He loved a woman. — Delilah was not, as Milton represents, his wife. Josephus (Antt. v. 8, § 11) says that she was one who played the harlot among the Philistines, and the fathers all speak of her in similar terms. Nor is it at all clear — as is generally assumed — that she was a Philistine.
In the valley of Sorek. — The English Version here follows the Vulgate, but the word for valley is nachal, and the words may mean (as the LXX. take them) “on the brook of Sorek.” Sorek was not in the Philistine district, but was near Samson’s native town of Zorah (Judges 13:2). It seems to have derived its name from the “choice vines” that grew there (Genesis 49:11; Isaiah 5:2; Jeremiah 2:21, Hebr.).
Delilah. — The “tender” or “delicate.” Ewald thinks it means “the traitress,” referring to Journ. Asiat., 2:389. The Rabbis refer it to the root daldal, “to debilitate.”