JUDGES 16

Samson attracts some negative commentary: Surprising considering he is listed among the all time giants of faith (Heb 11:32). His life is to be viewed from this perspective.


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

As 'a thief in the night' - incongruous as a stranger, any strangers would likely enter the harlot's house unnoticed. So his stay may have been entirely innocent and prudent (as was the spies who stayed with Rahab). Is it likely that he sinned but then immediately, supported with divine strength, carried away the doors of the city?

He was in love with Delilah. She was the object of his desire. As a Nazarite he was a constant man, devout, self disciplined.



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.

Messiah's work begins at midnight - possessing the gate of his enemies including the Roman harlot.



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

Providentially we suggest this was of Yahweh who sought occasion against the Philistines.



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.

Philistines type the pharisees 

'Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk. (Matt 22:15)

 Pieces of silver - betrayed as the Lord.



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.

Man of sorrows (Isa 53), visage marred.

 'And when they had blindfolded him, they struck him on the face, and asked him, saying, Prophesy, who is it that smote thee?'. (Luke 22:64)



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.

...at the end of this long and faithful service, he joined himself to a woman of the world, who could not rest until she had broken down the sacred bond of faith and obedience between him and God, and sold him in shame to his enemies. His punishment for this lapse of his lifelong vows was very great. The Philistines put out his eyes and used him for sport in the worship of their idol Dagon.

But, says Paul, he died in faith, having learned wisdom by suffering. Out of weakness he was made strong by faith. The loss of his natural vision opened the eyes of his understanding, and in his death wrought the overthrow of the temple of the ungodly.

...But Jesus himself is the pre-eminent example of dying in a public spectacle of shame, yet in death destroying his destroyers and delivering His people. All the great men of the Philistines were destroyed in Samson's death, and the Philistines did not bother Israel again for many years.

The lesson of Samson is clear. It is the lesson of Adam. Adam was not deceived, but persuaded. Samson was worn down by continual contention until he finally gave in foolishly against his judgment for the sake of peace. The peace never came.

Bro Growcott - Strength and weakness



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

My El - Yahweh magnifies his name through his servant.



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.

Achieved great victory over sin in his death.

 'When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the spirit'. (John 19:30)



Strength is made perfect in weakness

-in mortification, in humiliation, in simplicity. Never in glorification, or exaltation of the motions of the flesh, or vain show, or false appearances. As soon as we begin to glorify the flesh, we immediately lose contact with the power of God.

"Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time."

Mortification of the flesh and glorification of the flesh cannot exist together-they are mutually antagonistic. One will surely destroy the other.

Samson is only mentioned once outside of Judges, but that one mention is vitally important to the true picture, for it tells us two things: one, that Samson was a man of faith, and second, that he obtained a good report. Apart from this, apparently so casual reference, the life of Samson would appear to be a tragedy of weakness.

Samson, like David, was a true man of God at heart but he had to learn wisdom by great suffering and humiliation. He was trained in the hard bitter school of everyday life.

His name is listed in the divine roll of honour of the outstandingly faithful-Hebrews 11. We are glad to learn that his great strength was a result of his intense faith-not merely the self-pleasing vanity of a capricious giant.

Bro Growcott - Strength and weakness


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 20 years.

Twenty years is a long reign - characteristic of Yahweh's approval.