John Gill's Bible Commentary Ver. 9. Now there were men lying in wait , etc.] Very likely some of the servants of the lords of the Philistines, who were placed privately on purpose, that when an opportunity offered, they might rush out, and fall upon Samson; Josephus calls them soldiers: abiding with her in the chamber ; in a private part of it, or otherwise they could not be said to lie in wait; in it may mean near it; perhaps it was in the next apartment to hers, where they were set: and she said unto him, the Philistines be upon thee, Samson ; are just ready to fall upon thee, and seize thee; this she said to arouse him, and try whether he could break the withs or not, before she called in the men that lay in wait, and whether he had told her the truth or not: and he brake the withs as a thread of tow is broken when it toucheth the fire ; or “smells it” f338 ; as soon as it comes near it; a thread of tow or linen catches the fire presently, it being so weak that it cannot stand before the least force of it; so easily did the withs give way, and were broken, when Samson did but just stir himself, and move his arms: so his strength was not known ; by Delilah, nor by the Philistines; that is, where it lay, so as that it might be weakened; for otherwise it was known by the easy breaking of the withs.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 4-17 - Samson had been more than once brought into mischief and danger by the love of women, yet he would not take warning, but is again taken in the same snare, and this third time is fatal. Licentiousness is one of the things that take away the heart. This is a deep pit into which man have fallen; but from which few have escaped, and those by a miracle of mercy, with the loss of reputation and usefulness, of almost all except their souls. The anguish of the suffering is ten thousand time greater than all the pleasures of the sin.
Original Hebrew והארב693 ישׁב3427 לה בחדר2315 ותאמר559 אליו413 פלשׁתים6430 עליך5921 שׁמשׁון8123 וינתק5423 את853 היתרים3499 כאשׁר834 ינתק5423 פתיל6616 הנערת5296 בהריחו7306 אשׁ784 ולא3808 נודע3045 כחו׃3581
