Delilah

Delilah is the woman of the valley of Sorek whom Samson loves, and the agent through whom the Philistines extract the secret of his strength. Her single appearance, in Jud 16:4-18, runs the whole arc: a hired seduction, three failed tests, and the confession that delivers him to his enemies.

The Bargain

The lords of the Philistines approach her with a price: "Entice him, and see in what his great strength lies, and how we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him: and we will each give you eleven hundred [shekels] of silver" (Jud 16:5). Samson loves "a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah" (Jud 16:4); the contract is set against that affection from the first scene.

The Three Tests

Delilah's method is to push the same question across repeated nights. She asks Samson, "Tell me, I pray you, in what your great strength lies, and with which you might be bound to afflict you" (Jud 16:6). Samson answers each time with a lie, and each time she carries it out as if it were truth.

First, "seven fresh cords that were never dried" (Jud 16:7). The lords supply them, "and she bound him with them" (Jud 16:8). Ambushers wait in the inner chamber. "And she said to him, The Philistines are on you, Samson. And he broke the cords, as a string of flax is broken when it touches the fire. So his strength wasn't known" (Jud 16:9).

Second, "new ropes with which no work has been done" (Jud 16:11). "So Delilah took new ropes, and bound him with them, and said to him, The Philistines are on you, Samson. And the ambushers were waiting in the inner chamber. And he broke them from off his arms like a thread" (Jud 16:12).

Third, the seven locks of his head woven into a loom: "If you weave the seven locks of my head with the web, and fasten them with the pin on the loom, I will become weak as any man" (Jud 16:13). "And as he slept, Delilah took the seven locks of his head and wove them with the web and she fastened them with the pin, and said to him, The Philistines are on you, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and plucked away the pin, the loom, and the web" (Jud 16:14).

The Confession

After the third failure she changes her tactic from binding to reproach: "How can you say, I love you, when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and haven't told me in what your great strength lies" (Jud 16:15). The wearing-down is daily: "And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, that his soul was vexed to death" (Jud 16:16).

Samson tells her everything: "A razor has not come upon my head; for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother's womb: if I were shaved, then my strength will go from me, and I will become weak, and be like one of man" (Jud 16:17).

The Delivery

Delilah recognizes the difference at once. "And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up this once, for he has told me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up to her, and brought the silver in their hand" (Jud 16:18). The bribe of Jud 16:5 is paid; the secret has been bought; the rest of the chapter follows from her summons.