Judges 16:1-9

Samson's Weakness

1 Now Samson went to ¹Gaza and saw a harlot * there, and went in to her.

2 When it was told to the Gazites, saying, "Samson has come here," they ²surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the gate of the city. And they kept silent all night, saying, "Let us wait until the morning light, then we will kill him."

3 Now Samson lay until midnight *, and at midnight * he arose and took hold of the doors of the city gate and the two posts and pulled them up along with the bars; then he put them on his shoulders and carried them up to the top of the mountain which is opposite * Hebron.

4 After this it came about that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.

5 The ³lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, "⁴Entice him, and see where his great strength lies and how we may overpower him that we may bind him to afflict him. Then we will each give you eleven * hundred pieces of silver."

6 So Delilah said to Samson, "Please tell me where your great strength is and how you may be bound to afflict you."

7 Samson said to her, "If they bind me with seven fresh cords that have not been dried, then I will become weak and be like any other man."

8 Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh cords that had not been dried, and she bound him with them.

9 Now she had men lying in wait in an inner room. And she said to him, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" But he snapped the cords as a string of tow snaps when it touches fire. So his strength was not discovered.

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Judges 16:1-9 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JUDGES 16

In this chapter we have an account of Samson's too great familiarity with two harlots; by the one he was brought into great danger, and narrowly escaped, Jud 16:1-3, and by the other he was betrayed into the hands of the Philistines, having got the secret out of him wherein his great strength lay, Jud 16:4-20 who having him in their hands, put out his eyes, imprisoned him, and in their idol temple made sport of him, Jud 16:21-25, where praying for renewed strength from the Lord, he pulled down the temple, and destroyed multitudes with the loss of his own life, Jud 16:26-31.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Cross References 4

1. Joshua 15:47
2. 1 Samuel 23:26; Psalms 118:10-12
3. Joshua 13:3
4. Judges 14:15

Footnotes 3

[a]. Lit "by what"
[b]. Lit "by what"
[c]. Lit "smells"