Judges 16:4-21

Judges 16:4-21

[4] And it came to pass afterward,  that he loved  a woman  in the valley  of Sorek,  whose name  was Delilah.  [5] And the lords  of the Philistines  came up  unto her, and said  unto her, Entice  him, and see  wherein his great  strength  lieth, and by what means we may prevail  against him, that we may bind  him to afflict  him: and we will give  thee every one  of us eleven hundred  pieces of silver.  [6] And Delilah  said  to Samson,  Tell  me, I pray thee, wherein thy great  strength  lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound  to afflict  thee. [7] And Samson  said  unto her, If they bind  me with seven  green  withs  that were never dried,  then shall I be weak,  and be as another  man.  [8] Then the lords  of the Philistines  brought up  to her seven  green  withs  which had not been dried,  and she bound  him with them. [9] Now there were men lying in wait,  abiding  with her in the chamber.  And she said  unto him, The Philistines  be upon thee, Samson.  And he brake  the withs,  as a thread  of tow  is broken  when it toucheth  the fire.  So his strength  was not known.  [10] And Delilah  said  unto Samson,  Behold, thou hast mocked  me, and told  now tell  me, I pray thee, wherewith thou mightest be bound.  [11] And he said  unto her, If they bind  with new  ropes  that never were occupied,  then shall I be weak,  and be as another  man.  [12] Delilah  therefore took  new  ropes,  and bound  him therewith, and said  unto him, The Philistines  be upon thee, Samson.  And there were liers in wait  abiding  in the chamber.  And he brake  them from off his arms  like a thread.  [13] And Delilah  said  unto Samson,  Hitherto  thou hast mocked  me, and told  tell  me wherewith thou mightest be bound.  And he said  unto her, If thou weavest  the seven  locks  of my head  with the web.  [14] And she fastened  it with the pin,  and said  unto him, The Philistines  be upon thee, Samson.  And he awaked  out of his sleep,  and went away  with the pin  of the beam,  and with the web.  [15] And she said  unto him, How  canst thou say,  I love  thee, when thine heart  is not with me? thou hast mocked  me these three  times,  and hast not told  me wherein thy great  strength  lieth. [16] And it came to pass, when she pressed  him daily  with her words,  and urged  him, so that his soul  was vexed  unto death;  [17] That he told  her all his heart,  and said  unto her, There hath not come  a razor  upon mine head;  for I have been a Nazarite  unto God  from my mother's  womb:  if I be shaven,  then my strength  will go  from me, and I shall become weak,  and be like any other man.  [18] And when Delilah  saw  that he had told  her all his heart,  she sent  and called  for the lords  of the Philistines,  saying,  Come up  this once,  for he hath shewed  me all his heart.  Then the lords  of the Philistines  came up  money  in their hand.  [19] And she made him sleep  upon her knees;  and she called  for a man,  and she caused him to shave off  the seven  locks  of his head;  and she began  to afflict  him, and his strength  went  [20] And she said,  The Philistines  be upon thee, Samson.  And he awoke  out of his sleep,  and said,  I will go out  as at other times before,  and shake  myself. And he wist  not that the LORD  was departed  [21] 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. 

What does Judges 16:4-21 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

The first three verses present Samson sowing "wild oats." Judges 16:4-21 picture him reaping a bitter harvest (cf. Galatians 6:7).
Samson allowed a woman to seduce him again. She lived in the Sorek Valley between Samson"s home area of Zorah and Eshtaol and the Philistine town of Timnah. The place itself was a compromise between Israelite and Philistine territory. Her name "Delilah" is evidently Jewish and probably means "devotee" or "worshipper." [1] However she seems to have been a Philistine, possibly a temple prostitute. [2] Her devotion to the Philistines is obvious in the text, and her devotion to their gods may well have motivated her actions in this instance. Evidently she and her family had chosen to live among the attractive and advanced enemies of God"s people.
"It is strange that Samson"s three loves should have been numbered amongst his inveterate enemies, the Philistines." [3]
Samson posed a great threat to the Philistines. The leading lords of the Philistines initiated the plan to capture him, and they offered a reward that would have made Delilah rich ( Judges 16:5). "Eleven hundred ... of silver" was a fortune since a person could live comfortably on "10 ... of silver" a year ( Judges 17:10).
Samson may not have possessed an abnormally muscular physique since the Philistines did not know where he got his great strength.
"The Philistine princes thought that Samson"s supernatural strength arose from something external, which he wore or carried about with him as an amulet." [4]
Moral compromise always makes one vulnerable to temptation. We see this in Samson"s case and in Delilah"s in these verses. Temptation usually comes in attractive packages. The wrong companions can lead us into temptation (cf. 1 Corinthians 15:33). Temptation is persistent (cf. Matthew 4). Yielding to temptation starts us on a toboggan slide. We find ourselves going faster and faster downhill, and soon we can get off only with great personal pain.
The seven fresh cords ( Judges 16:7) were probably common catgut cords that the Philistines used for bowstrings and the strings of their harps. If Song of Solomon , they were unclean for Samson since they were dead animal parts. Perhaps Samson specified seven of these since the Israelites regarded seven as a complete number. New ropes ( Judges 16:11) had not held him previously (cf. Judges 15:13-14), but perhaps the lords of the Philistines were unaware of this.
It is difficult to understand exactly what Samson meant when he instructed Delilah to weave the locks of his hair with a web and pin ( Judges 16:13-14). The commentators all struggle with what the writer wrote and what Delilah did. Apparently Delilah wove Samson"s long hair with some kind of loom and left it fastened in this primitive machine.
". . . The words in question are to be understood as referring to something that was done to fasten Samson still more securely." [5]
"Ironically, the words "tightened it with [6] the pin" (titqa" bayyated, Judges 16:14) are the same ones used of Jael, who drove the tent peg into Sisera"s head ( Judges 4:21). Though Delilah did not kill Samson in the same way, she was to become as important a heroine among the Philistines as Jael had been in Israel." [7]
The fact that Samson told Delilah to do something to his hair ( Judges 16:13) suggests that he was giving her a clue to his strength. She did not pick this up but kept hounding him for his secret. Finally he gave in ( Judges 16:17; cf. Judges 14:17).
Why did Samson continue to give Delilah reasons for his strength even when she threatened him with violence by the Philistines? He may have done so because they were playing a game together and teasing each other. Samson liked riddles ( Judges 14:12). He seems to have uprooted Gaza"s gates in sport too. Samson thought he was playing "Here come the Philistines!" but really he was playing Russian roulette.
It is incredible that Samson would have told Delilah the secret of his strength if he had thought she really intended to betray him. Evidently Samson had so much self-confidence because of his physical strength that he thought he could control this situation. He even appears to have felt that he was stronger than God. He expected God to behave on his terms rather than submitting to God"s terms, namely, his Nazirite vow. Sin, if persisted in, makes a person irrational and vulnerable. Such is its deceitfulness (cf. 1 Corinthians 6:18; 2 Timothy 2:22). Samson thought he was strong, but really he was weak. Contrast the apostle Paul"s attitude in 2 Corinthians 12:10.
"This man is indeed all brawn and no brain." [8]
"The hypocrisy of Delilah, pretending to love but all the time plotting the death of her lover, can be left without comment." [9]
It is for this behavior that she has become an infamous figure in history. Like Judas Iscariot, Delilah betrayed a friend for money.
The reason Samson lost his strength was only secondarily that he allowed Delilah to cut his hair. The real reason was that "the Lord had departed from him" ( Judges 16:20). When God"s Spirit departed from someone under the Old Covenant, the results were disastrous (cf. 1 Samuel 16:14; Psalm 51:11).
"Forty years, Samson had kept one part of his vow. He had broken all the other parts, but he had kept his hair unshaven, as a sign of his commitment to God. He had not made a very strong commitment or felt a deep faith, but he had trusted God at least in this. There was no magic in his hair. It was only a symbol of his separation to God. But if his hair was shaved, Samson"s feeble dedication would crumble completely." [10]
There is some question about whether Samson, a lifelong Nazirite, was subject to all the normal restrictions on temporary Nazirites, and whether he really broke all three of the typical Nazirite restrictions. He may have only broken the one involving his hair, or he may have broken two. [1]
"The fact that God worked through Samson need not denote approval of his lifestyle. In God"s sovereignty the Holy Spirit came on men for particular tasks, and this enduing was not necessarily proportionate to one"s spirituality. The Spirit"s power enabled men to inspire Israel ( Judges 6:34; Judges 11:29) and to perform great feats of strength ( Judges 14:6; Judges 14:19; Judges 15:14). But it was a temporary enduement, and Samson and later Saul tragically discovered that the Lord had left them. The NT experience of the permanent indwelling of the Holy Spirit was not known in OT times." [7]
Samson was fatally unwise in sharing his secret with Delilah. His willingness to do so seems traceable to his lack of appreciation of two things. He failed to appreciate his personal calling by God and the fact that his strength lay solely in God"s power working through him as a holy instrument. These are the same failures that Israel manifested and that resulted in her experiencing a fate similar to Samson"s during the period of the judges. They have caused many other servants of God to fall since Samson"s day too.
Samson"s spiritual blindness resulted in his becoming blind physically ( Judges 16:21). The Philistines seized him in Gaza as he had seized the Philistines" gate there ( Judges 16:3). The same Hebrew verb occurs in both verses, highlighting the comparison. Since he chose to be the slave of his physical passions rather than his God, God disciplined him with physical slavery (cf. Galatians 6:7). The Philistines may have tied him to a large millstone like an ox and compelled him to pull it in a circular pattern, or he may have ground a hand mill.
"Grinding a hand mill was the hardest and lowest kind of slave labour (compare Ex. xi5 with xii29); and both Greeks and Romans [13] sentenced their slaves to this as a punishment..." [14]
"This occupation was not only menial, it was humiliating, since it was invariably women"s work..." [15]
Poor blind Samson found himself chained in the prison in Gaza where he had performed his greatest feat of strength ( Judges 16:3). Previously he had demonstrated great physical strength there, but now he was very weak.
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