Judges 16:1-6

Judges 16:1

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

Then Samson left Lehi and went to Gaza which was about 40 miles (64 km) southwest of Lehi.  Gaza was one of the five principal cities of the Philistines.  It was southwest of Jerusalem and near the coast in Philistia.  It could be said that women were the weakness of Samson.  Here he met a harlot and had illicit sexual relations with her.

Judges 16:2

And it was told the Gazites, saying, Samson is come hither. And they compassed him in, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, saying, In the morning, when it is day, we shall kill him.  

This harlot somehow got word to the Gazites that Samson had come to their city.  This was one of two harlots which almost spelled the end for Samson by getting word to the men of the town. No doubt what he did to the Philistines up north had become known to them and resulted in the men of the city waiting for him all night and then when morning came they were planning on killing him.

Judges 16:3

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.

Samson no doubt had become aware of the plan so instead of him staying all night, he got up at midnight and left Gaza.  This was one of Samson’s great feats of strength.  He took the two doors which allowed people entrance into the city and broke them off and carried them away along with the crossbar that would lock the door and put them on his shoulders and carried them to the top of a hill in Hebron.  Those doors would have weighed hundreds of pounds since they were designed to repel any attacks by enemies.  The distance from Gaza to Hebron was 38 miles (61 km) east.  This showed his immense strength having the ability to carry two city doors 38 miles and then up a hill.  You would have thought that he would have dropped them when he was out of range of those lying in wait for him.  Those doors would have been about 90 feet in height.

Judges 16:4

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

Samson then left Hebron and went to the valley of Sorek which was about 20 miles (32 km) west.  It was there he met the second harlot which would finally bring him down for a short period of time.  Her name was Delilah which means “delicate or dainty one.”  She obviously did not live up to her name.

Judges 16:5

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.

Now the Philistine lords wanted to get rid of their nemesis and they knew the means by which to do it.  Since Samson fell in love with Delilah they approached her and wanted to use the strongest weapon against any man and that is a woman.  They promised her 1100 pieces of silver per lord which would have been five making it 5500 pieces of silver which was a pretty good amount.  They did not give their true intentions lest she have feelings for Samson so they just told her that we just want to know where his strength comes from.  The word “afflict” means “to humiliate or humble” him.  The word “entice” means “allure or deceive.”  Some commentators state that the 5500 pieces of silver was over a thousand pounds.  I am writing this on January 14, 2018 and the price of silver in the USA is at $17.21 per troy ounce which makes this amount given to her equal to $206,520.

Judges 16:6

And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee.