Judges 16:14 - Printer Friendly

ESV: So while he slept, Delilah took the seven locks of his head and wove them into the web. And she made them tight with the pin and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he awoke from his sleep and pulled away the pin, the loom, and the web.

NIV: and tightened it with the pin. Again she called to him, 'Samson, the Philistines are upon you!' He awoke from his sleep and pulled up the pin and the loom, with the fabric.

NASB: So while he slept, Delilah wove the seven locks of his hair with the web]. And she fastened it with the pin and said to him, 'The Philistines are upon you, Samson!' But he awoke from his sleep and pulled out the pin of the loom and the web.

CSB: She fastened the braids with a pin and called to him, "Samson, the Philistines are here! " He awoke from his sleep and pulled out the pin, with the loom and the web.

NLT: Then she tightened it with the loom shuttle. Again she cried out, 'Samson! The Philistines have come to capture you!' But Samson woke up, pulled back the loom shuttle, and yanked his hair away from the loom and the fabric.

KJV: 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.

NKJV: So she wove it tightly with the batten of the loom, and said to him, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” But he awoke from his sleep, and pulled out the batten and the web from the loom.

For the third time in what he probably thinks is a flirtatious game, Samson has lied to Delilah about how to eliminate his supernatural strength (Judges 16:7–13). He probably believes she's asking out of curiosity and in response to his love (Judges 16:4). Her repeated attempts, followed by his easy escape, might have seemed like a flirtatious game. The truth is that Delilah's being paid by Samson's enemies to discover his weakness (Judges 16:5–6). Most recently, he told her that weaving his long hair into fabric on a loom would make him weak.

In a way, Samson's lies mock superstitious traditions of his time. The use of seven fresh bowstrings (Judges 16:7)—undried parts of animal carcasses such as tendons—would have sounded like something from worship of a false idol. According to some legends, a person's hair was thought to contain their essence. There was no doubt Samson's physical power was supernatural (Judges 15:14–15; 16:3). Delilah likely expected the secret to involve some odd cultic practice.

Carrying out Samson's new suggestion would have taken quite a bit of work. Scholars suggest that to weave fabric into his hair as described would have required laying down near a loom. Stakes would be secured to the ground or floor. The hair would be pulled straight as it was woven together with the thread of the fabric of the "web." Samson slept through the procedure, which he almost certainly knew was happening. The only other possibility is that he was drugged—though that probably would have made him too suspicious to give Delilah any further ideas.

Delilah then follows the same pattern already demonstrated. When she's finished weaving his hair and secured everything tightly with a pin, she called out to him once more as if his enemies are attacking. Samson wakes up, easily pulls out the pin and frees himself from the loom and the web.

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).