Judges 16: 1 –31
A Shave And A Haircut – 2 Eyes
Now Samson went to Gaza and saw a harlot there, and went in to her. 2 When the Gazites were told, “Samson has come here!” they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the gate of the city. They were quiet all night, saying, “In the morning, when it is daylight, we will kill him.” 3 And Samson lay low till midnight; then he arose at midnight, took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two gateposts, pulled them up, bar and all, put them on his shoulders, and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron. 4 Afterward it happened that he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. 5 And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Entice him, and find out where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to afflict him; and every one of us will give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.” 6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength lies, and with what you may be bound to afflict you.” 7 And Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings, not yet dried, then I shall become weak, and be like any other man.” 8 So the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh bowstrings, not yet dried, and she bound him with them. 9 Now men were lying in wait, staying with her in the room. And she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he broke the bowstrings as a strand of yarn breaks when it touches fire. So the secret of his strength was not known. 10 Then Delilah said to Samson, “Look, you have mocked me and told me lies. Now, please tell me what you may be bound with.” 11 So he said to her, “If they bind me securely with new ropes that have never been used, then I shall become weak, and be like any other man.” 12 Therefore Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them, and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And men were lying in wait, staying in the room. But he broke them off his arms like a thread. 13 Delilah said to Samson, “Until now you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me what you may be bound with.” And he said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head into the web of the loom”— 14 So she wove it tightly with the batten of the loom, and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he awoke from his sleep, and pulled out the batten and the web from the loom. 15 Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and have not told me where your great strength lies.” 16 And it came to pass, when she pestered him daily with her words and pressed him, so that his soul was vexed to death, 17 that he told her all his heart, and said to her, “No razor has ever come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaven, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.” 18 When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up once more, for he has told me all his heart.” So the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hand. 19 Then she lulled him to sleep on her knees, and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him. 20 And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” So he awoke from his sleep, and said, “I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!” But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him. 21 Then the Philistines took him and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze fetters, and he became a grinder in the prison. 22 However, the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaven. 23 Now the lords of the Philistines gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice. And they said: “Our god has delivered into our hands Samson our enemy!” 24 When the people saw him, they praised their god; for they said: “Our god has delivered into our hands our enemy, the destroyer of our land,
And the one who multiplied our dead.” 25 So it happened, when their hearts were merry, that they said, “Call for Samson, that he may perform for us.” So they called for Samson from the prison, and he performed for them. And they stationed him between the pillars. 26 Then Samson said to the lad who held him by the hand, “Let me feel the pillars which support the temple, so that I can lean on them.” 27 Now the temple was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there—about three thousand men and women on the roof watching while Samson performed. 28 Then Samson called to the LORD, saying, “O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray! Strengthen me, I pray, just this once, O God, that I may with one blow take vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes!” 29 And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars which supported the temple, and he braced himself against them, one on his right and the other on his left. 30 Then Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” And he pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his life. 31 And his brothers and all his father’s household came down and took him, and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. He had judged Israel twenty years.
To help me instruct you on certain issues, I wish that you were a fly in my office to hear some of the things that people bring out in counseling. Of course, when people come in to unload their sins, all things have to be confidential. But at the same time I wish you could hear what is being spilled. As a Psychologist and a Pastor I have learned that from the amount of counseling sessions, I can almost pick up what is happening in an individual’s or couple’s lives.
For example, in dealing with single women, I will get a young lady dealing with serious depression. I do not know if you ever heard of this statement or not, but it goes like this, ‘depression is anger turned inward’. So, Something is or is not going on in a person’s life that is causing them this emotional problem. Now, I can then guess why this young lady is depressed and it is usually due to a broken relationship with a guy that the girl thought was the one God had put in her life.
Now some of you may be thinking that I am wrong in thinking this. Perhaps the girl is depressed because she does not have any guy in her life. I would say that this is not the case since a girl in this situation would be more ‘heart broken’ than depressed. No, it is usually due to a guy whose main goal was to get the girl into a sexual relationship. He lied in telling her that he wanted to marry her as this is the ploy of almost ever guy out there.
What happens is that the girl compromises her faithfulness to God because she thinks why not, after all the guy said he is going to be my future husband. Wow! How naïve!
The people who therefore sin get mad at God. I ask why. One excuse is that God Is in control of all things. If he loved me then He should have interceded and stopped this from ever happening. Another excuse is that the woman met the guy in church so God had to be the one who brought the man into her life. Really?
I want you to look with me at the first chapter of the book of Job. Here we see some of the actions of the enemy of our souls – Satan. When Jehovah Elyon, our Lord Most High, asks Satan what he has been up to, look at his wise guy response to our Great and Holy Master.
“ Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. 7 And the LORD said to Satan, “From where do you come?” So Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.” 8 Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?” 9 So Satan answered the LORD and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? 10 Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. 11 But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!” 12 And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person.” So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.”
You see like in the counseling Satan and his troop of other fallen angels observe all that we say and do. Observing that the girl was anxious to get a man, the enemy sent along her way a substitute guy. Instead of checking the guy with El Shaddai – God Almighty – the girl does not pray but falls head over heals for this phony. In the end she gets burned. Do you see what I mean?
I had a former young and beautiful young lady working as my secretary. In her pursuit of getting a guy she at first secretly started dating a non-believer. This guy got her hooked within two months on heroin and cocaine. She left her parents home and is now living with this detestable son of Satan. If you can do me a favor please pray for Michelle that our Holy Supreme Creator would protect her and break her down and bring her back.
The reason that I bring this all up is because this same thing was happening with Samson.
At first as you remember Samson began his social life by going to a respectable Philistine woman. In this case our Wonderful Holy Spirit was involved in order to set up confrontations with the Philistines . The second begins with him going in to a prostitute with a view to following the lusts of the flesh. There is no mention of the Spirit of Yahweh in this section, only of the final departure from him of Yahweh.
Furthermore as we have learned from our study of the book of Judges this act can also be seen as parallel to previous times when ‘Israel went a-whoring after strange gods’ and ‘did evil in the sight of Yahweh’ with the Baalim and Ashtaroth. This would then signify good times followed by bad. But Samson’s gods were women. Samson had lost his effectiveness.
So, let’s see what happened.
Now Samson went to Gaza and saw a harlot there, and went in to her.
Gaza was the southernmost of the five major cities of the Philistine confederacy, near the coast to the south. Some years had possibly passed since the previous incidents, and many Israelites would visit the city, so that he was not necessarily expecting problems, although it was always going to be risky. Again he ‘saw a woman’. But this time she was a prostitute and he went in to her.
Perhaps he was now a disillusioned man as far as women were concerned so that all that they meant to him now was sex. It was a sign that his dedication to Yahweh had dimmed and that he now felt that he could do as he wished, although his strong sexual desires may have been overruling his will. This time it would appear that the wrong spirit was moving him. He was no longer the man he was.
2 When the Gazites were told, “Samson has come here!” they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the gate of the city. They were quiet all night, saying, “In the morning, when it is daylight, we will kill him.”
The leading men of Gaza learned that Samson was there. Possibly he had been spotted, or perhaps the prostitute had sent a message informing them of his presence, hoping for a reward. He may well have boasted about who he was, for he had lost his humility. Either way they decided that they would wait until morning, when approaching him might be less dangerous because then they could see what they were doing. They knew that there was only one way out of the walled city, through the huge city gates, and those would not be opened until the morning. And so they knew that they had him safe. They knew that they would be able to take him when they wanted and in a place where they themselves had set an ambush.
3 And Samson lay low till midnight; then he arose at midnight, took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two gateposts, pulled them up, bar and all, put them on his shoulders, and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron.
Samson had a good idea of the situation, and took them by surprise. He finished his ‘adventures’ at midnight and then he left the house where he was and made for the city gates. For with his huge strength Samson quietly demolished the outer gate and the two gateposts and then lifted the whole on his shoulders and carried them off into the night.
No doubt the sight stunned the watchers to silence and wonder, so that they did nothing. They could probably not believe their eyes. They were probably also unnerved in the darkness, for his fearsome reputation was well known, although they had never seen it at first hand. Perhaps they heard the clatter and noise but were not sure what he was doing. Nor were they going to interfere. The last thing they had expected was for the gates to disappear. And now it was accomplished before their eyes.
Hebron was thirty eight miles from Gaza, but this hill may have been a few miles from Gaza going towards Hebron, with Hebron seen in the distance.
We have to take note that His activities with the prostitute, following his connection with death through the use of the jaw of the donkey, serves to demonstrate that his dedication as a Nazirite was waning. Pride and arrogance had taken over. All that was left of his vow was his long hair. That would go next.
It is not accidental that the incident of the jaw bone when he came in contact with dead matter, his behavior with the prostitute, and the shaving of his hair come in sequence. They were the downward steps he took, resulting finally in the destruction of his consecration to Yahweh. First he was careless about touching dead matter, then he sank into sexual misconduct and finally he played fast and loose with his ‘holy’ hair. He had become complacent.
4 Afterward it happened that he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.
The Valley of Sorek lay between Jerusalem and the sea, commencing twelve miles from Jerusalem. It was a valley famous for its vines (sorek is a type of vine). Delilah was probably not an Israelite or Philistine but from some other country, otherwise we would have been told that she was a Philistine. On the other hand if she was an Israelite she must at some stage have realized that his long hair indicated that he was a Nazirite, and would have guessed his secret. Either way she proved a strong attraction to Samson with his waning dedication to Yahweh.
5 And the lords of the Philistines came up to her and said to her, “Entice him, and find out where his great strength lies, and by what means we may overpower him, that we may bind him to afflict him; and every one of us will give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.”
Probably the destruction of the gates of Gaza had been the last straw. If he could do that nowhere was safe. So the five Tyrants of the Philistines were probably initially determined to kill him. But they put it more gently to Delilah as though they only wanted to punish him. They did not want it to appear unpalatable to her.
Although he was a powerfully made man they recognized that there was some extra secret to his amazing strength and they wanted to discover it. Then they would be able to overcome him and do what they wished with him. So they offered her five thousand five hundred pieces of silver in return for the secret. This was a huge sum. (Ten pieces of silver was a year’s wage for the Levite who was being enticed to act as a priest for Micah as we will read in chapter 17 verse 10. It demonstrated how seriously they saw him as a threat. And she was probably impressed by, and fearful at, the presence of these five hugely important men.
6 So Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength lies, and with what you may be bound to afflict you.”
This was the essence of the question but it would have been put in a fine and innocent context so as to allay his suspicions. He had no doubt boasted about his great exploits, as men will to women from whom they seek admiration and love, and she may have brought up his exploits and then asked this seemingly innocent question. What was the secret of his strength? Was there any way that those evil men could have bound and afflicted him?
7 And Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings, not yet dried, then I shall become weak, and be like any other man.” 8 So the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh bowstrings, not yet dried, and she bound him with them.
When he next came to see her he was probably amused to see that she had some fresh withes in her room. Little did he realize that they had been supplied by the Philistine Tyrants. And as they lay and made love and caressed she probably playfully bound them round him and let him sleep, joking that he was her captive. Or she may have done it while he was asleep. It says something for the fear that they had of him that the Philistines did not attempt to have their strongest men do it for her.
Men you have to be really stupid if you play any of these kinds of games. We all have read of some awful crimes that have been committed. This is not something to play with.
9 Now men were lying in wait, staying with her in the room. And she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he broke the bowstrings as a strand of yarn breaks when it touches fire. So the secret of his strength was not known.
It is clear that Delilah played it as a game. The Philistines dared not enter until they were sure the method would work, and thus Samson never knew of their presence, but rather Delilah cried out that the Philistines were there, to see his reaction and the result. This first time he may well have thought she meant it so he broke the withes but found no one there. And she no doubt laughed as though it were a game. But underneath her heart was beating rapidly and she was afraid. And she knew that he had not told her his secret, and that she did not know in what his strength laid.
10 Then Delilah said to Samson, “Look, you have mocked me and told me lies. Now, please tell me what you may be bound with.”
On another visit Delilah tried the same tack, although this time ‘lovingly’ pretending to be a little hurt and chiding him. Now she urged him, if he loved her, really to tell her the truth.
11 So he said to her, “If they bind me securely with new ropes that have never been used, then I shall become weak, and be like any other man.”
By now Samson in his innocence was probably enjoying himself as he thought out new ways by which to make gentle fun of his beloved mistress. This time he suggested that new ropes would do what she wanted. But we know that the men of Judah had already tried that and it had been unsuccessful. However, the present company did not know that.
12 Therefore Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them, and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And men were lying in wait, staying in the room. But he broke them off his arms like a thread.
Once again she took advantage of love play and sleepiness to bind him, and then when he was drowsing told him that the Philistines were upon him. This time he probably did not believe it, but wishing her to enjoy her game, and wanting to impress her, he easily broke them off in front of her.
13 Delilah said to Samson, “Until now you have mocked me and told me lies. Tell me what you may be bound with.” And he said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head into the web of the loom”—
Samson was now getting into deep water. As you can see he opens up about the significance of his hair.
14 So she wove it tightly with the batten of the loom, and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he awoke from his sleep, and pulled out the batten and the web from the loom.
While he was asleep Delilah carried out the process he had described, finally fastening his hair to the beam with the pin. Then she gave him warning of the presence of Philistines and he woke up and freed his hair, possibly breaking the loom in the process. He thought it was all part of the continuing game. He did not dream that previously Philistines had actually been present, just in case it worked.
I find it very startling that the term ‘fastened the pin’ are the same words as ‘drove the nail’ as we have read in chapter 4 verse 21. The blows were just as deadly for both had the same purpose in mind, the destruction of a man.
15 Then she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and have not told me where your great strength lies.”
Now she was getting very angry, but disguised it as hurt love. Remember what I said earlier regarding counseling sessions. Here is a truth that you need to remember. ‘Always beware of a man or woman who says, “If you loved me you would --.” They are using deceitful tactics as Delilah was here. She accused him of not loving her with all his heart.
16 And it came to pass, when she pestered him daily with her words and pressed him, so that his soul was vexed to death, 17 that he told her all his heart, and said to her, “No razor has ever come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaven, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.”
What sad words these are. Pressed and urged day after day by a woman who professed deep love for him, while all the time her only aim was betrayal, until he could stand against her no longer because of his deep love for her, he opened his heart and told her the truth, the truth that would destroy the remainder of his life.
Now, here is something for you to write to me about. I strongly believe from my own personal experience, witness, and years in the ministry that probably 75 percent of men who get married are not in love with their bride.
I can hear all the commotion and stirring. The reason most men get married is that they want to have sex daily with the physically gorgeous woman.
Now, I will also say this. As a man stays in the marriage ultimately his heart will fall in love with the woman and then she’s got him in the palm of her hand, just as you see how pliable Samson was.
At last he divulged his secret. His strength lay in the fact that he was a Nazirite, dedicated to Yahweh, which was why his hair was uncut. Should his hair be shorn then his vow would be broken and he would become like anyone else.
Yet there are grounds for thinking that he had become so arrogant in his strength that he did not really believe it. Consider the facts. Each time he had suggested some method to her he had woken to find that she had tried it out, whether with withes, with ropes or with loom. Could he then doubt that she would also cut his hair? Possibly then he was fondly aware of what she would do but did not think that it would matter. His vow had become so unimportant to him, and his strength so natural, that he did not think that the vow mattered.
This is confirmed by the fact that when he woke up with his head shaven, and he must surely have realized the fact immediately, he still did not believe that Yahweh would have left him. After all, using the jawbone of the ass had done no harm, and sleeping with a prostitute in Gaza had done no harm, both acts contrary to his vows, why then should the cutting off of his hair? We must beware of treating God’s patience as an excuse for further sin.
18 When Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up once more, for he has told me all his heart.” So the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hand
This time Delilah realized that he had really bared his heart, and she felt justified in again calling the Philistine Tyrants for one last attempt. And she convinced them too, for they came bringing the promised reward with them.
19 Then she lulled him to sleep on her knees, and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his head. Then she began to torment him, and his strength left him.
Here was the height of treachery. This woman who had pretended to love him lulled him to sleep on her knees, then she called for a man and directed him to shave off Samson’s seven locks of hair while he slept. The seven locks of hair symbolized the divine perfection of his vow. Now he would lose all that it had meant to him. He was no longer a Nazirite.
I watched Hollywood’s version of this bible story. They make Delilah out to be this innocent participant. Not so as the Scriptures say ‘And she began to humble him.’ That is, at this stage she began the humbling of him, his total humiliation. It was a humbling that would go on and on. The same verb is found in chapter 16 verse 5 - 6 which means ‘afflict’. What would follow would be humiliation and affliction, and it would be her work. These words are looking forward to his future. It was what the Philistines had been planning from the beginning. And here by her actions she had started off the process. This would be the result of his losing his special strength.
20 And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” So he awoke from his sleep, and said, “I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!” But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him.
Again she alerted him to the Philistine presence, and again he was unconcerned. What did it matter if they were there or not? He realized that his hair had been cut off, but what had changed? A quick shake and all would be well. What he failed to recognize was that he had lost not only his hair but his consecration. In a sense it had already been happening, slowly, but his readiness to allow her to shave his locks was the final fall. He was no longer Yahweh’s man. He no longer had the extra strength provided by Yahweh.
Please take note ‘But he did not realize that Yahweh had departed from him.’ This was it, the final departure of Yahweh from his life. This was what his sin, and his continuing arrogance and his final contempt for his vow had brought him to. He had exchanged God for a deceitful woman. But it was really the deceitfulness of sin. We read in the book of Hebrews chapter 3 verse 13, “13 but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.”
Samson’s life was a mirror of what had happened to Israel. They too had been dedicated to Yahweh under the covenant. They too had been separated to a holy life. They too had known the Spirit of Yahweh working through them. They too had slowly declined and allowed themselves to drift from the covenant. They had whored after false goddesses. And that was why they were as they were this day, tributaries and servants instead of being the masters.
Sadly you might be in the same situation. Once wholly dedicated to God, and separated to a holy life, experiencing the work of the Spirit, but now having declined, and even having reached rock bottom, being totally enslaved by sin or indolence. Remember, all you have to do is forsake your wrong path, ask our Loving Holy God to forgive you, and come back and live for Him.
21 Then the Philistines took him and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza. They bound him with bronze fetters, and he became a grinder in the prison.
He saw the Philistines enter the room, their strongest and their best. He exerted himself anticipating that his battle strength would be there for him. But though he fought bravely they had him down and bound him, for Yahweh was no longer with him, and he had ceased to look to Him. He had become dependent on himself. His ‘battle Spirit’ no longer came.
There use to be a saying on some old billboards, ‘A shave and a hair cut – two bits’. We see here Delilah should have put out a shingle ‘A shave and a hair cut – two eyes’
We can compare Zedekiah in the book 2 Kings chapter 25 verse 7. The putting out of the eyes was the final punishment from which there was no return. Its purpose was total humiliation and degradation. From then on men to whom this had happened stumbled in darkness. It was also here possibly a safeguard because the Philistines were still a little unsure of Samson. It was a symbol of what had happened to him. He had become blind and enfettered spiritually. Now it had happened literally.
Notice to where they took him – Gaza. Remember that Gaza was where he had known his greatest feat. To Gaza where his decline had first become apparent. It was ‘down’ because it was on the coastal plain below the hills, but it was also down because that was the direction of his spiritual journey. He had reached rock bottom.
They bound him with fetters of bronze. They wanted no risk of his escaping or causing trouble. They were fetters that would never be moved. Every clink of the metal was a reminder of what he had lost. And they were very painful causing chafing, wounds and sores
‘And he did grind in the prison house.’ It may be that he was called on to push or pull round the great grinding stone in the prison mill, a job usually reserved for oxen, but more probably he ground a hand mill in his cell. Grinding a hand mill was the lowest kind of slave prison labor as we read in the book of Exodus chapter 11 verse 5, 5 and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the female servant who is behind the hand mill, and all the firstborn of the animals
For a man it was menial and humiliating, for it was woman’s work. We must not overemphasize this but it is interesting that in Scripture sexual activity is spoken of in terms of the grinding of grain. We read in the book of Job 31.9-10 ‘If my heart has been enticed to a woman, and I have laid wait at my neighbor’s door, then let my wife grind to another, and let others bow down on her.”
This may thus be seen as a suitable punishment for one who had sinned like Samson had. Does he like ‘grinding’ with the Gazite prostitute and with Delilah? Then let him now grind in the prison house.
22 However, the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaven.
Now for some good news. Our Precious Holy Spirit starts off this verse with the word ‘However.’ The word is full of significance. It was a reminder that there was hope because God was observing the situation. ‘The hair of his head began to grow again.’ And who among them noticed? The Philistines did not. But Samson noticed. And we need not doubt that it reminded him of his vow, and of his glory days, and that he bitterly regretted how he had failed God, and that in his heart he repented. And need we doubt that he found forgiveness and possibly even called on God to renew his vow, even though now that he was blind he could not be fully sanctified to Yahweh.
23 Now the lords of the Philistines gathered together to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice. And they said: “Our god has delivered into our hands Samson our enemy!”
The taking of Samson was seen as a cause for great celebration. So at their next great festival at which great sacrifices would normally be offered to Dagon, the god that they had adopted from the Canaanites, they declared a celebration. He it was, they believed, who had handed Samson over to them.
24 When the people saw him, they praised their god; for they said: “Our god has delivered into our hands our enemy, the destroyer of our land, And the one who multiplied our dead.” 25 So it happened, when their hearts were merry, that they said, “Call for Samson, that he may perform for us.” So they called for Samson from the prison, and he performed for them. And they stationed him between the pillars.
The order in which the verse comes is not strictly chronological. They would see him first when he was led bound through the streets in triumph, and then when they visited the prison house to gloat over him, and finally when they called for him to be brought to the temple of Dagon. Blinded and fettered he appeared to be a triumph for them and for their god, for they remembered how he had burned their crops and olive orchards and how he had slain their dead. Note how the rejoicing and celebration is stressed.
Drunk with wine and success they brought Samson out, dirty and in rags, blind and fettered, with hair beginning to grow unnoticed, led by a small boy. How they must have cheered as they made a mockery of him in the courtyard in front of the sanctuary. We do not know what sport they had with him but the great jester had become the laughingstock, a butt for humor and probably a target for rubbish and spittle. Now deriding Samson was their sport. Then they set him between the two main supporting pillars where all could see him, apart from those on the roof, especially the nobles in the covered section directly under the roof.
26 Then Samson said to the lad who held him by the hand, “Let me feel the pillars which support the temple, so that I can lean on them.”
He may have looked an abject picture, a figure of ridicule, but his mind was busily working on the question as to how he could take advantage of the situation, and his heart was reaching up to God. So he made an excuse for being able to feel the pillars. He was ready for one last attempt to fulfill his mission.
27 Now the temple was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there—about three thousand men and women on the roof watching while Samson performed.
This was a special occasion and it is stressed that the temple was dangerously packed. The crowded roof, with the crowds peering over to watch Samson, was probably already affecting the temple’s structure, especially when he was led to the pillars and they had to lean over to see him. Everyone was there to see him, including the five great Tyrants of Ashdod, Ashkelon, Ekron, Gath and Gaza.
28 Then Samson called to the LORD, saying, “O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray! Strengthen me, I pray, just this once, O God, that I may with one blow take vengeance on the Philistines for my two eyes!”
This is the only record we have of Samson praying, although like all true Israelites he would regularly have participated in covenant worship. But that lack may only be because of the nature of the narrative. Previously it was assumed because he was the dedicated of Yahweh. The record of his prayer here was necessary to explain why God acted powerfully for one who had forfeited the right to expect it.
The sight must have had its own magnificence. The excitement and baying of the crowd, the sense of expectation as the main acts of worship approached, then suddenly that bent, defeated, pathetic, blind figure between the pillars from whom they had obtained such entertainment straightening himself up and crying out in the Hebrew tongue. Some around would recognize his words. His plea was impassioned. They would hear him refer himself to the ‘Lord Yahweh’ and then to ‘God’. He was calling on Him both as Covenant Lord and Creator.
First he prayed to be remembered. As a vow breaker he was concerned lest God would not ‘remember’ him, that is acknowledge him and be responsive to him in the way that He used to be. Then he prayed for strength - The strength that he could once have relied on but had lost by his disobedience. Humbly he asked for it just once more. He recognized his own undeserving and threw himself on the mercy of God. Finally he prayed for revenge for his two eyes that they had taken from him, thereby deforming him and preventing him from being again dedicated to Yahweh as a Nazirite or being fully acceptable to Yahweh. The phrase may have included the idea that as judge he was ‘the eyes’ of his people and that they had taken them away thereby taking away his people’s hope. Or perhaps his thought was that he could no longer lift up his eyes to Yahweh.
29 And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars which supported the temple, and he braced himself against them, one on his right and the other on his left.
The roof was already overloaded and unstable, and on which were large numbers of excited people.
30 Then Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” And he pushed with all his might, and the temple fell on the lords and all the people who were in it. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than he had killed in his life.
It was an act of war and revenge. He gave his life to destroy the Philistine power. For by dragging the pillars off their bases, with part of the roof, already unstable because of the hundreds of people on it, collapsing on those below, the weight of the people would bring down further parts of the roof, especially as many desperately tried to scramble for safety before falling to their deaths, crushing also those hopelessly seeking safety below.
The writer does not exaggerate by claiming too much, for he did not have the statistics. He merely stated the obvious that a large number died, certainly more than those slain by Samson in his lifetime.
31 And his brothers and all his father’s household came down and took him, and brought him up and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. He had judged Israel twenty years.
Samson’s body was collected by his near kin and was given a respectable burial, and he was gathered to his fathers in the family tomb. It was to the Philistines credit that his body was released. Possibly it was due to the great respect that they had for him as a notable enemy once he was dead. Or it may have been due to the chaos while new Tyrants were appointed. But more likely it was a fear in view of his terrible cry that they had been punished by the God of Israel for their treatment of Samson and did not want any more of it. Respectable burial was considered very important in ancient days, and they wanted him buried and out of the way and at rest where he could do no more harm.
The statement ‘And he judged Israel twenty years’ is repeated from chapter 15 verse 20. This summed up his life, cut short in its prime. For most of his life he was seemingly faithful to his vow as a Nazirite, and after his vivid beginning he appears to have ruled soberly until he went astray towards the end when his sexual proclivities proved too much for him. Possibly his ventures with women at the end were an attempt to revive the glories of his youth, and were intended to result in further activity against the Philistines, but if so they backfired dreadfully for he was no longer a vibrant man of faith. However on his repentance God did turn them to good so that Samson retained his reputation as a man of faith and achieved a remarkable final contribution towards the deliverance of Israel.
