NOTES for Суд 16:1-31
The circumstances in which Samson found himself in Gaza show that he did not always follow the commandments. But his faithfulness to the Lord and to Israel was greater than his personal weaknesses, and therefore the Bible ranks him among the champions of faith.
Many people consider Delilah, who brought about Samson’s ruin, to have been a Philistine, but the Bible does not say so explicitly. It appears that Samson was betrayed by one of his own people. It may seem strange that Samson was not alarmed by Delilah’s repeated attempts to discover the source of his strength, but such guilelessness is entirely consistent with what we already know of Samson’s character.
If we view Samson as a symbol of the faithful remnant of the people of Israel who did not bow down before the pagans, we can see that Samson’s defeat, like Israel’s defeat, proved temporary. The very end of Samson’s earthly path is symbolic: at the cost of his own life, he not only destroyed his enemies but also demolished a pagan temple.