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 16:30)
The Hebrew reads, “Let my soul die” (see margin). “Soul” is often used in the sense of “self” (Gen. 12:13; 27:25; 1 Sam. 18:1; Ps. 25:20; etc.). Samson was saying, “Let me [myself] die.” It is the individual himself who dies, not merely his body. The designation “soul” calls attention to man as a unique “self” or “individual.”
Bowed himself.
It seems that Samson put his arms around the two middle pillars and pulled them together, throwing his entire weight upon them in addition to the pull of his arms. In this manner he might have either pulled them from their top or bottom supports or else broken them in the middle. Deprived of the two central pillars, the roof would begin to sag, likely causing the other columns, forced out of the perpendicular, to give way, crushing the assembled crowds below and hurtling those on the roof to their death.
The dead which he slew.
This was the climax of Samson’s struggle against the Philistines. In his death he had slain more Philistines, and greater ones (for among them were the rulers), than he had in his life.