Reading for December 31st

Read Judges 16.1-22
In verses 1-22: Delilah betrays Samson.
In verse 1-3: Gaza was one of the five Philistine cities.
Hebron is about forty miles (sixty kilometers) up hill from Gaza.
In verse 4: Because she lives in the valley of Sorek, she is probably a Philistine.
In verse 7: Bowstrings were made of animal tendons.
They are to be fresh because new things were thought to have magical powers.
In verse 11: Specifying new ropes again points to magical notions.
In verse 13: The web and the pin were parts of a loom (v. 14).
Perhaps to entangle Samson is something so domestic as weaving would magically drain his warrior powers.
By involving his hair, Samson has revealed part of his secret.
In verse 20: The loss of his nazirite status (13.5) means the Lord had left him, so that the spirit would no longer empower his mighty feats. (14.6, 19;15.14).
In verse 21: Samson grinds grain with a hand mill, a menial task performed by women and slaves (compare Lam 5.13).
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