Judges 16:4-22 - Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

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Bible Comments

Samson and Delilah. It was quite near his own home, in the Vale of Sorek (Grape Valley), that the Philistines, a ided by the woman who had him in thrall, ultimately got the giant under their power. A ruined site near Zorah is still called Sû rî k. The Jaffa-Jerusalem railway now runs through the valley. The meaning of Delilah is unknown: perhaps it was a Philistine word, as the term for lords or tyrants (seren, pl. sarnç) certainly was. Delilah was to receive £ 150 from each of the five for the betrayal of her lover.

Judges 16:7. Instead of withes, or flexible twigs, read seven cords of fresh sinews, i.e. moist gut; Moore has bowstrings. Seven was first a magical and then a sacred number (cf. Judges 16:13).

Judges 16:10-13. In the second attempt to discover the secret everything is clear.

Judges 16:13 b is an unfinished sentence. The LXX has, If thou weave the seven braids of my head along with the web, and beat up with the pin, my strength will fail and I shall be like other men. So while he slept Delilah took the seven braids of his head, and wove them. and said, etc. She wove his hair into the warp with her fingers, beating it tight with the pin or batten. Samson awoke, and pulled up the whole framework fixed posts and loom by the hair of his head. Omit the pin of, which was inserted by some reader who mistook the nature of the pin.

Judges 16:19. Probably we should read and he shaved him; and the LXX proceeds and he began to be afflicted, or humbled.

Judges 16:20. Yahweh departed from him because he had ceased to be a Nazirite.

Related Commentaries of Judges 16:4

Judges 16:4-22

4 And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.

5 And the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and said unto her, Entice him, and see wherein his great strength lieth, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflictc him: and we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver.

6 And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee.

7 And Samson said unto her, If they bind me with seven greend withs that were never dried, then shall I be weak, and be as another man.

8 Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven greene withs which had not been dried, and she bound him with them.

9 Now there were men lying in wait, abiding with her in the chamber. And she said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he brake the withs, as a thread of tow is broken when it touchethf the fire. So his strength was not known.

10 And Delilah said unto Samson, Behold, thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: now tell me, I pray thee, wherewith thou mightest be bound.

11 And he said unto her, If they bind me fast with new ropes that never were occupied, then shall I be weak, and be as another man.

12 Delilah therefore took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And there were liers in wait abiding in the chamber. And he brake them from off his arms like a thread.

13 And Delilah said unto Samson, Hitherto thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: tell me wherewith thou mightest be bound. And he said unto her, If thou weavest the seven locks of my head with the web.

14 And she fastened it with the pin, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awaked out of his sleep, and went away with the pin of the beam, and with the web.

15 And she said unto him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart is not with me? thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lieth.

16 And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexedg unto death;

17 That he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.

18 And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up this once, for he hath shewed me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and brought money in their hand.

19 And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him.

20 And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the LORD was departed from him.

21 But the Philistines took him, and put outh his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house.

22 Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again afteri he was shaven.