Judges 16:7

_AND SAMSON SAID UNTO HER, IF THEY BIND ME WITH SEVEN GREEN WITHS THAT WERE NEVER DRIED, THEN SHALL I BE WEAK, AND BE AS ANOTHER MAN._ Bind me with seven green withs. Vine tendrils, pliant twigs, or twists made of crude vegetable stalks, are used in many Eastern countries for ropes at the present day....

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 16:7. _SEVEN GREEN WITHS_] That is, any kind of _pliant, tough_ _wood_, twisted in the form of a cord or rope. Such are used in many countries formed out of _osiers, hazel_, c. And in Ireland, very long and strong ropes are made of the _fibres of bog-wood_, or the larger roots of the fir, which is often dug up in the _bogs_ or _mosses_ of that country. But the _Septuagint_, by translating the Hebrew יתרים לחים _yetharim lachim_ by νευραις ὑγραις, and the _Vulgate_ by _nerviceis funibus_, understand these bonds to be _cords_ _made of the nerves of cattle_, or perhaps rather out of _raw hides_, these also making an exceedingly strong cord. In some countries they take the skin of the horse, cut it lengthwise from the hide into thongs about two inches broad, and after having laid them in salt for some time, take the...

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 SAMSON SAID UNTO HER,.... In answer to her pressing solicitations: IF THEY BIND ME WITH SEVEN GREEN WITHS THAT WERE NEVER DRIED; the word is sometimes used for nerves, and cords or ropes; but neither of these can be here meant, since these, if moistened or made wet, are the less fit to bind with, and the drier the better; but rods or branches of trees just cut off, such as faggots are bound up with, or green osiers, which are easily bent and twisted, and may bind with; Josephus u calls them vine branches: THEN SHALL I BE WEAK, AND BE AS ANOTHER MAN; which cannot well be excused from a lie; for Samson knew full well that being bound would not weaken his strength; but as he had fallen into one sin, it is no wonder he was drawn into another: unless this can be understood, as it is by some, as jesting with her; however, it shows that he was "compos mentis", as Josephus w observes, and...

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)....

GREEN WITHS. green twigs. Anglo-Saxon,. willow, because of its twining and flexibility. MAN. Hebrew. _'adam._ App-14....

_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....

_Samson and Delilah Judges 16:4-22_ 4 And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. 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. 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. 7 And Samson said unto her, If they bind me with seven green withes that were never dried, then shall I be weak, and be as another man. 8 Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven green withes which had not been dried, and she bound him with them. 9 Now there were men lying in wait, abiding with her in-'