18 When Delilah saw that he had told her all that was in his heart , she sent and called the lords of the Philistines , saying , "Come up once more , for he has told me all that is in his heart ." Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her and brought the money in their hands . 19 She made him sleep on her knees , and called for a man and had him shave off the seven locks of his hair . Then she began to afflict him, and his strength left him. 20 She said , "The Philistines are upon you, Samson !" And he awoke from his sleep and said , "I will go out as at other times and shake myself free ." But he did not know that the Lord had departed from him. 21 Then the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes ; and they brought him down to Gaza and bound him with bronze chains , and he was a grinder in the prison e .
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Judges 16:18-21
Commentary on Judges 16:18-21
(Read Judges 16:18-21)
See the fatal effects of false security. Satan ruins men by flattering them into a good opinion of their own safety, and so bringing them to mind nothing, and fear nothing; and then he robs them of their strength and honour, and leads them captive at his will. When we sleep our spiritual enemies do not. Samson's eyes were the inlets of his sin, verse 1, and now his punishment began there. Now the Philistines blinded him, he had time to remember how his own lust had before blinded him. The best way to preserve the eyes, is, to turn them away from beholding vanity. Take warning by his fall, carefully to watch against all fleshly lusts; for all our glory is gone, and our defence departed from us, when our separation to God, as spiritual Nazarites, is profaned.