Words in italic type have been added for clarity. They are not found in the original Hebrew or Aramaic.
Judges 16
- About the title:
A LOOM: So she wove it tightly with the batten of the loom (v.14)
A WOMB: a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb (v.17)
A TOMB: (v.31) They buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah.
Samson and Delilah
Judges 16:1 Now Samson went to Gaza and saw a harlot there, and went in to her.
- In Hebrew the name “Samson” is derived from the word “sun”.
- Even during Samson’s time, the Jews were having trouble with the Gaza Strip.
Judges 16:2 When the Gazites were told, “Samson has come here!” they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the gate of the city. They were quiet all night, saying, “In the morning, when it is daylight, we will kill him.”
Judges 16:3 And Samson lay low till midnight; then he arose at midnight, took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two gateposts, pulled them up, bar and all, put them on his shoulders, and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.
Judges 16:4 Afterward it happened that he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.
- He didn’t love the harlot. He loved Delilah, from the nation’s enemies.
Judges 16:5 And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Entice him, and find out where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to afflict him; and every one of us will give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.”
- Judas betrayed Jesus for much less: only 30 pieces of silver.
Judges 16:6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength lies, and with what you may be bound to afflict you.”
Judges 16:7 And Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings, not yet dried, then I shall become weak, and be like any other man.”
Judges 16:8 So the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh bowstrings, not yet dried, and she bound him with them.
- The Philistines were under the influence of Satan aka Beelzebub: who name means “Lord of the Flies”. The lords of the Philistines are the Lords of the Flies.
Judges 16:9 Now men were lying in wait, staying with her in the room. And she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he broke the bowstrings as a strand of yarn breaks when it touches fire. So the secret of his strength was not known.
- ONE: He broke the bowstrings.
- Samson was in the room with Delilah. Delilah was in the room with the Philistines lying in wait. The logical conclusion is that the Philistines were hiding somewhere in the room.
Judges 16:10 Then Delilah said to Samson, “Look, you have mocked me and told me lies. Now, please tell me what you may be bound with.”
- Samson is dull and Delilah is outrageous. She blames him for her betrayal.
Judges 16:11 So he said to her, “If they bind me securely with new ropes that have never been used (Lit. with which work has never been done), then I shall become weak, and be like any other man.”
- He MUST know what she is up to. Is he so sure of himself and his strength that he doesn’t get up and run away from her?
Judges 16:12 Therefore Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them, and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And men were lying in wait, staying in the room. But he broke them off his arms like a thread.
- TWO: He broke the new ropes.
- How often can they hide and Samson not know it?
Judges 16:13 Delilah said to Samson, “Until now you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me what you may be bound with.”
And he said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head into the web of the loom”—
Judges 16:14 So she wove it tightly with the batten of the loom, and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he awoke from his sleep, and pulled out the batten and the web from the loom.
- A LOOM!
- THREE: HIS HAIR IN A LOOM.
Judges 16:15 Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and have not told me where your great strength lies.”
Judges 16:16 And it came to pass, when she pestered him daily with her words and pressed him, so that his soul was vexed (Lit. impatient to the point of) to death,
Judges 16:17 that he told her all his heart, and said to her, “No razor has ever come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaven, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.”
- His mother must have avoided all the foods that a Nazirite would not eat while she was pregnant with Samson. Scripture never says what the difficult vow was.
Judges 16:18 When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up once more, for he has told me all his heart.” So the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hand.
Judges 16:19 Then she lulled him to sleep on her knees, and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him (he began to be weak).
Judges 16:20 And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” So he awoke from his sleep, and said, “I will go out as before, at other times (at least three other times), and shake myself free!” But he did not know that the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ) had departed from him.
Judges 16:21 Then the Philistines took him and put out his eyes (Lit. bored out), and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze fetters, and he became a grinder in the prison.
Judges 16:22 However, the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaven.
- When his hair grew again … so did his strength. (A type of a resurrection)
Samson Dies with the Philistines
Judges 16:23 Now the lords of the Philistines gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice. And they said:
“Our god has delivered into our hands
Samson our enemy!”
Judges 16:24 When the people saw him, they praised their god; for they said:
“Our god has delivered into our hands our enemy,
The destroyer of our land,
And the one who multiplied our dead.”
Judges 16:25 So it happened, when their hearts were merry, that they said, “Call for Samson, that he may perform for us.” So they called for Samson from the prison, and he performed for them. And they stationed him between the pillars.
Judges 16:26 Then Samson said to the lad who held him by the hand, “Let me feel the pillars which support the temple, so that I can lean on them.”
Judges 16:27 Now the temple was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there—about three thousand men and women on the roof watching while Samson performed.
- Was Delilah present? These were an assembly of the elite. Delilah, with her money would have qualified.
- Since Samson was blind he couldn’t see whether Delilah, his betrayer, was present and died.
Judges 16:28 Then Samson called to the Lord (Yᵊhōvâ) , saying, “O Lord God (‘ăḏōnāy Yᵊhōvâ), remember me, I pray! Strengthen me, I pray, just this once, O God (‘ĕlōhîm), that I may with one blow take vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes!”
- Two Pillars for Samson’s Two Eyes.
Judges 16:29 And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars which supported the temple, and he braced himself against them, one on his right and the other on his left.
Judges 16:30 Then Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” And he pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his life.
- Samson, in essence, committed suicide. God answered Samson’s prayer for suicide.
Judges 16:31 And his brothers and all his father’s household came down and took him, and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. He had judged Israel twenty years.
- Samson was spiritually blind all his life until the end, even though he physically had his sight. He was lulled to sleep by Delilah. Then he was physically blinded in mockery which opened his spiritual eyes. His appetite for women caused his death.
- The number “twenty” means the Strength and Value of a Working Man. Samson judged Israel twenty years.
- See Topic: Number Symbolism
- The meaning of Manoah, Samson’s father: “Manoah” = rest, in a psychological sense. If you are restless, uncomfortable, anxious … you don’t know Manoah. Samson was buried in the tomb of his father to “rest”.
Archeology
Science News: Ancient Seal May Add Substance to the Legend of Samson
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/08/120813103403.htm
- Aug. 13, 2012 — Tel Aviv University researchers recently uncovered a seal, measuring 15 millimetres (about a half-inch) in diameter, which depicts a human figure next to a lion at the archaeological site of Beth Shemesh, located between the Biblical cities of Zorah and Eshtaol, where Samson was born, flourished, and finally buried, according to the book of Judges. The scene engraved on the seal, the time period, and the location of the discovery all point to a probable reference to the story of Samson, the legendary heroic figure whose adventures famously included a victory in hand-to-paw combat with a lion
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