Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Judges 16:19
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.
19. she made him sleep ] Cf. Jdg 16:14 LXX. cod. A . For a man the original has the man, i.e. who was waiting in readiness. For and shaved (subj. Dellah) the context seems to require the reading and he shaved; the man was called in for this purpose.
she began to afflict him ] Can this mean, by cutting off his hair? Moore suggests that D. bound him (cf. Jdg 16:5-6), as may be implied in the words I will shake myself in Jdg 16:20. The Greek reads he began to be afflicted or humbled; his strength began to ebb away as the hair fell. So many moderns.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 19. She began to affect him] She had probably tied his hands slyly, while he was asleep, and after having cut off his hair, she began to insult him before she called the Philistines, to try whether he were really reduced to a state of weakness. Finding he could not disengage himself, she called the Philistines, and he, being alarmed, rose up, thinking he could exert himself as before, and shake himself, i.e., disengage himself from his bonds and his enemies: but he wist not that the Lord was departed from him; for as Delilah had cut off his locks while he was asleep, he had not yet perceived that they were gone.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
She made him sleep, by some sleepy potion, which it is like she gave him upon other pretences, agreeable enough to his present and vitiated inclination.
Upon her knees; resting his head upon her knees.
She caused him to shave off, with a gentle hand, as if she herself had been but sporting with him. She did this more securely, partly because she had cast him into a deep sleep, and partly because if he had discovered it before it was finished, she would have said it was only an innocent intention to try the sincerity of his affection to her, and the truth of this last relation, which she had so just reason to doubt of, from his frequent dissimulation and lies.
She began to afflict him, i.e. to disturb, and awaken, and affright him, as by other ways, so particularly by crying out in a terrible manner,
The Philistines are upon thee, as she had done before, and as it follows, Jdg 16:20.
His strength went from him; which, as is here implied, she perceived, because he could not now shake himself as he did before, i.e. with equal rigour and might, as is intimated in the next verse; or because she had bound him, though it be not here expressed, and found him unable to break his bands.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
19. she called for a man, and shecaused him to shave off the seven locks of his headIt isuncertain, however, whether the ancient Hebrews cut off the hair tothe same extent as Orientals now. The word employed is sometimes thesame as that for shearing sheep, and therefore the instrument mightbe only scissors.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And she made him sleep upon her knees,…. Giving him, as some think, a sleepy potion; or however encouraged him to take a nap upon her knees, and by her fondness lulled him to sleep:
and she called for a man; a barber; in former times to shave was the work of a servant f and sometimes of a woman; she gave orders for one to be sent for; for Jarchi calls him a messenger of the lords of the Philistines:
and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; this shows that they were not wove into one another, and made but one lock, as some interpret what she was before directed to do:
and she began to afflict him; as his hair was shaving off; though he was asleep, yet he discovered some uneasiness, the effects of it began to appear: though the word “began” here may be redundant, as in
Nu 25:1 and then the meaning is, that she afflicted him, or again afflicted him; for she had afflicted him, or at least attempted it, three times before, and therefore did not begin now; this Hebraism is used in Mr 4:1 and frequently in Jewish writings g:
and his strength went from him; sensibly and gradually; though some understand it of her shaking him in a violent manner to awake him, and shrieking and crying out terribly to frighten him, with her old cry of the Philistines being on him, and of her binding him, though not expressed; whereby she perceived his strength was gone, and he could not loose himself.
f Vid. Pignorium de servis, p. 89, 90, 91. & Popma de servis, p. 57, 58. g See Lightfoot. Hor. Heb. in Mark iv. 1. Vid. Sterringae Animadv. Philolog. Sacr. p. 248.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(19) Made him sleep upon her knees.As his locks could hardly be shaved off without awaking him from any ordinary sleep, the expression looks as if she had administered some drowsy syrup, like mandragora.
She called for a man.Probably the concealed spy (Jdg. 16:9). Laying down his head amongst the strumpet flatteries . . . while he sleeps and thinks no harm, they, wickedly shaving off all those bright and weighty tresses . . . which were his ornament and his strength, deliver him over . . . (Milton, Reason of Church Government). Whether the pagan legends of the lock of Nisus or Pterolaus were distant echoes of this incident we cannot say. But the hair of Samson was no magical amulet. It was only a sign of dedication to God. While he kept his vow the strength remained; it only departed when the vow was shamefully broken.
She began to afflict him.Rather, to humble him (Jdg. 19:24). We cannot tell the exact meaning of the clause, since it is only in the next verse that Samson is said to awake. (Comp. Pro. 7:26.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
19. She called for a man “Probably a barber. The business of eastern barbers lies in shaving the head rather than the beard, and they do it so skilfully and gently that, so far from a sleeping man being awaked, a waking man is lulled to sleep under the operation. Considering the great mass of hair of which Samson had to be deprived, he would probably have been roused by inexperienced hands, which may be the reason why Delilah herself did not operate upon the recumbent Nazarite, as painters falsely represent that she did.” Kitto.
She began to afflict him In what particular way is told in the next verse.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘ And she made him sleep on 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 humble him, and his strength went from him.’
Here was the height of treachery. This woman who had pretended to love him lulled him to sleep on her knees, then she called for a man (this was servant’s work or women’s work – the Philistines had probably brought a barber with them) and directed him to shave off Samson’s seven locks of hair while he slept. The seven locks of hair symbolised the divine perfection of his vow. Now he would lose all that it had meant to him. He was no longer a Nazirite.
“And she began to humble him.” That is, at this stage she began the humbling of him, his total humiliation. It was a humbling that would go on and on. The same verb is found in Jdg 16:5-6 (‘afflict’). What would follow would be humiliation and affliction, and it would be her work. These words are looking forward to his future. It was what the Philistines had been planning from the beginning. And here by her actions she had started off the process. This would be the result of his losing his special strength.
“And his strength went from him.” Not his natural strength but that special extra, that inspiration which had come from the Spirit of Yahweh. He would still be strong, but without that added extra that came at times of special need. Many men have known extra strength in time of need as adrenalin has worked overtime. Some have found in battle that their bodies seem to be taken over so that they fought almost mechanically in a ferocious and effective way. Others have worked themselves into a religious frenzy to achieve the same (consider the wild Norse warriors, the Berserkers). But this that Samson had known had been beyond this, for it was provided by the divine Spirit at work within. Now it would be no more.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Jdg 16:19. She began to afflict him i.e. (in the sense wherein this word is frequently used,) to humble and bring him low; for as soon as the razor touched his head, his strength began to be diminished.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Jdg 16:19 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.
Ver. 19. And she made him sleep upon her knees. ] He sleepeth, but his enemies are waking and working against him: so are the antichristian rout against the Church of Christ. Oh pray, pray, said an eminent Dutch divine, Pontifex enim Rom. et Concilium Tridentinum mira molluntur.
To shave off the seven locks of his head.
And she began to afflict him.
a Metam. 8.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
she made: Pro 7:21-23, Pro 7:26, Pro 7:27, Pro 23:33, Pro 23:34, Ecc 7:26
Reciprocal: Num 6:5 – razor Pro 5:9 – General Pro 6:33 – A wound Jon 1:5 – and was Heb 11:34 – out of
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Jdg 16:19-20. She made him sleep By some sleepy potion; upon her knees Resting his head upon her knees. She began to afflict him To humble and bring him low, in which sense the original word is often used. For, it seems, as soon as the razor touched his head, his strength began to be diminished, which she perceived by some means or other. He awoke and said, within himself, I will go out as at other times Samson probably did not find, immediately after he was awake, that his hair was shaven, which made him speak in this manner. He wist not that the Lord was departed That he was not present with him as he had formerly been; that he no longer supplied him with that extraordinary and supernatural strength with which he had before endowed him. And justly, indeed, did God depart and withdraw his presents and gifts from a man who put it into the power of a harlot to rob him of that which he knew had been appointed the tenure whereby he was to hold them. For he hereby plainly showed that he regarded the caresses of a harlot more than the divine favour, and the preservation of such extraordinary endowments. Alas! how many have lost the favourable presence of God, and are not aware of it! They have provoked him to withdraw from them, but are not sensible of their loss!
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
16:19 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 {k} from him.
(k) Not for the loss of his hair, but for the contempt of the ordinance of God, which was the reason God departed from him.