Judges 16:22 - Printer Friendly

ESV: But the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.

NIV: But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved.

NASB: However, the hair of his head began to grow again after it was shaved off.

CSB: But his hair began to grow back after it had been shaved.

NLT: But before long, his hair began to grow back.

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

NKJV: However, the hair of his head began to grow again after it had been shaven.

This statement is ominous for the Philistine enemies who captured Samson while he was weak. It's a hopeful sign for Samson and his people. His supernatural strength was taken from him when he foolishly told his lover about his special calling before God, symbolized by his uncut hair (Judges 16:15–20). Blind and captured, a disgraced Samson is now enslaved and forced to do the work of a lowly servant. That humiliation seems to lead Samson to true repentance, renewed faith, and dependence on the Lord. Parallel to that, his hair grows back as it naturally would.

The Philistines seem blissfully unaware of the implications of Samson's regrowing hair. For their part, they probably assumed that Samson's strength was part of a magical pact with his deity, so once the pact was broken, it was broken forever. Otherwise, they might have continued to shave his head to keep him weak. Of course, the hair itself was never the real reason Samson was so powerful; the hair was symbolic of his God-ordained role. Samson lost his strength because he valued his lusts more than His Lord.

Samson's utter humiliation seems to cause at least some changes in his attitude. Scripture never says how long his hair needed to be to "trigger" God's power, or that such a thing would have happened, at all. It merely notes that it began to grow, and the rest of the passage implies that Samson's submissive faith was growing, as well. Before Samson's story is over, the Philistines will learn they cannot rest easy while God's man is still alive and within reach (Judges 13:5; 14:4).

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).