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._ The lords of the Philistines. The five rulers deemed no means beneath their dignity to overcome this national enemy; and learning the ascendancy she had acquired over the Hebrew champion, they bribed her to use that influence in promoting their designs. ENTICE HIM, AND SEE WHEREIN HIS GREAT STRENGTH LIETH. They probably imagined that he carried some amulet about his person, or was in the possession of some important secret, by which he had acquired such Herculean strength; and they bribed Delilah, doubtless by a large reward, to discover it for them. She undertook the service, and made several attempts, plying...

4-17 Samson had been more than once brought into mischief and danger by the love of women, yet he would not take warning, but is again taken in the same snare, and this third time is fatal. Licentiousness is one of the things that take away the heart. This is a deep pit into which many have fallen; but from which few have escaped, and those by a miracle of mercy, with the loss of reputation and usefulness, of almost all, except their souls. The anguish of the suffering is ten thousand times greater than all the pleasures of the sin....

Verse Judges 16:5. _SEE WHEREIN HIS GREAT STRENGTH_ LIETH] They saw that his _stature_ was not remarkable: and that, nevertheless, he had most extraordinary strength; therefore they supposed that it was the effect of some _charm_ or _amulet_. The lords of the Philistines were the five following: Gaza, Gath, Askelon, Ekron, and Ashdod. All these considered Samson as a public enemy; and they promised this bad woman a large sum of money if she would obtain from him the important secret wherein his strength lay, that, depriving him of this _supernatural power_, they might be able to reduce him to bondage....

AND THE LORDS OF THE PHILISTINES - See Judges 3:3 note. HIS GREAT STRENGTH LIETH - Rather, “wherein his strength is great.” ELEVEN HUNDRED PIECES OF SILVER - The greatness of the bribe offered to Delilah, 5,500 shekels of silver, nearly two talents (Exodus 38:24, note), shows the importance attached to Samson’s capture....

EXPOSITION JUDGES 16:1 THEN. It should be and. There is nothing to show when the incident occurred. It may have been many years after his victory at hal-Lechi, towards the latter part of his twenty years' judgeship. GAZA, now _Ghuzzeh_,_ _one of the five chief cities of the Philistines, once a strong place, but now a large open town. It was the last town in South-West Palestine on the road from Jerusalem to Egypt (Acts 8:26, Acts 8:27). It played an important part in history in all ages—in the times, of the Pharaohs, the Seleucidae, the Maccabees, the Romans, the Khalifs, and the Crusaders. It was within the limits of the tribe of Judah ...

AND THE LORDS OF THE PHILISTINES CAME UP UNTO HER,.... Having heard that Samson kept company with her, she being a noted strumpet, like Lais among the Grecians. These were in number five, as appears from Judges 3:3 and had under them five principalities, into which Palestine was divided; and these, if not united in their government, which possibly might be the case at this time, yet were united against their common enemy Samson; and being great personages, it is thought by some they came not themselves to this harlot's house, but sent a deputation of five persons in their names, though the text is very express here and after: they are said to come up to her, because their country lay on the shore of the sea, and lower than Judea: AND SAID UNTO HER, ENTICE HIM; persuade him with soothing and flattering words; take an opportunity when in an amorous mood to improve her interest in

CHAPTER 16 DELILAH, AND SAMSON _ 1. In Gaza (Judges 16:1)_ 2. Delilah and her victory over him (Judges 16:4) 3. The captive of the Philistines (Judges 16:21) 4. The feast of Dagon and Samson's death (Judges 16:22) Down he goes again, and this time to Gaza, the Philistine stronghold. There he unites himself with a harlot. We are here reminded of the history of the Church. The harlot typifies that system which in Revelation is called by the same name, she who seduces to commit fornication, Babylon the great, Rome. Rome is the capital of Philistinism, ritualistic Christendom, as Gaza was the capital of the

SAMSON AND DELILAH. It was quite near his own home, in the Vale of Sorek (Grape Valley), that the Philistines, a ided by the woman who had him in thrall, ultimately got the giant under their power. A ruined site near Zorah is still called Sû rî k. The Jaffa-Jerusalem railway now runs through the valley. The meaning of Delilah is unknown: perhaps it was a Philistine word, as the term for lords or tyrants (_seren,_ pl. _sarnç_) certainly was. Delilah was to receive £ 150 from each of the five for the betrayal of her lover. Judges 16:7. Instead of withes, or flexible twigs, read seven cords of fresh sinews, _i.e._ moist gut; Moore has bowstrings. Seven was first a magical and then a sacred number (_cf._ Judges 16:13)....

LORDS. See note on Joshua 13:3. AFFLICT. humble. ELEVEN HUNDRED. One of the two occurrences of this number. Eleven. the number of _defective administration_ (= 12. 1. See App-10). Compare Judges 17:2, where similar want of rule is seen. This 1,100 ruined them politically; the other (Judges 17:2) ruined them religiously....

_Samson and Delîlah: his ruin and famous end_ 4 _.the valley of Sorek_ Now Wâdi eṣ-Ṣarâr, a broad valley narrowing as it rises towards the Judaean highlands; the railway from Jaffa to Jerusalem ascends the lower part of it. _Soreḳ_denotes a choice kind of vine (Genesis 49:11; Isaiah 5:2; Jeremiah 2:21), which may have given its name to the valley. A ruined site near Ṣar-a (Judges 13:2 _n._) is still called Sûrîk....