Judges 16

Samson Escapes Gaza

¹One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute and went in to spend the night with her.

²When the Gazites heard that Samson was there, they surrounded that place and lay in wait for him all night at the city gate. They were quiet throughout the night, saying, “Let us wait until dawn; then we will kill him.”

³But Samson lay there only until midnight, when he got up, took hold of the doors of the city gate and both gateposts, and pulled them out, bar and all. Then he put them on his shoulders and took them to the top of the mountain overlooking Hebron.

• JUDG 16:3[MIRACLE]Samson carries off the gates of Gaza

Samson and Delilah

⁴Some time later, Samson fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. ⁵The lords of the Philistines went to her and said, “Entice him and find out the source of his great strength and how we can overpower him to tie him up and subdue him. Then each one of us will give you 27½ pounds of silver.”

• JUDG 16:4[NOTE]Delilah is never called a Philistine. She lived in the Valley of Sorek, on the border between Israel and the Philistines. Her name may be from the Hebrew for to weaken.

⁶So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me the source of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.”

⁷Samson told her, “If they tie me up with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I will become as weak as any other man.”

⁸So the lords of the Philistines brought her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she tied him up with them. ⁹While the men were hidden in her room, she called out, “Samson, the Philistines are here!”

But he snapped the bowstrings like a strand of yarn seared by a flame. So the source of his strength remained unknown.

¹⁰Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have mocked me and lied to me! Now please tell me how you can be tied up.”

¹¹He replied, “If they tie me up with new ropes that have never been used, I will become as weak as any other man.”

¹²So Delilah took new ropes, tied him up with them, and called out, “Samson, the Philistines are here!”

But while the men were hidden in her room, he snapped the ropes off his arms like they were threads.

¹³Then Delilah said to Samson, “You have mocked me and lied to me all along! Tell me how you can be tied up.”

He told her, “If you weave the seven braids of my head into the web of a loom and tighten it with a pin, I will become as weak as any other man.”

¹⁴So while he slept, Delilah took the seven braids of his hair and wove them into the web. with a pin and called to him, “Samson, the Philistines are here!”

But he awoke from his sleep and pulled out the pin with the loom and the web.

Delilah Learns the Secret

¹⁵“How can you say, ‘I love you,’” she asked, “when your heart is not with me? This is the third time you have mocked me and failed to reveal to me the source of your great strength!”

• JUDG 16:15[HEART]Delilah said Samson's heart was not with her, and he finally told her all that was in his heart. The secret he should have guarded cost him everything.

¹⁶Finally, after she had pressed him daily with her words and pleaded until he was sick to death, ¹⁷Samson told her all that was in his heart: “My hair has never been cut, because I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaved, my strength will leave me, and I will become as weak as any other man.”

• JUDG 16:17[NOTE]The strength was never in the hair. The Spirit of Yahweh came on Samson, 14:6, 14:19, 15:14. The hair was the sign of his vow, and when it was gone, Yahweh had left him, 16:20.

¹⁸When Delilah realized that he had revealed to her all that was in his heart, she sent this message to the lords of the Philistines: “Come up once more, for he has revealed to me all that is in his heart.”

Then the lords of the Philistines came to her, bringing the money in their hands.

¹⁹And having lulled him to sleep on her lap, she called a man to shave off the seven braids of his head. In this way she began to subdue him, and his strength left him. ²⁰Then she called out, “Samson, the Philistines are here!”

When Samson awoke from his sleep, he thought, “I will escape as I did before and shake myself free.” But he did not know that Yahweh had departed from him.

• JUDG 16:20[NOTABLE]One of the saddest lines in the Bible. Samson kept playing with sin until the strength was gone, and he did not even notice.

²¹Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, where he was bound with bronze shackles and forced to grind grain in the prison.

• JUDG 16:21[NOTE]Grinding grain at a mill was work for slaves and women. The strongest man in Israel was put to the lowest job.

²²However, the hair of his head began to grow back after it had been shaved.

Samson’s Vengeance and Death

²³Now the lords of the Philistines gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon. They rejoiced and said, “Our god has delivered Samson our enemy into our hands.”

• JUDG 16:23[DEMONIC]The Philistines praise Dagon for capturing Samson
• JUDG 16:23[NOTE]Dagon was once thought to be a fish god. Many scholars now link his name to dagan, the Hebrew word for grain. Dagon shows up again in 1 Samuel 5, in his temple at Ashdod.

²⁴And when the people saw him, they praised their god, saying:

“Our god has delivered into our hands

our enemy who destroyed our land

and multiplied our dead.”

²⁵And while their hearts were merry, they said, “Call for Samson to entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison to entertain them. And they stationed him between the pillars.

²⁶Samson said to the servant who held his hand, “Lead me where I can feel the pillars supporting the temple, so I can lean against them.”

²⁷Now the temple was full of men and women; all the lords of the Philistines were there, and about three thousand men and women were on the roof watching Samson entertain them.

²⁸Then Samson called out to Yahweh: “O Lord Yahweh, please remember me. Strengthen me, O God, just once more, so that with one vengeful blow I may pay back the Philistines for my two eyes.”

• JUDG 16:28[MIRACLE]God gives Samson strength one last time to bring down the temple

²⁹And Samson reached out for the two central pillars supporting the temple. Bracing himself against them with his right hand on one pillar and his left hand on the other, ³⁰Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines.”

• JUDG 16:29[FIELD NOTES]A Philistine temple dug at Tell Qasile had its roof resting on two central wooden pillars. See The Philistines Field Notes page.

Then he pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people in it. So in his death he killed more than he had killed in his life.

• JUDG 16:30[DEMONIC]Samson brings down the temple of Dagon
• JUDG 16:30[FULFILLS]Angel foretold Samson would be a Nazirite from birth and begin Israel's deliverance from Philistines ← JUDG 13:5
• JUDG 16:30[NOTE]Samson killed more Philistines in his death than in his life. Many Christians see a picture of Christ, whose greatest victory came through His death.

³¹Then Samson’s brothers and his father’s family came down, carried him back, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. And he had judged Israel twenty years.

• JUDG 16:31[FULFILLS]Dan would provide justice for his people ← GEN 49:16MEDIUM