Commentari biblici

Jdg 16:1. And saw there a harlot — Although the Hebrew word זונה, zoneh, here rendered harlot, also means a woman that keeps an inn, it seems evident, on the face of the story, that this woman really was what our translators have taken her to have been, a harlot. Samson, it seems, going into a house of public entertainment to refresh himself, saw there this woman, and by giving way to look upon her was insnared.

Jdg 16:2. It was told the Gazites, Samson is come hither — The arrival of so extraordinary a man could not be long concealed. And his enemies were willing to improve so favourable an opportunity to destroy him. They compassed him in, &c. — They either beset the house, or lay in wait at the gate of the city; saying, In the morning we will kill him — This, it is probable, they chose to do, rather than to seize upon him in his bed by night; either, because they knew not certainly in what house he was; or, because they thought to do that might cause great terror, and confusion, and mischief among their own people; whereas in the day-time they might more fully discover him, and more certainly use their weapons against him. O that all who indulge any unholy desire might see themselves thus surrounded, and marked for destruction by their spiritual enemies! The more secure they are, the greater is their danger.

Jdg 16:3. Samson arose at midnight — Perhaps warned by God in a dream, or rather by the checks of his own conscience; and took the doors of the gate, &c. — The watchmen not expecting him till the morning, and therefore being now retired into the sides or upper part of the gate-house to get some rest; and went away with them, bar and all — Nor durst they pursue him, whom they now again perceived to have such prodigious strength and courage, and to be so much above the fear of them, that he did not run away with all speed, but went leisurely. And carried them to the top of the hill — It is uncertain how far he carried them; but it seems to have been to a great distance, as it is said this hill was before Hebron, which was above twenty miles from Gaza. And Samson did this, not out of vain ostentation, but as an evidence of his great strength, for the encouragement of his people to join with him vigorously; and for the great terror and contempt of the Philistines. It may seem strange that Samson, immediately after so foul a sin, should have courage and strength from God for so great a work. But, 1st, It is probable that Samson had, in some measure, repented of his sin, and begged of God pardon and assistance; 2d, This singular strength and courage was not in itself a grace, but a gift, and it was such a gift as did not so much depend on the disposition of his mind, as on the right ordering of his body, by the rules given to him, and others of that order.

Jdg 16:4. He loved a woman in the valley of Sorek — Through which passed the river of the same name. This place, famous for its vines, was about a mile and a half from Eshcol, whence the spies brought their bunch of grapes. Here Samson met with Delilah, who, whether she was a Jewess or a Philistine, was probably a harlot, and not, as Chrysostom and some others have asserted, a woman of reputation married by Samson; because the dreadful punishment now inflicted upon him for his intercourse with her, after God had spared him for the first offence, certainly manifests that this sin was not inferior to the former.

Jdg 16:5. The lords of the Philistines came unto her — The lords of their five principal cities, which were leagued together against him as their common enemy. See wherein his great strength lieth — They probably imagined that Samson attained his great strength by the use of some magic art; that we may bind him to afflict him — To chastise him for his injuries to us. They meant to punish him severely, but they expressed it in mild words, lest it might move her to pity him. Every one eleven hundred pieces of silver — That is, shekels, as that phrase commonly signifies.

Jdg 16:6-8. Wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee — This seems rather to express the sum of what Delilah aimed at than her very words. For it is scarcely credible that she put this question so openly to Samson, which would have discovered that she had some design against him. But, rather, she wormed it out of him by degrees, and in such an artful manner as gave him no cause of suspicion. Samson said, &c. — Samson was guilty both of the sin of lying, and of great folly, in encouraging her inquiries, which he should at first have checked: but as he had forsaken God, so God had now forsaken him, otherwise the frequent repetition and vehement urging of this question might easily have raised suspicion in him. With seven green withs — Probably osiers. The lords of the Philistines brought — Or rather sent; for it is not to be supposed they came themselves with these things.

Jdg 16:9. There were men abiding with her in the chamber — In some closet, probably, or adjoining room; for it cannot be well imagined, that they could be in the very same chamber without being discovered by Samson. It appears the Philistines were rather desirous of taking him alive than killing him. Probably they thought to employ him in some laborious works for the public, wherein his great strength might be of use to them, if they could but take him alive. Otherwise the liers in wait might have taken the opportunity of killing him while he was asleep, if their orders had not been to take him alive.

Jdg 16:13. If thou weavest the seven locks of my head — If my hair, which is all divided into seven locks, be fastened about a weaver’s beam, or interwoven with weavers’ threads, then I shall be weak as another man. It is probable there was some loom or instrument of weaving in the room where Samson now was, which put him upon saying this to Delilah, to get rid of her importunity.