Chapter 16. Samson's Decline, Downfall and Final Triumph.
By including Judges 15:20 the writer deliberately divided his story into two halves. The first part was, as we have seen, a story mainly of triumph against the odds, the second will be one of triumph in the face of disaster. The first began with him going in to a respectable Philistine woman with a view to responding to the Spirit of Yahweh (Judges 14:1 with Judges 13:25), and constantly speaks of His activity by the Spirit. The second begins with him going in to a prostitute with a view to following the lusts of the flesh (Judges 16:1). There is no mention of the Spirit of Yahweh in this section, only of the final departure from him of Yahweh (Judges 16:20). But in the end it is ‘Yahweh' Who acts through him for he is partially restored to his vow.
Furthermore Judges 16:1 can be seen as parallel to previous times when ‘Israel went a-whoring after strange gods' (Judges 2:17) and ‘did evil in the sight of Yahweh' with the Baalim and Ashtaroth (Judges 2:11; Judges 3:7). This would then signify good times followed by bad. But Samson's gods were women. Samson had lost his effectiveness.
The account begins with his going in to a harlot in Gaza, and his subsequent removal of the gates of Gaza, followed by his dalliance with Delilah who tempts him to divulge the secret of his strength. This is followed by his subsequent arrest and blinding, and his being committed to hard labour in the prison mill. But the regrowth of his hair strengthens his faith and he finally destroys a packed Philistine Temple killing many of the enemy hierarchy.
‘ And Samson went to Gaza and there he saw a prostitute and went in to her.'
Gaza was the southernmost of the five major cities of the Philistine confederacy, near the coast to the south. Some years had possibly passed since the previous incidents, and many Israelites would visit the city, so that he was not necessarily expecting problems, although it was always going to be risky. Again he ‘saw a woman'. But this time she was a prostitute and he went in to her.
Perhaps he was now a disillusioned man as far as women were concerned so that all that they meant to him now was sex. It was a sign that his dedication to Yahweh had dimmed and that he now felt that he could do as he wished, although his strong sexual desires may have been overruling his will. But if so, that could only happen because of the dimming of his dedication. This time it would appear that the wrong spirit was moving him. He was no longer the man he was. Possibly it was the middle-age syndrome.
It may be that he used the woman in order to gain information about the city, or his intention may from the start have been to destroy the gates about which he needed knowledge, but there was no excuse for his behaviour, which was contrary to his vow. On the other hand any who have known strong sexual desire will understand the temptation, and appreciate her drawing power to him if she was very desirable. Even Nazirites were men, and the constant nagging of sexual desire has led many good men astray. But he knew his own weaknesses and it was something that he should have guarded against, as should we.