Judges 16:20 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And she said, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!" And he awoke from his sleep and said, "I will go out as at other times and shake myself free." But he did not know that the Lord had left him.

NIV: Then she called, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" He awoke from his sleep and thought, "I’ll go out as before and shake myself free." But he did not know that the Lord had left him.

NASB: She said, 'The Philistines are upon you, Samson!' And he awoke from his sleep and said, 'I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.' But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him.

CSB: Then she cried, "Samson, the Philistines are here!" When he awoke from his sleep, he said, "I will escape as I did before and shake myself free." But he did not know that the Lord had left him.

NLT: Then she cried out, 'Samson! The Philistines have come to capture you!' When he woke up, he thought, 'I will do as before and shake myself free.' But he didn’t realize the Lord had left him.

KJV: 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.

NKJV: And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” So he awoke from his sleep, and said, “I will go out as before, at other times, and shake myself free!” But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him.

Samson made the foolish choice to trust Delilah, a woman he was not married to and was sleeping with in violation of several of the Lord's commands to Israel (Judges 16:5–6). His desires blinded him, spiritually, to the dangers of his foolish decisions (Judges 16:5–6). They led him to be manipulated and tricked (Judges 16:15–17). Now, after crossing so many moral lines during his life, the Lord will no longer empower Samson. His desires will blind him physically and permanently (Judges 19:21).

Under intense emotional pressure, Samson finally gave in to the woman he loved. Thinking she also loved him, he told her the secret of his power was in never cutting his hair. As soon as she had that secret, Delilah took advantage and prepared an ambush, shaving his head while he slept (Judges 16:18–19).

There was nothing special about Samson's hair, itself. It was just hair. Nazirite vows included several requirements (Numbers 6:1–21). The only one explicitly given to Samson for his entire life was that he never cut his hair. That was a visible sign of Samson's submission to God. The true source of his supernatural strength was the Spirit of the Lord. That power had been given directly by God so Samson could accomplish a mission for God (Judges 13:5). Delilah is certainly guilty for skillfully manipulating Samson's emotions. Yet Samson has been guilty of far more, by not being faithful to the Lord who called him for a special purpose. Telling Delilah his secret was not much different than shaving his own head; Samson betrayed his God-given purpose for the sake of a sinful desire. He loses his strength for that sin, not because the physical hair was detached.

For the final time, Delilah wakes Samson by calling out the same warning she's used before (Judges 16:9, 12, 14). Each time, Samson probably thought it was part of a game—so he'd wake up and easily break out of the bonds. Once again, he hears her words, and wakes up—not realizing his head is bare, and his superhuman power is gone.

Judges 16:4–22 finds Samson falling in love with Delilah. In exchange for an outrageous sum of money, she agrees to seduce him so she can pass along the secret of Samson's strength to his Philistine enemies. This begins a pattern Samson probably thought was a lover's game, where he repeatedly lies about his secret. Eventually, however, he tells her the truth: shaving his head will make him weak. She has his head shaved as he sleeps and then turns him over to the Philistines, who gouge his eyes out and make him into a slave.

After escaping an ambush in the Philistine city of Gaza, Samson rips the city gates out and walks away with them. When he falls deeply in love with Delilah, Philistine nobles pay her a fortune to seduce Samson into revealing the secret of his strength. She eventually succeeds, shaving his head while he sleeps. The Philistines gouge out Samson's eyes and put him in prison in Gaza. He is put on display at a celebration for the Philistine idol Dagon. God grants a last moment of supernatural power in response to Samson prayer. Samson collapses the support beams of the temple, crushing himself along with thousands of Philistine leaders.

Samson's story began in chapter 14 and will end here. His time as a judge lasted twenty years (Judges 15:20), but Scripture records only a few major incidents from his life. No specific times are assigned to these events. Samson humiliates Gaza by ripping out the city gates with his bare hands. He then falls for Delilah, who finds out the secret of his strength and betrays him. The Philistines blind Samson and enslave him in a prison near Gaza. They then parade him around during a noblemen's celebration in the temple of Dagon. With power from the Lord, granted as a last request, Samson collapses the temple's support pillars. This kills everyone inside, including himself. This begins the process of Israel's liberation (Judges 13:5), which later men such as Samuel will complete (1 Samuel 7:11–14).

The Book of Judges describes Israel's history from the death of Joshua to shortly before Israel's first king, Saul. Israel fails to complete God's command to purge the wicked Canaanites from the land (Deuteronomy 7:1–5; 9:4). This results in a centuries-long cycle where Israel falls into sin and is oppressed by local enemies. After each oppression, God sends a civil-military leader, labeled using a Hebrew word loosely translated into English as "judge." These appointed rescuers would free Israel from enemy control and govern for a certain time. After each judge's death, the cycle of sin and oppression begins again. This continues until the people of Israel choose a king, during the ministry of the prophet-and-judge Samuel (1 Samuel 1—7).