Jueces 16:19

19 Después de hacerlo dormir sobre sus rodillas, ella llamó a un hombre para que le cortara las siete trenzas de su cabello. Así comenzó a dominarlo. Y su fuerza lo abandonó.

Jueces 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.

Jueces 16:19 In-Context

17 al fin se lo dijo todo. «Nunca ha pasado navaja sobre mi cabeza —le explicó—, porque soy nazareo, consagrado a Dios desde antes de nacer. Si se me afeitara la cabeza, perdería mi fuerza, y llegaría a ser tan débil como cualquier otro hombre».

18 Cuando Dalila se dio cuenta de que esta vez le había confiado todo, mandó llamar a los jefes de los filisteos, y les dijo: «Vuelvan una vez más, que él me lo ha confiado todo». Entonces los gobernantes de los filisteos regresaron a ella con la plata que le habían ofrecido.

19 Después de hacerlo dormir sobre sus rodillas, ella llamó a un hombre para que le cortara las siete trenzas de su cabello. Así comenzó a dominarlo. Y su fuerza lo abandonó.

20 Luego ella gritó: «¡Sansón, los filisteos se lanzan sobre ti!»Sansón despertó de su sueño y pensó: «Me escaparé como las otras veces, y me los quitaré de encima». Pero no sabía que el SEÑOR lo había abandonado.

21 Entonces los filisteos lo capturaron, le arrancaron los ojos y lo llevaron a Gaza. Lo sujetaron con cadenas de bronce, y lo pusieron a moler en la cárcel.