Comments on Judges 13-16 This story is well known, so I won't be making too many comments on it. One general comment is that Sampson's fall is when he goes after a Philistine harlot (cp. 16:1) and then Delilah after that (cp. 16:4). This is unmistakably a morality play where the formerly righteous son of God is seduced and destroyed by the daughter of men. v13:1 Once again, the apostasy cycle. v13:5 Once again a deliverer is promised. v13:16 Compare 6:19-21. v13:18 Angels would not reveal their names because they didn't want people to worship them, cp. Gen. 32:29. They are the vicarious messengers of the Lord on His errand, so they don't want people to confuse the messenger with the message. v14:3 The parents want to avoid intermarriage, knowing it is prohibited in the Law, but in this case it is according to the will of the Lord. v14:15, 20 The tradition of marriage among the Hebrews is once they are betrothed they are legally husband and wife, but they must wait, typically 1 year, in order to consummate the marriage. SO, while she was legally his betrothed wife, they weren't yet "married" in the modern sense of the word. v16:6-17 In this episode of seemingly repeated attacks, it looks as though Samson is incredibly stupid. But, we have to look very closely at the text. What is happening here is Delilah is simply shouting at Samson that the Philistines are upon him, they never actually emerge from hiding and attack. So, to Samson its got to look like some kind of game he is playing with her. He probably wants to show off and impress her, and he is probably enjoying all of the attention he is getting from her as she begs him seductively to reveal the secret. Note that when he finally reveals the true secret Delilah pounds on him herself (cf. 16:19), and only after testing his strength does she call in the Philistines. Thus, this is the first time Samson is actually confronted by the hostile Philistines. So, while Samson isn't wise in his dealings with Delilah, he isn't as dumb as a post. v16:23-30 The final revenge of Samson is characterized as the Lord granting him his strength back so as to prove that the Philistine boasting over Dagon in 16:23-24 is false. The Philistines transferred Samson's weakness to the Lord, and then transferred their own seeming victory to Dagon. Thus, the Lord shows them that He is in fact the winner, that Dagon is nothing, and that Samson's weakness is not the Lord's weakness. Copyright © 2002 by S. Kurt Neumiller . All rights reserved. No part of this text may be reproduced in any form or by any means for commercial gain without the express written consent of the author. Digital or printed copies may be freely made and distributed for personal and public non-commercial use.