Who are Samson and Delilah in this passage?

Samson is an Israelite judge who from birth was set apart to God with a special vow that included not cutting his hair. God gave him great physical strength to fight the Philistines, Israel’s enemies. Delilah is a woman in the valley of Sorek whom Samson loves. The Philistine rulers offer her a large payment if she can learn the secret of his strength. She keeps pressing Samson with her questions until he finally tells her about his hair. She then betrays him, leading to his capture and disgrace.

Why did Samson lose his strength after his hair was cut?

Samson’s uncut hair was a sign of his Nazarite vow, showing he was set apart to God. The hair itself was not magic, but it was tied to his obedience and calling. When he told Delilah his secret and allowed his hair to be shaved, he broke that outward sign of his vow. The passage says the Lord left him, so his strength went away. Samson had treated God’s gift as if it was always his to use, but this shows that real strength came from God, not from Samson himself.

What is the meaning of Samson carrying away the city gates of Gaza?

When the men of Gaza planned to kill Samson in the morning, he got up at midnight, lifted the doors of the city gate with their posts, and carried them to the top of a hill. This act shows how completely helpless the Philistines were against the strength God had given him. It is also a sign that no human stronghold can finally trap God’s servant when God chooses to deliver him. At the same time, it sits next to Samson’s moral failure, reminding us that a person can be strong in body yet careless in heart.

Why did Delilah betray Samson for money?

Delilah had been promised a very large sum of silver by the Philistine rulers if she could uncover the source of Samson’s strength. The story shows how greed and desire for gain can overrule love and loyalty. Delilah uses words of love but keeps pressing Samson until he gives in. She is willing to hand him over to enemies who want to hurt him, just to receive payment. Her choice warns us about letting money or advantage guide our actions, especially when it harms others and fights against what God is doing.

What does it mean that Samson “wist not that the Lord was departed from him”?

When Samson woke after Delilah had his hair shaved, he thought he would go out and fight as before. But the passage says he did not know that the Lord had left him. This shows how far his heart had drifted. He had grown used to God’s strength and assumed it would always be there, even while he played with sin. The line warns that a person can keep some outward form while losing the inner reality. Real power in God’s service does not rest in habit but in a living walk with God.

Why did the Philistines praise Dagon after capturing Samson?

After Samson was captured, blinded, and put in prison, the Philistine rulers gathered to offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon. They said their god had given Samson into their hand and praised Dagon as if he had beaten the God of Israel. This shows their pride and spiritual blindness. From their view, Samson’s fall proved their god was stronger. Yet the story later shows that the true God was still in control, even using Samson’s weakness and final act to bring down their leaders in Dagon’s own temple.

What is the meaning of Samson’s final prayer and death?

In the end, as Samson stands between the pillars in the Philistine temple, he prays, asking the Lord to remember him and strengthen him one more time so he can strike the Philistines for his blinded eyes. God hears and gives him strength to pull down the building, killing many, including the rulers. His death takes more enemies than he killed in life. This ending shows both judgment on the Philistines and a kind of sad mercy for Samson, who finally turns back to God in weakness, not self-confidence.

How does this story warn about temptation and relationships?

This passage shows how repeated flirting with sin wears a person down. Samson ignores clear warning signs as Delilah tests him again and again, each time with men hiding nearby. He treats his calling lightly and keeps going back into the same trap. Delilah’s words of love hide a plan to hurt him, and Samson gives his heart where it is not safe. The story warns us to be careful about relationships that pull us away from God, to listen when danger is plain, and not to treat sin as a game.

What does this passage teach about God’s strength and human weakness?

The story holds both together. On one side, Samson is very weak in his desires and choices. He gives in to lust, pride, and foolish trust in someone who has already betrayed him. He ends up blind and in chains. On the other side, every true victory he has comes from God, even his final act when he can no longer rely on himself and must pray. This teaches that human strength without obedience leads to ruin, but God can still work through broken people who turn back to him, showing his rule even in their failure.

Judg.16.1

Judges 16:1

KJV

Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there an harlot, and went in unto her.

Samson Escapes Gaza

1 Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there an harlot, and went in unto her.

2 And it was told the Gazites, saying, Samson is come hither. And they compassed 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.

3 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 an hill that is before Hebron.

Samson and Delilah

4 ¶ And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.

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

6 ¶ And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee.

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

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

9 Now there were men lying in wait, abiding with her in the chamber. And she said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he brake the withs, as a thread of tow is broken when it toucheth the fire. So his strength was not known.

10 And Delilah said unto Samson, Behold, thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: now tell me, I pray thee, wherewith thou mightest be bound.

11 And he said unto her, If they bind me fast with new ropes that never were occupied, then shall I be weak, and be as another man.

12 Delilah therefore took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And there were liers in wait abiding in the chamber. And he brake them from off his arms like a thread.

13 And Delilah said unto Samson, Hitherto thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: tell me wherewith thou mightest be bound. And he said unto her, If thou weavest the seven locks of my head with the web.

14 And she fastened it with the pin, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, 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

15 ¶ And she said unto him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart is not with me? thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lieth.

16 And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death;

17 That he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto 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.

18 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 hath shewed me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and brought money in their hand.

19 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.

20 And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the Lord was departed from him.

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

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

Samson’s Vengeance and Death

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

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

25 And it came to pass, 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.

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

27 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 beheld while Samson made sport.

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

29 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.

30 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.

31 Then his brethren 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.

Cross References

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