Shofetim 16:19

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.

Shofetim 16:19 Meaning and Commentary

Judges 16:19

And she made him sleep upon her knees
Giving him, as some think, a sleepy potion; or however encouraged him to take a nap upon her knees, and by her fondness lulled him to sleep:

and she called for a man; a barber;
in former times to shave was the work of a servant ^F6 and sometimes of a woman; she gave orders for one to be sent for; for Jarchi calls him a messenger of the lords of the Philistines:

and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head;
this shows that they were not wove into one another, and made but one lock, as some interpret what she was before directed to do:

and she began to afflict him;
as his hair was shaving off; though he was asleep, yet he discovered some uneasiness, the effects of it began to appear: though the word "began" here may be redundant, as in ( Numbers 25:1 ) ( Judges 20:40 ) and then the meaning is, that she afflicted him, or again afflicted him; for she had afflicted him, or at least attempted it, three times before, and therefore did not begin now; this Hebraism is used in ( Mark 4:1 ) and frequently in Jewish writings ^F7:

and his strength went from him;
sensibly and gradually; though some understand it of her shaking him in a violent manner to awake him, and shrieking and crying out terribly to frighten him, with her old cry of the Philistines being on him, and of her binding him, though not expressed; whereby she perceived his strength was gone, and he could not loose himself.

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FOOTNOTES:

F6 Vid. Pignorium de servis, p. 89, 90, 91. & Popma de servis, p. 57, 58.
F7 See Lightfoot. Hor. Heb. in Mark iv. 1. Vid. Sterringae Animadv. Philolog. Sacr. p. 248.

Shofetim 16:19 In-Context

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.

20 And she said, The Pelishtim be upon thee, Shimshon. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before and shake myself. And he knew not that Hashem was departed from him.

21 But the Pelishtim took him, and gouged out his eyes, and brought him down to Azah (Gaza), and bound him with fetters of nechoshet; and he did grind in the prison house.