Judges 16:1-5

Samson and Delilah

1 One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute. He went in to spend the night with her.

2 The people of Gaza were told, “Samson is here!” So they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the city gate. They made no move during the night, saying, “At dawn we’ll kill him.”

3 But Samson lay there only until the middle of the night. Then he got up and took hold of the doors of the city gate, together with the two posts, and tore them loose, bar and all. He lifted them to his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.

4 Some time later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah.

5 The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, “See if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels^[a] of silver.”

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Judges 16:1-5 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 12

1. S Judges 13:24
2. S Genesis 10:19
3. S Genesis 38:15
4. S Joshua 2:5; 1 Samuel 23:26; Psalms 118:10-12; Acts 9:24
5. 1 Samuel 19:11
6. S Joshua 10:36
7. S Genesis 24:67; S Genesis 34:3
8. ver 6
9. S Joshua 13:3
10. S Exodus 10:7; S Judges 14:15
11. ver 6,15
12. ver 18

Footnotes 1

[a]. That is, about 28 pounds or about 13 kilograms