Scofield Reference Bible Notes
Judges 16

Jdg 16:4 And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.

he loved a woman

1Ki 11:1.

Jdg 16:15 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.

How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart is not with me?

Jdg 14:16.

Jdg 16:16 And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death;

she pressed him daily with her words

Gen 39:10.

Jdg 16:20 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.

wist not

Contra, Exodus 34:29.

Jdg 16:21 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.

put out

Bored out.

Jdg 16:28 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.

Bible prayers (O.T.). 1Sa 1:11. (Gen 15:2; Hab 3:1-16.)

Jdg 16:30 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.

the house fell upon the lords

Miracles (O.T.). Jdg 16:28-30; 1Sa 5:3-12. (Gen 5:24; Jon 2:1-10.)

Jdg 16:31 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.

he judged Israel twenty years

The character and work of Samson are alike enigmatical. Announced by an angel (Jdg 13:1-21) he was a Nazarite (Num 6; Jdg 13:5) who constantly defiled his Nazarite separation through fleshly appetites. Called of God to judge Israel, and endued wonderfully with the Spirit, he wrought no abiding work for Israel, and perished in captivity to his enemies the Philistines. What was real in the man was his mighty faith in Jehovah in a time of doubt and apostasy, and this faith God honoured (Heb 11:32).