‘ And they spoke to him, saying, “No, but we will bind you fast and hand you over into their hands. But certainly we will not kill you.” And they bound him with two new ropes and brought him up from the rock.'
What they were offering seemed certain death for Samson, but at least it would not be at their hands. They were caught helplessly between two options. The one to fight the Philistines, the other to fight Samson. They did not like the idea of either. But they hoped that Samson might be reasonable for the sake of his countrymen.
On their assurance Samson submitted to be bound. Was this the result of powerful trust in Yahweh, or was it overconfidence in his own abilities? Possibly something of both. How men chosen by God have to be on constant watch over their motives!
And they bound him with ‘two new ropes'. This probably means ‘a number of new ropes' not strictly limited to two (compare 1 Kings 17:12 of sticks gathered for a fire). ‘Two' was traditionally used in this way from the days when men's use of number words was very limited. Most people rarely used numbers to any extent and kept to the old usages. The ropes were new as indicating to the Philistines that they had used all measures possible to safeguard Samson. Or they may have been new because they recognised that Samson was a Nazirite. Then they led him up from the rock.
Etam was in the hill country but clearly in a defile or valley for they ‘went down' to him and then ‘brought him up'.