Judges 16 · The Lantern

Samson Escapes Gaza

Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there a prostitute, 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.

And it was told the Gazites, saying, Samson has come here. And they surrounded him in, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, In the morning, when it is day, we shall kill him.

And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of a hill that is before Hebron.

Samson and Delilah

And it happened afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.

And the lords of the Philistines came up to her, and said to her, Entice him, and see in which his great strength lies, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him: and we will give you every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver.

And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray you, in which your great strength lies, and with which you might be bound to afflict you.

And Samson said to her, If they bind me with seven green withs that were never dried, then shall I be weak, and be as another man.

Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven green withs which had not been dried, and she bound him with them.

Now there were men lying in wait, remaining with her in the chamber. And she said to him, The Philistines be upon you, Samson. And he broke the withs, as a thread of tow is broken when it touches the fire. So his strength was not known.

And Delilah said to Samson, Look, you have mocked me, and told me lies: now tell me, I pray you, with which you might 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 fast with new ropes that never were occupied, then shall I be weak, and be as another man.

Delilah therefore took new ropes, and bound him with it, and said to him, The Philistines be upon you, Samson. And there were liers in wait remaining in the chamber. And he broke them from off his arms like a thread.

And Delilah said to Samson, Until now you have mocked me, and told me lies: tell me with which you might be bound. And he said to her, If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web.

And she fastened it with the pin, and said to him, The Philistines be upon you, Samson. And he awaked out of his sleep, and went away with the pin of the beam, and with 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? you have mocked me these three times, and have not told me in which your great strength lies.

And it happened, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was troubled to death;

That he told her all his heart, and said to her, There has not come a razor upon my head; for I have been a Nazarite to God from my mother’s womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.

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

And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him.

And she said, The Philistines be upon you, Samson. 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 the LORD was departed from him.

But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of bronze; and he did grind in the prison house.

However the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven.

Samson’s Vengeance and Death

Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god, and to rejoice: for they said, Our god has delivered Samson our enemy into our hand.

And when the people saw him, they praised their god: for they said, Our god has delivered into our hands our enemy, and the destroyer of our country, which slew many of us.

And it happened, when their hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Samson, that he may make us sport. And they called for Samson out of the prison house; and he made them sport: and they set him between the pillars.

And Samson said to the lad that held him by the hand, Suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house stands, that I may lean upon them.

Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philistines were there; and there were upon the roof about three thousand men and women, that saw while Samson made sport.

And Samson called to the LORD, and said, O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray you, and strengthen me, I pray you, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.

And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left.

And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life.

Then his brothers and all the house of his father came down, and took him, and brought him up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the buryingplace of Manoah his father. And he judged Israel twenty years.