Commentary - Judges 16:1-3

Bird's-eye view

The book of Judges is a book of cycles, a downward spiral of Israel's unfaithfulness, followed by God's judgment through oppressors, followed by Israel's crying out, followed by God raising up a deliverer. Samson is the last of these judges, and in many ways, he is the epitome of the era. He is a man of astonishing, Spirit-given strength, and yet he is a man of profound moral weakness. This is the great paradox of Samson. He is a Nazarite, set apart for God from the womb, yet he constantly defiles himself. He is the champion of Israel, yet he is infatuated with the women of the enemy.

In these opening verses of chapter 16, we are confronted with this paradox head-on. There is no attempt to pretty it up. Samson, God's chosen deliverer, goes down to the Philistine stronghold of Gaza and consorts with a prostitute. The event is not incidental; it is central to understanding both Samson and the God who uses him. God is not wringing His hands in heaven over Samson's choices. Rather, in His inscrutable sovereignty, God uses the sinful folly of His servant to set the stage for a mighty act of deliverance. The incident at Gaza is a stark display of Samson's weakness, but it culminates in an equally stark display of God's power working through him, a power that makes a mockery of the Philistines' best-laid plans.

Outline

Context In Judges

This passage comes immediately after the events of chapter 15, where Samson, using the jawbone of a donkey, struck down a thousand Philistines. That chapter ended with a note of his long tenure as judge: "He had judged Israel twenty years in the days of the Philistines." This note of a long and established ministry makes his jaunt to Gaza all the more jarring. This is not a youthful indiscretion. This is a mature leader, a man consecrated to God, walking willingly into the heart of enemy territory for the basest of reasons. The narrative of Judges has been showing us that "every man did what was right in his own eyes," and Samson, for all his strength, is no exception. His actions here are a personal failure, but they are also representative of the spiritual state of Israel. They were called to be separate, but they continually sought entanglement with the world.

Key Issues

Clause-by-Clause Commentary

v. 1 Then Samson went to Gaza and saw a harlot there and went in to her.

The text is blunt, and we should be as well. There is no excuse-making here. Samson, the Nazarite, the judge of Israel, goes down to Gaza, a principal city of the Philistines, the sworn enemies of God's people. Why? To visit a prostitute. He saw, and he took. This is the pattern of sin from the beginning. Eve saw that the fruit was good for food, and she took. David saw Bathsheba, and he took. Samson sees a harlot, and he goes in to her. This is a man driven by his appetites, not by his consecration. And yet, this is the man God is using. This is a profound difficulty for those who believe God can only work through polished instruments. God's sovereignty is such that He can use even the twisted and gnarled branches of humanity to accomplish His purposes. Samson's sin is his own, and he is fully responsible for it. But God's plan is not thwarted by it; in fact, God will use this very act of rebellion to further His campaign against the Philistines.

v. 2 And it was told to the Gazites, saying, “Samson has come here,” so they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the gate of the city. And they kept silent all night, saying, “Let us wait until the morning light; then we will kill him.”

The world is always watching the missteps of God's people. Samson's sin was not private, and the Gazites are immediately alerted. Their response is one of worldly wisdom. They have their great enemy delivered right into their hands, seemingly trapped in a compromising position. So they set a trap. They don't storm the brothel; that would be too direct, too messy. They are patient. They surround the place, they secure the only exit from the city, and they wait. Their plan is simple: wait for the morning. Samson will be sleepy, perhaps hungover, certainly off his guard. "Then we will kill him." It is a perfectly logical plan. They account for everything except the one thing that matters: the power of God. They think they are trapping a man, but they are attempting to ensnare a man who is, for all his faults, an instrument of the Almighty.

v. 3 But Samson lay until midnight, and at midnight he arose and seized the doors of the city gate and the two posts and pulled them up along with the bars; then he put them on his shoulders and brought them up to the top of the mountain which is opposite Hebron.

Here the narrative turns on a dime. The Philistines' cunning plan is rendered utterly foolish. Samson does not wait for the morning light. He rises at midnight, the darkest part of the night. He goes not to a side exit, but to the main gate, the very place where his enemies are lying in wait. And what does he do? He doesn't pick the lock. He doesn't sneak past the guards. He seizes the entire gate apparatus, doors, posts, bar, and all, and rips it out of the ground. This is not just an escape; it is a statement. A city's gate was the symbol of its strength and security. By tearing it down, Samson is not just walking out; he is humiliating them. He is showing them that their strength is nothing. And then, to add insult to injury, he puts the gates on his shoulders and carries them away. He doesn't just discard them; he carries them on a long journey toward Hebron, deep in the heart of Israelite territory. This is a feat of impossible, supernatural strength. It is a sign that God's power is not constrained by Samson's sin. God is still with him, not because Samson is righteous, but because God is faithful to His own covenant purposes. This act is a foretaste of a greater victory to come, when another, greater champion would rise at midnight, break the gates of death and the grave, and ascend to a heavenly mountain, having made a public spectacle of all principalities and powers.

Application

There are several points of application for us here. First, we must be honest about the nature of sin. Samson's story warns us against trifling with temptation. He was the strongest man in the world, but he had a fatal weakness for sexual sin, and it ultimately led to his downfall. We must not be arrogant. If a man like Samson can fall, so can we. We must flee youthful passions and guard our hearts, because our strength is not in ourselves, but in Christ.

Second, we must marvel at the sovereignty of God. God does not approve of Samson's sin, but He is not handcuffed by it. He weaves even the rebellious acts of His people into the tapestry of His redemptive plan. This should not make us cavalier about sin ("shall we sin that grace may abound?"), but it should give us profound comfort. Our failures are not the final word. God's grace is greater than our sin, and His purposes will stand.

Finally, we see in Samson a flawed but true type of Christ. Samson's lonely battle against the Philistines, his betrayal, and his ultimate victory in death all point forward. But this incident at Gaza is particularly poignant. Christ, our champion, went down into the enemy's stronghold, the realm of sin and death. The powers of darkness thought they had Him trapped, sealed in a tomb with a great stone for a gate. But in the darkness, before the morning light, He rose. He did not just sneak out; He shattered the gates of hell. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, triumphing over them by the cross. Samson carried the gates of Gaza to a hill facing Hebron; Christ carried His cross to the hill of Calvary, and from there ascended to the right hand of the Father, securing an eternal victory for His people.