenty years (וַיֵּרְדוּ אָחִיו וְכׇל־בֵּית אָבִיו וַיִּשְׂאוּ אוֹתוֹ וַיַּעֲלוּ הוּ וַיִּקְבְּרוּ אוֹתוֹ בֵּין־צׇרְעָה וּבֵין־אֶשְׁתָּאוֹל בְּקִבְרַת מָנוֹחַ אָבִיו וְהוּא שָׁפַט אֶת־יִשְׂרָאֵל עֶשְׂרִים שָׁנָה) — the narrative closes with an epitaph: Samson's family retrieves his body and buries him in the ancestral tomb at Manoah's site, between Zorah and Eshtaol (his birthplace). The return to Manoah's tomb represents a kind of spiritual homecoming, despite Samson's life of wandering. The closing formula, ``He judged Israel twenty years,'' parallels the opening (15:20), creating an inclusio that frames his entire career. Yet the twenty years of judgeship are evaluated not through military victories retained or Philistine cities conquered but through this final act of suicide-as-judgment. The narrative's final assessment is remarkable: ``And those whom he killed at his death were more than those he had killed during his life'' (וַיִּהְיוּ הַמֵּתִים אֲשֶׁר־הֵמִית בְּמוֹתוֹ יוֹתֵר מִן־הַמֵּתִים אֲשֶׁר הֵמִית בְּחַיָּיו)—his final act transcends all his previous exploits, suggesting that his death represents his truest achievement.

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