Judges 16 · The Lantern

Samson Escapes Gaza

And Samson went to Gaza; and he saw there a woman, a whore, and went in to her.

Having, in the course of events closed his war with the Philistines, and shunning the sloth of his countrymen, Samson now betook himself to Gaza, which was in the region of the Philistines, and lodged there.

When Samson went in to the harlot, he was impure if he did so without reason, but if he did so as a prophet it is a mystery. If he did not enter in order to lie with the woman, perhaps he did so because of a mystery.

Samson, in the book of Judges, foreshadowed this by his deeds. When he had entered Gaza, a city of the Philistines, they immediately knew of his entry. They quickly surrounded the city with a blockade and assigned guards, and they rejoiced at having now apprehended Samson who was so extremely strong. But we know what Samson did.

It was told to the Gazites, saying, “Samson has come here.” And they surrounded him and lay in wait for him all night at the gate of the city; and they kept silent all night, saying, “Until the light of morning — then we will kill him.”

And Samson lay until the middle of the night; and he rose at the middle of the night and took hold of the doors of the gate of the city, and the two doorposts, and pulled them up, bar and all, and put them on his shoulders; and he carried them up to the top of the mountain that faces Hebron.

Samson and Delilah

And it was after this that he loved a woman in the Valley of Sorek, and her name was Delilah.

And the lords of the Philistines went up to her and said to her: “Entice him, and see in what his great strength lies, and by what means we can prevail over him, so that we may bind him to humble him; and we will each give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.”

And Delilah said to Samson, “Tell me, please, in what your great strength lies — and with what you could be bound, to humble you.”

And Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.”

And the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh bowstrings that had not been dried, and she bound him with them.

Now the ambush was sitting in wait for her in the inner room. And she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he snapped the bowstrings as a strand of tow snaps when it smells fire. And his strength was not known.

And Delilah said to Samson, “Look — you have mocked me and spoken lies to me. Now tell me, please, with what you could be bound.”

This having failed, Delilah, as if she had been mocked began with complaints to renew her arts and to require a pledge of his love.

Like the famed Samson, whose power lay in the strength of his hair, whose locks were endowed with sacred might, he must throttle and bring low the lion by means of the strong arms of prayers and pluck the sweet fruit of notable victory from its dead mouth.But this triumph must be a lesson to him not to make alliances with foreigners.

What was the meaning of Samson? If I say he signified Christ, it seems to me that I speak the truth. However, the thought immediately occurs to anyone who reflects: Was Christ overcome by the flattery of a woman? How is Christ understood to have gone in to a prostitute?

And he said to her, “If they bind me tight with new ropes with which no work has been done, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.”

And Delilah took new ropes and bound him with them, and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” — and the ambush was sitting in the inner room. And he snapped them off his arms like a thread.

And Delilah said to Samson, “Until now you have mocked me and spoken lies to me. Tell me with what you could be bound.” And he said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web, and fasten it with the pin into the wall, then I shall become weak and be like any other man.”

And she lulled him to sleep, and wove the seven locks of his head with the web, and fastened it with the pin; and she said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and pulled up the pin of the loom, and the web.

Delilah Learns the Secret

And she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? These three times you have mocked me, and have not told me in what your great strength lies.”

And it was, because she pressed him with her words all the days and urged him, that his soul grew short to the point of death.

And he told her all his heart, and said to her: “A razor has never come on my head, for I have been a Nazirite of God from my mother’s womb. If I were shaved, then my strength would depart from me, and I would become weak and be like every other man.”

And Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart; and she sent and called the lords of the Philistines, saying, “Come up this once, for he has told me all his heart.” And the lords of the Philistines came up to her, and brought the silver in their hand.

And she lulled him to sleep on her knees, and called the man, and had the seven locks of his head shaved off; and she began to humble him, and his strength departed from him.

And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the LORD had departed from him.

And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze shackles, and he became a grinder in the prison house.

And the hair of his head began to grow again after it was shaved.

Samson’s Vengeance and Death

And the lords of the Philistines gathered to sacrifice a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice; and they said, “Our god has given into our hand Samson our enemy.”

And the people saw him and praised their god — for they said, “Our god has given into our hand our enemy, the ruiner of our land, who multiplied our slain.”

And it was, when their heart was merry, that they said, “Call Samson, and let him entertain us.” And they called Samson from the prison house, and he performed before them; and they stood him between the pillars.

And Samson said to the young man holding his hand, “Let me rest, and let me feel the pillars on which the house stands, so that I may lean on them.”

Now the house was full of men and women, and all the lords of the Philistines were there; and on the roof were about three thousand men and women watching Samson perform.

And Samson called to the LORD and said: “Lord GOD, remember me, please, and strengthen me, please, just this once, O God — and let me take vengeance on the Philistines, one vengeance for my two eyes.”

And Samson grasped the two middle pillars on which the house stood, and braced himself against them — one with his right hand and one with his left.

And Samson said, “Let my soul die with the Philistines!” And he bent with strength, and the house fell on the lords and on all the people who were in it. And the dead whom he put to death at his death were more than those he had put to death in his life.