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Judges 16: Strength, Betrayal, and a Final Cry

Delilah pries out the secret of Samson's strength; blind and bound, he prays once more and brings down the temple of Dagon.

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Judges 16 (WEB)

1 Samson went to Gaza, and saw there a prostitute, and went in to her.

2 The Gazites were told, “Samson is here!” They surrounded him, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, “Wait until morning light, then we will kill him.”

3 Samson lay until midnight, and arose at midnight, and laid hold of the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and plucked them up, bar and all, and put them on his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of the mountain that is before Hebron.

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

5 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 each give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.”

6 Delilah said to Samson, “Please tell me where your great strength lies, and what you might be bound to afflict you.”

7 Samson said to her, “If they bind me with seven green cords that were never dried, then shall I become weak, and be as another man.”

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

9 Now she had an ambush waiting in the inner room. She said to him, “The Philistines are on you, Samson!” He broke the cords, as a string of tow is broken when it touches the fire. So his strength was not known.

10 Delilah said to Samson, “Behold, you have mocked me, and told me lies: now please tell me with which you might be bound.”

11 He said to her, “If they only bind me with new ropes with which no work has been done, then shall I become weak, and be as another man.”

12 So Delilah took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said to him, “The Philistines are on you, Samson!” The ambush was waiting in the inner room. 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 with what you might be bound.” He said to her, “If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web.”

14 She fastened it with the pin, and said to him, “The Philistines are on you, Samson!” He awakened out of his sleep, and plucked away the pin of the beam, and the web.

15 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 When she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, his soul was troubled to death.

17 He told her all his heart, and said to her, “No razor has ever come on my head; for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If I am shaved, then my strength will go from me, and I will 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 this once, for he has told me all his heart.” Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her, and brought the money in their hand.

19 She made him sleep on her knees; and she called for a man, and shaved off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him.

20 She said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” He awoke out of his sleep, and said, “I will go out as at other times, and shake myself free.” But he didn’t know that Yahweh had departed from him.

21 The Philistines laid hold on him, and put out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he ground at the mill in the prison.

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

23 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.”

24 When the people saw him, they praised their god; for they said, “Our god has delivered our enemy and the destroyer of our country, who has slain many of us, into our hand.”

25 When their hearts were merry, they said, “Call for Samson, that he may entertain us.” They called for Samson out of the prison; and he performed before them. They set him between the pillars;

26 and Samson said to the boy who held him by the hand, “Allow me to feel the pillars whereupon the house rests, that I may lean on them.”

27 Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philistines were there; and there were on the roof about three thousand men and women, who saw while Samson performed.

28 Samson called to Yahweh, and said, “Lord Yahweh, remember me, please, and strengthen me, please, only this once, God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.”

29 Samson took hold of the two middle pillars on which the house rested, and leaned on them, the one with his right hand, and the other with his left.

30 Samson said, “Let me die with the Philistines!” He bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell on the lords, and on all the people who were therein. So the dead that he killed at his death were more than those who he killed in his life.

31 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 burial site of Manoah his father. He judged Israel twenty years.

Summary

Samson's appetites lead him to Gaza, where he carries off the city gates by night, and then to the Valley of Sorek, where he loves a woman named Delilah. The Philistine lords bribe her to discover the secret of his strength. Three times Samson lies and three times escapes, but Delilah presses him daily until his soul is vexed to death, and at last he tells her everything: no razor has touched his head because he is a Nazirite to God from the womb. While he sleeps on her knees, his hair is shaved, and when she cries that the Philistines are upon him, he tries to break free as before—but does not know that Yahweh has departed from him. The Philistines seize him, gouge out his eyes, and set him to grind in the prison at Gaza. Yet quietly his hair begins to grow again. At a great feast to their god Dagon, the Philistines call for the blinded Samson to entertain them, with three thousand watching from the roof. Standing between the two central pillars, Samson cries to Yahweh, “remember me, please, and strengthen me, please, only this once,” and pushes with all his might. The temple collapses, and he kills more in his death than in all his life. His brothers bury him; he had judged Israel twenty years. Even in his fall, grace answers the prayer of a broken man.

Main Characters

  • Samson — The judge whose strength rested on his consecration to God; betrayed and blinded, he loses the Lord's presence, yet in his final prayer is heard and brings down the temple of Dagon.
  • Delilah — The woman of Sorek who, bribed by the Philistine lords, wears Samson down with daily pleading until he surrenders the secret of his strength.
  • The Philistine lords — Rulers who pay for Samson's secret, blind and humiliate him, and gather to credit their god Dagon for his capture, only to perish in their own temple.

Key Verse

Judges 16:28 (WEB)

Samson called to Yahweh, and said, “Lord Yahweh, remember me, please, and strengthen me, please, only this once, God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.”

Lessons Learned

  • Repeated toying with temptation wears down even the strongest resolve.
  • The most fearful loss is not strength or sight but the departure of the Lord's presence.
  • Sin blinds and binds us, putting us to grinding labor in service of our enemies.
  • God's grace can still reach and use a broken person who turns back to him at the end.
  • Flirting with temptation is a slow surrender. Delilah “pressed him daily with her words,” until “his soul was troubled to death” and he told her all (Judges 16:16-17, WEB). Small compromises wear down great strength.
  • The worst loss is unfelt at first. Samson rises to shake himself free, “But he didn’t know that Yahweh had departed from him” (Judges 16:20, WEB). To lose God's presence and not notice is the deepest danger.
  • Sin blinds, binds, and enslaves. The Philistines “put out his eyes,” bound him in bronze, and set him to grind in prison (Judges 16:21, WEB)—a portrait of where unchecked sin always leads.
  • Grace hears the prayer of the broken. Blind and humbled, Samson cries, “remember me, please, and strengthen me, please, only this once” (Judges 16:28, WEB), and God answers, working deliverance through his death.
  1. How does Delilah finally get the secret of Samson's strength, and what does the process reveal about temptation?
  2. What is the real source of Samson's strength, and what does it mean that “Yahweh had departed from him” (16:20)?
  3. How does Samson's blindness and grinding in prison picture the effects of sin?
  4. How does Samson's final prayer, and God's answer, point us toward the gospel?
  5. Where have you been slowly worn down in an area you once thought you could handle, and how might you turn back to God before it costs you?
  1. Delilah wears Samson down by daily, relentless pressure until he is exhausted and tells her everything (16:16-17). Temptation rarely wins in a single moment; it grinds away through repeated exposure. Help the group see the danger of lingering near what they should flee.
  2. Samson's strength was never merely in his hair but in his consecration to God, signified by it. The tragedy is that he loses the Lord's presence without even realizing it (16:20). Outward signs of devotion mean nothing once the heart has drifted from God.
  3. Blinded, bound in bronze, and set to grind for his enemies, Samson lives out what sin does to everyone who indulges it (16:21). What promised freedom and pleasure ends in darkness, chains, and slavery. The picture is meant to sober us.
  4. Samson, condemned and dying, stretches out his arms between two pillars and through his death defeats God's enemies—a dim foreshadowing of a greater Deliverer who, with arms outstretched, would conquer through his own death (16:30). Yet Christ's victory is sinless and saving, not vengeful.
  5. This is a personal-application question. Invite members to name, even silently, a place of slow erosion, and to cry out to God before, not only after, the fall. As leader, hold out the hope that grace still answers the broken, and keep the tone tender.

Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible (WEB), the King James Version (KJV), and the American Standard Version (ASV), all of which are in the public domain.