What does Samson fail to know when he wakes after Dalila has his hair shaved?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

He does not know that the Lord has departed from him. He thinks he can go out and shake himself free as before, but the Philistines seize him, pull out his eyes and take him bound to prison at Gaza.

Chapter breakdown

Samson goes to Gaza, sees a harlot and goes in to her. The Philistines hear of his arrival, and the news spreads through the city. They surround him, set guards at the city gate and wait in silence all night, planning to kill him in the morning when he leaves. Samson sleeps until midnight, then rises, takes both doors of the gate with their posts and bolt, puts them on his shoulders and carries them to the top of the hill that looks toward Hebron.

After this Samson loves a woman named Dalila in the valley of Sorec. Challoner separately says some think he married her and others think she was a harlot. If the latter is true, the Lord delivered him through her in punishment of his lust; however, if he was guilty, he undoubtedly repented heartily during his afflictions, returned to God and was forgiven. The Philistine princes offer her eleven hundred pieces of silver each if she deceives him, learns where his great strength lies and how they can overcome him, bind him and afflict him. She asks him about his strength and what bonds he cannot break. He first says seven cords of sinews, not yet dry but still moist, will make him weak like other men. The princes bring them; she binds him while men wait secretly in the chamber, and cries that the Philistines are upon him. He breaks the cords like tow thread twisted with spittle when it smells fire; his strength remains unknown. She complains that he mocked her and spoke falsely, and again asks how he can be bound. He says new ropes never used for work will make him weak like other men. She binds him with new ropes, with an ambush waiting in the chamber, and gives the same cry; he breaks them like threads of a web. She asks how long he will deceive her with lies and how he can be bound. He says to plait seven locks of his hair with a lace and tie them around a nail fastened in the ground, saying this will make him weak. She does so and cries again. Waking, he pulls out the nail with the hair and lace.

Dalila asks how Samson can say he loves her when his mind is not with her: he has lied three times and withheld where his strength lies. She presses him for many days, hanging upon him and giving him no rest, until his soul faints and is weary unto death. He opens the truth to her: no razor has ever touched his head, because he has been a Nazarite, consecrated to God, from his mother’s womb. If his head is shaved, his strength will leave and he will become weak like other men. Seeing that he has opened all his mind, she summons the princes once more. They come with the money they promised. She makes him sleep upon her knees with his head in her bosom, calls a barber and has the seven locks shaved. She begins to drive and thrust him away, and his strength immediately leaves. At her cry that the Philistines are upon him, he wakes and thinks he will go out as before and shake himself free. He does not know the Lord has departed from him. The Philistines immediately seize him, pull out his eyes and take him to Gaza bound in chains. Shut in prison, he grinds. His hair begins to grow again.

The Philistine princes assemble to offer great sacrifices to Dagon their god and make merry. They say their god has delivered their enemy Samson into their hands. The people also see him and praise their god, saying he delivered the enemy who destroyed their country and killed very many. In their good cheer at the feast they command that Samson be brought out to play before them. Brought from prison, he plays and is made to stand between two pillars. He asks the lad guiding his steps to let him touch the pillars supporting the whole house so he can lean on them and rest a little. The house is full of men and women, all the Philistine princes are there, and about three thousand people of both sexes are on the roof and higher part of the house watching Samson play.

Samson calls upon the Lord, asking him to remember him and restore his former strength now, so that he may take one revenge upon his enemies for the loss of his two eyes. Challoner separately explains the revenge as zeal for justice against the enemies of God and his people, not private rancour and malice.

Samson takes hold of both pillars supporting the house, one in his right hand and one in his left. Saying that he will die with the Philistines, he shakes the pillars strongly. The house falls upon all the princes and the rest of the multitude there. He kills more at his death than he had killed in his life. Challoner separately says the literal words are that his soul should die. The note says Samson did not sin, though he indirectly caused his own death, because he acted by a particular inspiration of God; it points to the miracle restoring his strength on the spot after his prayer. It also calls him a figure of Christ, who by his death overcame all his enemies.

Samson’s brothers and all his kindred come down, take his body and bury it between Saraa and Esthaol in the burial place of his father Manue. He judged Israel twenty years.

The story inside

The night at Gaza ends with Samson carrying away the gate before the guards’ planned morning attack. Dalila then receives the princes’ offer and tests three answers, each of which fails to reveal how to overcome him. Her continued pressure leads to his account of the razor and his consecration from the womb. Once his hair is shaved, his expected escape fails because the Lord has departed; capture, blindness, prison and grinding follow. At the Dagon feast, the Philistines credit their god and bring him out to play. His request to the guiding lad places him at the supporting pillars. His prayer for restored strength precedes the fall of the house and the deaths, including his own. His kindred recover and bury him. The three Challoner notes separately preserve uncertainty about Dalila, the explanation of revenge and the particular explanation of Samson’s death.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The three failed bindings make Samson’s last disclosure distinct. Moist sinews, unused ropes and the seven locks tied to a nail do not overcome him. He then states the no-razor condition connected to his consecration, and the shaving is followed by the loss of strength and the Lord’s departure.
2
The Philistines’ praise is their own claim in the account. The princes and people credit Dagon before Samson is brought to play. The crowded house, the people watching above and the supporting pillars establish the setting of the fall without making the approximate roof count an exact death total.
3
Challoner’s explanations remain separate from the events. His account of Dalila gives two opinions and conditional statements about guilt and repentance. His later notes explain revenge and this particular death; those explanations do not become invented words in Samson’s prayer.

Test your recall

Why do the first three bindings fail, what changes after the shaving, and how do the lad’s guidance and Samson’s prayer lead to the fall of the house?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 26954–26971
Judges Chapter 16 Samson is deluded by Dalila: and falls into the hands of the Philistines. His death. 16:1. He went also into Gaza, and saw there a woman, a harlot, and went in unto her. 16:2. And when the Philistines had heard this, and it was noised about among them, that Samson was come into the city, they surrounded him, setting guards at the gate of the city, and watching there all the night in silence, that in the morning they might kill him as he went out. 16:3. But Samson slept till midnight, and then rising, he took both the doors of the gate, with the posts thereof and the bolt, and laying them on his shoulders, carried them up to the top of the hill, which looketh towards Hebron.
Lines 26973–27024
16:4. After this he loved a woman, who dwelt in the valley of Sorec, and she was called Dalila. Dalila.... Some are of opinion she was married to Samson; others that she was his harlot. If the latter opinion be true, we cannot wonder that, in punishment of his lust, the Lord delivered him up, by her means, into the hands of his enemies. However if he was guilty, it is not to be doubted but that under his afflictions he heartily repented and returned to God, and so obtained forgiveness of his sins. 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.
Lines 27026–27058
16:15. And Dalila said to him: How dost thou say thou lovest me, when thy mind is not with me? Thou hast told me lies these three times, and wouldst not tell me wherein thy greatest strength lieth. 16:16. And when she pressed him much, and continually hung upon him for many days, giving him no time to rest, his soul fainted away, and was wearied even unto death. 16:17. Then opening the truth of the thing, he said to her: The razor hath never come upon my head, for I am a Nazarite, that is to say, consecrated to God from my mother’s womb: If my head be shaven, my strength shall depart from me, and I shall become weak, and shall be like other men. 16:18. Then seeing that he had discovered to her all his mind, she sent to the princes of the Philistines, saying: Come up this once more, for now he hath opened his heart to me. And they went up, taking with them the money which they had promised. 16:19. But she made him sleep upon her knees, and lay his head in her bosom. And she called a barber and shaved his seven locks, and began to drive him away, and thrust him from her: for immediately his strength departed from him. 16:20. And she said: The Philistines are upon thee, Samson. And awaking from sleep, he said in his mind: I will go out as I did before, and shake myself, not knowing that the Lord was departed from him. 16:21. Then the Philistines seized upon him, and forthwith pulled out his eyes, and led him bound in chains to Gaza, and shutting him up in prison made him grind. 16:22. And now his hair began to grow again,
Lines 27060–27080
16:23. And the princes of the Philistines assembled together, to offer great sacrifices to Dagon their god, and to make merry, saying: Our god hath delivered our enemy Samson into our hands. 16:24. And the people also seeing this, praised their god, and said the same: Our god hath delivered our adversary into our hands, him that destroyed our country, and killed very many. 16:25. And rejoicing in their feasts, when they had now taken their good cheer, they commanded that Samson should be called, and should play before them. And being brought out of prison, he played before them; and they made him stand between two pillars. 16:26. And he said to the lad that guided his steps: Suffer me to touch the pillars which support the whole house, and let me lean upon them, and rest a little. 16:27. Now the house was full of men and women, and all the princes of the Philistines were there. Moreover about three thousand persons of both sexes, from the roof and the higher part of the house, were beholding Samson’s play.
Lines 27082–27089
16:28. But he called upon the Lord, saying: O Lord God remember me, and restore to me now my former strength, O my God, that I may revenge myself on my enemies, and for the loss of my two eyes I may take one revenge. Revenge myself.... This desire of revenge was out of zeal for justice against the enemies of God and his people; and not out of private rancour and malice of heart.
Lines 27091–27105
16:29. And laying hold on both the pillars on which the house rested, and holding the one with his right hand, and the other with his left, 16:30. He said: Let me die with the Philistines. And when he had strongly shook the pillars, the house fell upon all the princes, and the rest of the multitude, that was there: and he killed many more at his death, than he had killed before in his life. Let me die.... Literally, let my soul die. Samson did not sin on this occasion, though he was indirectly the cause of his own death. Because he was moved to what he did, by a particular inspiration of God, who also concurred with him by a miracle, in restoring his strength upon the spot, in consequence of his prayer. Samson, by dying in this manner, was a figure of Christ, who by his death overcame all his enemies.
Lines 27107–27111
16:31. And his brethren and all his kindred, going down took his body, and buried it between Saraa and Esthaol, in the buryingplace of his father Manue: and he judged Israel twenty years.