Shofetim 16:17

17 That he told her all his lev, and said unto her, There hath not come a morah (razor) upon mine head; for I have been a Nazir Elohim from my mother’s beten; if I be shaven, then my ko’ach will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other adam.

Shofetim 16:17 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 16:17

That he told her all his heart
All that was in his heart concerning this affair, all that he knew relating to it; he had told her something before, or at least what came nearer to the truth of the matter, when he directed her to the weaving of his locks into the web; but now he told her all, which is as follows:

and said unto her, there hath not come a razor upon mine head;
his head had never been shaved since he was born; which was the order of the angel that foretold his birth, and it had been carefully observed to that time:

for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb;
one condition of which, or what was enjoined a Nazarite, was, that he should not be shaved, and which had been religiously observed in Samson; and whereas abstinence from wine and strong drink was another part of the law of Nazariteship, or what such persons were obliged unto, what Josephus says concerning Samson being drunk in the above cases could not be true; since his Nazariteship would have been made void by it, and so have affected his strength: but it must be owned that there were other things Nazarites were obliged to, which were dispensed with, as has been observed in the case of Samson, a perpetual Nazarite; and therefore it is probable, that the principal thing he was to regard, and upon which his strength was continued, was not shaving his head:

if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become
weak, and be like any other man;
in which he says more than he ever did before, namely, that his strength should go from him; for though that did not arise from his hair, yet the keeping on of that was the condition of his retaining it.

Shofetim 16:17 In-Context

15 And she said unto him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine lev is not with me? Thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy ko’ach gadol lieth.
16 And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his nefesh was vexed unto death;
17 That he told her all his lev, and said unto her, There hath not come a morah (razor) upon mine head; for I have been a Nazir Elohim from my mother’s beten; if I be shaven, then my ko’ach will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other adam.
18 And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his lev, she sent and called for the rulers of the Pelishtim, saying, Come up this once, for he hath showed me all his lev. Then the rulers of the Pelishtim came up unto her, and brought kesef in their yad.
19 And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for an ish, and she caused him to shave off the sheva braids of his head; and she began to torment him, and his ko’ach went from him.
The Orthodox Jewish Bible fourth edition, OJB. Copyright 2002,2003,2008,2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International. All rights reserved.