Judges 16:12

Not on the same day, but some time after, as Kimchi observes, when an opportunity offered, and he was in like circumstances as before; for had she immediately attacked him, it might have created some suspicion in him of a design against him: behold, thou hast mocked me, and told me lies; deceived her with lies, by telling her the other day that if he was bound with green withs, he should become as weak as other men; which she, out of curiosity as she might pretend, had tried, and had found to be false; and which, she might add, was an argument of want of true love to her, to mock her in such a manner: now tell me, I pray thee, wherewith thou mightest be bound; so as to be held. Judges 16:11 Ver. 11. And he said unto her,.... Abarbinel presents Samson replying to her, that he had told her the truth at first, only forgot one circumstance, that the "cords", for so he takes the word for "withs" to signify, should be "new", such as were never used, as follows: if they bind me fast with new ropes, that never were occupied; the word signifies thick ropes, which, according to Kimchi and Ben Melech, were trebled, or made of three cords twisted together, and those such as were just made, and had never been put to any use, and so strong and firm: then shall I be weak, and be as another man; see Jude 16:7. Judges 16:12 Ver. 12. Delilah therefore took new ropes, and bound him therewith,....

16:4-17 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.

Delilah therefore took new ropes, and bound him therewith,.... Tried this experiment with him, according to his directions, being very desirous of getting the sum of money offered her: and said unto him, the Philistines be upon thee, Samson: using the same words, and with the same view as she had done before, Judges 16:9. (and there were liers in wait abiding the chamber); as before, ready upon occasion to rush in upon him, as soon as any notice was given them: and he brake them from off his arms like a thread; as easily as a thread of linen can be snapped asunder.

Verse 12. - Took new ropes . She had them by her, apparently, or could easily procure them, as it is not said that the lords brought them to her. And there were liers. Rather, as before, and the liers in wait were abiding , etc. Each time she had persuaded the lords that Samson had divulged his secret, and that she would deliver him into the hands of the men whom they sent. Judges 16:12

[Bible] 16:5. And the princes of the Philistines came to her, and said: Deceive him, and learn of him wherein his great strength lieth, and how we may be able to overcome him, to bind and afflict him: which if thou shalt do, we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver. 16:6. And Dalila said to Samson: Tell me, I beseech thee, wherein thy greatest strength lieth, and what it is, wherewith if thou wert bound, thou couldst not break loose. 16:7. And Samson answered her: If I shall be bound with seven cords, made of sinews not yet dry, but still moist, I shall be weak like other men. 16:8. And the princes of the Philistines brought unto her seven cords, such as he spoke of, with which she bound him; 16:9. Men lying privately in wait with her, and in the chamber, expecting the event of the thing, and she cried out to him: The Philistines are upon thee, Samson. And he broke the bands, as a man would break a thread of tow twined with spittle, when it smelleth the fire: so it was not known wherein his strength lay. 16:10. And Dalila said to him: Behold thou hast mocked me, and hast told me a false thing: but now at least tell me wherewith thou mayest be bound. 16:11. And he answered her: If I shall be bound with new ropes, that were never in work, I shall be weak and like other men. 16:12. Dalila bound him again with these, and cried out: The Philistines are upon thee, Samson, there being an ambush prepared for him in the chamber. But he broke the bands like threads of webs. 16:13. And Dalila said to him again: How long dost thou deceive me, and tell me lies? Shew me wherewith thou mayest be bound. And Samson answered her: If thou plattest the seven locks of my head with a lace, and tying them round about a nail, fastenest it in the ground, I shall be weak. 16:14. And when Dalila had done this, she said to him: The Philistines are upon thee, Samson. And awaking out of his sleep, he drew out the nail with the hairs and the lace.

[Reformed Biblical] is the cause of this prodigious strength, or wherein doth it consist? She seems to ask merely out of curiosity, to understand the state of a person whom she so highly values. Judges 16:7 Samson is guilty both of the sin of lying, though he dress up the lie in such circumstances as might make it most probable; and of great folly, in encouraging her inquiries, which he should at first have checked: but as he had forsaken God, so God had now forsaken him, and deprived him of common prudence; otherwise the frequent repetition and vehement urging of this question might easily have raised suspicion in him. Judges 16:8 No text from Poole on this verse. ## Judges 16:9 With her in the chamber; with her , i.e. in the same house, in a chamber , i.e. in a secret chamber within her call. Nor is it strange that they did not fall upon him in his sleep; partly because they feared to awake a sleeping lion; and partly because they expect an opportunity for doing their work more certainly, and with less danger. Judges 16:10 No text from Poole on this verse. Judges 16:11 No text from Poole on this verse. Judges 16:12 No text from Poole on this verse. Judges 16:13 Or, thread which is woven about a weaver’s loom; or, ## with a weaver ’ s beam. If my hair, which is all divided into seven locks, be fastened about a weaver’s beam, or interwoven with weavers’ threads; understand out of the foregoing verses, then I shall be weak as another man.

And Samson lay till midnight; and he arose at midnight, and seized the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and tore them up with the bar, and put [them] upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of the mountain that is before Hebron. And it came to pass afterwards that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah. And the lords of the Philistines came up to her, and said to her, Persuade him, and see in what his great strength is, and with what we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to overpower him; and we will each give thee eleven hundred silver-pieces. Then Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, in what is thy great strength, and with what thou mightest be bound to overpower thee. And Samson said to her, If they should bind me with seven fresh cords which have not been dried, then should I be weak, and be as another man. Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven fresh cords which had not been dried, and she bound him with them. Now she had liers in wait abiding in the chamber; and she said to him, The Philistines are upon thee, Samson! And he broke the cords, as a thread of tow is broken when it touches the fire; and his strength was not known. And Delilah said to Samson, Behold, thou hast mocked me and told me lies. Now tell me, I pray thee, with what thou mightest be bound.