Verse-by-Verse Commentary
The Book of Judges
Chapter 16: He Wist Not That the LORD Was Departed
The strong man's fall is one of the saddest in Scripture: enticed by Delilah, shorn of his locks, and rising to shake himself, 'he wist not that the LORD was departed from him.' Blinded and grinding in a Philistine prison, he seems finished. But his hair grows again, and his final cry to God brings down the house of Dagon, grace triumphing even in the ruins.
About This Commentary
This is a verse-by-verse study of Judges chapter 16. For each section you will find the KJV text, the Hebrew words that sharpen the meaning, plain explanation, and a Gospel Focus. Chapter 16 is the tragedy and the strange redemption of Samson: how a mighty man threw away his strength, and how God's grace met him in the dark. Every Scripture quotation is from the King James Version.
Samson Carries Away the Gates (Judges 16:1-3)
Even in sin at Gaza, Samson's God-given strength stuns his enemies, but the pattern of yielding to temptation is the crack that will bring him down.
He Took the Doors of the Gate
"Then went Samson to Gaza, and saw there an harlot, and went in unto her. 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. 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."
Word Study
"gate," Hebrew shaar (שַׁעַר), the fortified entrance of a city, its point of strength and control. The city gate was the seat of a town's power, its defense, its court, its very security. Samson, trapped in Gaza, simply lifted the whole gate, doors, posts, and bar, and carried it away to a hill near Hebron, an act of jaw-dropping strength that made a mockery of the city's defenses. There is a gospel echo in it, even here: the Lord promised that "the gates of hell shall not prevail" against His church (Matthew 16:18), for the strong Deliverer carries away the gates of the enemy's stronghold. Yet the tragedy is that Samson used this God-given power in the very act of sin. His strength was never the problem; his lack of self-control was. He could carry off a city's gates but could not shut the gate of his own appetites.
Explanation
The chapter opens with Samson again yielding to lust, going in to a harlot at Gaza, deep in enemy territory. The Gazites plan to trap and kill him at dawn, but at midnight he rises, tears out the city gate whole, and carries it miles away to a hill before Hebron. It is a display of God's astonishing strength still resting on him, and a warning: Samson had come to presume on that strength even while indulging his flesh. He treated the holy gift as though it made him untouchable. But the same weakness that drew him to Gaza would draw him to the valley of Sorek, and there it would not end in a carried-off gate but in a shorn head and blinded eyes. Repeated sin, unjudged, is a road that leads downward.
Gospel Focus
Samson's early "victory" at Gaza is a warning dressed as a triumph. Continued strength is not the same as God's approval; God may bear long with us, letting the gifts remain even as we trifle with sin, but presumption on His patience is deadly. "Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil" (Ecclesiastes 8:11). Samson mistook God's forbearance for license. Let us not do the same. The measure of a man is not the strength he can display but the appetites he can master, "he that ruleth his spirit" is greater than "he that taketh a city" (Proverbs 16:32).
Delilah's Enticement (Judges 16:4-14)
A woman Samson loves is bought by the Philistine lords to pry out the secret of his strength, and three times he plays with the fire.
Tell Me Wherein Thy Great Strength Lieth
"And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. 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. And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee. 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. Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven green withs which had not been dried, and she bound him with them. Now there were men lying in wait, abiding with her in the chamber. And she said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he brake the withs, as a thread of tow is broken when it toucheth the fire. So his strength was not known. And Delilah said unto Samson, Behold, thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: now tell me, I pray thee, wherewith thou mightest be bound. And he said unto her, If they bind me fast with new ropes that never were occupied, then shall I be weak, and be as another man. Delilah therefore took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And there were liers in wait abiding in the chamber. And he brake them from off his arms like a thread. And Delilah said unto Samson, Hitherto thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: tell me wherewith thou mightest be bound. And he said unto her, If thou weavest the seven locks of my head with the web. 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."
Word Study
"entice," Hebrew pathah (פָּתָה) once more, "to seduce, coax, persuade to one's ruin." The same verb used of his first wife (Judges 14:15) now returns for Delilah, and this time it will succeed. Bought with silver, she is set to pathah the secret out of him. And Samson, incredibly, keeps coming back to be enticed, playing a game with each answer that dances nearer the truth: green withs, then new ropes, then his own hair woven in the loom. He is toying with temptation, and toying with temptation is how strong men fall. "Every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed" (James 1:14), the New Testament uses the very same idea. Samson thought he could flirt with the trap and always escape; three times he broke free, and each escape lulled him into the fatal fourth. The one who plays with enticement is already half taken.
Explanation
Samson loves Delilah, and the Philistine lords buy her, eleven hundred pieces of silver from each, to discover the secret of his strength. Three times she begs him to tell, three times he lies (green withs, new ropes, weaving his hair), and three times she springs the trap with "The Philistines be upon thee, Samson", and three times he breaks loose. But notice: each false answer inches closer to the truth. First cords unrelated to him, then ropes, then finally his own hair, the very sign of his vow. He is being worn down, giving ground by inches. A man who keeps returning to the lap that is trying to destroy him is not strong; he is bewitched. Delilah has not yet won, but Samson has already lost, for he will not leave.
Gospel Focus
The way to defeat this kind of temptation is not to master it but to flee it. Samson stayed, matched wits, and fell; Joseph "left his garment... and fled" (Genesis 39:12) and stood. "Flee also youthful lusts" (2 Timothy 2:22); "flee fornication" (1 Corinthians 6:18). There is no safe distance at which to play with sin that means to kill you. Samson's tragedy was that he kept coming back, sure his strength would save him, when the real danger was never Delilah's ropes but his own unwillingness to leave. The strongest believer is not the one who can resist the most temptation, but the one wise enough to run from it. Do not negotiate with what is bought to destroy you; flee.
The LORD Departed From Him (Judges 16:15-22)
Worn down at last, Samson tells all, is shorn in his sleep, and rises not knowing that the source of his strength has left him.
He Wist Not That the LORD Was Departed From Him
"And she said unto him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart is not with me? thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lieth. And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death; That he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man. And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up this once, for he hath shewed me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and brought money in their hand. And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him. And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the LORD was departed from him. But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house. Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven."
Word Study
"he wist not," Hebrew lo yada (לֹא יָדַע), "he knew not." Here is the saddest phrase in Samson's story: "he wist not that the LORD was departed from him." His hair was only the sign; his true strength was the LORD's presence, and that presence had quietly withdrawn while he slept in sin's lap. Most terrible of all, he did not even know it. He rose to "shake myself" as before, expecting the old power, and it was gone. This is the danger of unrepented sin: it does not usually announce the departure of God; the anointing slips away unnoticed, and a man goes on presuming until the day he tries to move in power and finds himself empty. King Saul, too, "knew not that the LORD was departed from him," in effect, when the Spirit left him. It is why David, having sinned, pleaded, "take not thy holy spirit from me" (Psalm 51:11). Let us fear the silent departure more than any open blow.
Explanation
Delilah wears him down with daily pressure until "his soul was vexed unto death," and he "told her all his heart", not just the fact of his hair, but the sacred secret of his Nazarite consecration. She shaves the seven locks as he sleeps on her knees, and calls the enemy. He wakes and rises to shake himself free, "and he wist not that the LORD was departed from him." The Philistines seize him, gouge out his eyes, bind him with brass fetters, and set him grinding at the mill like an animal, the mighty judge reduced to a blind slave. Yet the chapter drops one seed of hope, almost in passing: "Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again." God is not finished. Where sin has done its worst, grace quietly begins to work.
Gospel Focus
Sin's wages are laid bare here in dreadful order: first the compromise, then the secret surrendered, then the strength gone, then the eyes put out, then the chains, then the grinding. "The way of transgressors is hard" (Proverbs 13:15). What Samson looked at with lust, the Philistines destroyed; the eyes that led him astray were the first thing they took. But do not miss the "Howbeit." Even in the prison house God was at work, and the hair, and with it the hope, began to grow. God's grace is not exhausted by our worst failures. The same LORD who departs from unjudged sin will meet the broken penitent in his darkest cell. There is no pit so deep that the growing hair of grace cannot reach it.
The Death of Samson (Judges 16:23-31)
Mocked at the feast of Dagon, the blind prisoner prays one last time, and in his death strikes the greatest blow of his life.
Let Me Die With the Philistines
"Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their god, and to rejoice: for they said, Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hand. And when the people saw him, they praised their god: for they said, Our god hath delivered into our hands our enemy, and the destroyer of our country, which slew many of us. And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Samson, that he may make us sport. And they called for Samson out of the prison house; and he made them sport: and they set him between the pillars. And Samson said unto the lad that held him by the hand, Suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house standeth, that I may lean upon them. Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philistines were there; and there were upon the roof about three thousand men and women, that beheld while Samson made sport. And Samson called unto the LORD, and said, O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes. And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left. And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life. Then his brethren and all the house of his father came down, and took him, and brought him up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the buryingplace of Manoah his father. And he judged Israel twenty years."
Word Study
"remember me," Hebrew zakar (זָכַר), "to remember, call to mind, be mindful of." Samson's last prayer begins, "O Lord GOD, remember me." It is the cry of a broken man who has nothing left to plead but God's mercy, the same word the dying thief used, "Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom" (Luke 23:42). When God "remembers" someone in Scripture, He acts in mercy on their behalf, as He "remembered" Noah, and Hannah, and His covenant. Blind, shorn, and shamed, Samson has come at last to the place he should have lived all along: utter dependence on God. And God answered, granting one final surge of the old strength. It is fitting that Samson, who is named among the heroes of faith (Hebrews 11:32), earns that place not by his mighty deeds but by this last, humble prayer of faith. The strong man is saved as a weak man who cried, "remember me."
Explanation
The Philistines throw a great feast to their idol Dagon, crediting their god with Samson's capture, and haul the blind prisoner out to mock him "between the pillars" of a temple packed with three thousand on the roof alone. But the hair has grown, and the heart has turned. Samson asks to lean on the central pillars, and prays his last: "O Lord GOD, remember me... strengthen me... only this once." He grasps the two pillars and, crying "Let me die with the Philistines," pulls the whole temple down. "The dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life." His brethren bury him, and the record closes: he "judged Israel twenty years." A ruined life, redeemed at the end by a prayer of faith.
Gospel Focus
Samson's death is a dim but real shadow of the gospel. Mocked by his enemies, arms outstretched to the two pillars, he won his greatest victory in death, slaying more in dying than in all his living. So the Lord Jesus, mocked by His enemies and stretched out with arms wide, won His greatest victory in death, and "through death" destroyed "him that had the power of death" (Hebrews 2:14). But mark the difference: Samson died for his own sins and prayed for personal vengeance; Christ died sinless, for others, and prayed, "Father, forgive them" (Luke 23:34). And the great comfort of Samson's end is the reach of God's grace: a man who wasted his gifts, broke his vows, and lost everything was still heard when he cried "remember me," and God gave him a place among the faithful. If grace could redeem the ruin of Samson, it can redeem yours. It is never too late to pray, "Lord, remember me."
Chapter 16 in Review
Judges 16 is the tragedy and the strange redemption of Samson. Presuming on his strength even in sin, he carries off the gates of Gaza; then, in the valley of Sorek, he toys with Delilah's enticements until, worn down, he surrenders the secret of his consecration. Shorn in his sleep, he rises to shake himself, "and he wist not that the LORD was departed from him." Blinded, chained, and grinding in prison, he seems finished, "howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again." At Dagon's feast the blind prisoner prays, "O Lord GOD, remember me," and brings down the temple, slaying more in his death than in his life.
For the Apostolic reader, Samson's fall warns and his end comforts. Beware presuming on God's patience, beware playing with enticement, and fear above all the silent departure of the LORD through unjudged sin. Yet the "howbeit" of growing hair and the answered cry "remember me" proclaim that God's grace outlasts our worst failures. Mocked and dying with arms outstretched, Samson dimly foreshadows the Deliverer who won His greatest victory in death, and forgave His enemies as He did.
- Continued strength is not God's approval; beware presuming on His patience with our sin.
- Samson toyed with temptation and fell; the wise flee what is bought to destroy them.
- "He wist not that the LORD was departed", fear the silent withdrawal of God's presence.
- "Remember me", grace redeemed even Samson's ruin; his death foreshadows Christ's victory through death.
Questions for Reflection
- Are you presuming on God's patience, mistaking His forbearance for approval of your sin?
- Do you flee temptation, or, like Samson, keep coming back to negotiate with it?
- Could it be said of you that the LORD has quietly departed and you "wist not"? Cry "remember me" today.
References & Sources
Scripture is quoted from the King James Version (KJV). The Hebrew terms are standard and can be checked in any Hebrew lexicon. Supporting passages are listed so every claim can be verified in its own setting. If anything here does not look right, a verse, a reference, or a wording, please tell us at info@FruitBearers.net. Thank you for helping us keep Bible Learning error free.
- The gates of Gaza; ruling one's spirit: Judges 16:1-3; Matthew 16:18; Ecclesiastes 8:11; Proverbs 16:32.
- Delilah's enticement; flee temptation: Judges 16:4-14; James 1:14; Genesis 39:12; 2 Timothy 2:22; 1 Corinthians 6:18.
- The LORD departed unnoticed: Judges 16:15-22; Psalm 51:11; Proverbs 13:15.
- "Remember me"; victory through death: Judges 16:23-31; Luke 23:34, 42; Hebrews 2:14; 11:32.