Following the account of Sam'son's remarkable exploit in the valley of So'rek, it is stated that he judged Is'ra-el for twenty years. Although it does not appear that the dominion of the Phi-lis'tines was broken during this period, it seems that for a long number of years there was no open warfare between the two peoples. The Is'ra-el-ites yielded meekly to their cruel masters, and continued to mingle with them in ways of idolatry and wickedness. Nowhere is there the slightest evidence that they repented of their idolatry or improved their moral conduct.
Among the few privileges granted to Is'ra-el was that of having a judge, and this office was held by Sam'son. The nation was unready and unwilling to accept freedom from the alien people into whose idolatrous ways and wicked habits they were now completely entangled, and Sam'son's efforts to gain independence for Is'ra-el had been cowardly rejected. For these reasons the career of Sam'son was free of further exploits against the Phi-lis'tines until his reign of twenty years was nearly over.
It is probably that the intervening years were spent quietly by Sam'son at his home in Zo'rah, and that no stirring events worthy of record took place. He no doubt advised the Is'ra-el-ites in their domestic and civil problems, acted as a judge in settling their differences, and had authority in other matters where there was no conflict with the Phi-lis'tine rule.
For some unknown reason Sam'son decided to visit Ga'za, which was the Phi-lis'tine capital, and one of their strongest cities. It is probable that he went there seeking an opportunity of performing some mighty feat which would amaze and distress the Phi-lis'tines.
While it is evident that Sam'son did not go down to Ga'za with any intention of doing wrong, he was guilty of entering the path of the wicked unguarded from temptation. Led on by his hasty, impulsive nature, he entered a house where he had no business.
Ga'za was a walled city, and the gates were closed and locked at night. When the Phi-lis'tines saw Sam'son enter the home of a woman innkeeper for the night, they surrounded the place and posted guards at the city gates, expecting to capture and slay him the next morning. Sam'son was in the stronghold of his bitterest enemies, shut in by strong walls and locked iron gates, surrounded by plotters who were eager to seize him, and exposed to probable death at the hands of an angry mob.
In some way Sam'son discovered the plot against his life. He was filled with fury by the thought that he might be trapped in a prison of death. What were high walls and iron gates before his miraculous strength! Determined to spoil the plans of his enemies, he left the building at midnight, and made his way secretly to the gates of the city. Taking a firm hold upon the folding iron gates, he tore the heavy posts from the ground; placing the gates and posts on his back, he boldly marched away.
Ten miles or more from Ga'za was the city of He'bron, noted as the religious and political center of the tribe of Ju'dah, and situated on a high mountain. As a sign of contempt for the Phi-lis'tines, Sam'son carried the gate of their capital and strongest city far up the mountain road leading to the rallying point of his own people, and cast it to the ground.
As usual, Sam'son appears to have gone on his way without the slightest regret or penitence for the sins which had very nearly cost him his life. More than once God had saved him from evils caused by his own hasty, self-confident deeds, but never do we read of a prayer for forgiveness. His fondness for idolatrous women, if persisted in, would surely lead to his downfall.
In spite of his many worthy traits of character, Sam'son seems to have lost his sense of moral uprightness, and to have forgotten the LORD'S command against marriages between the children of Is'ra-el and heathens. Soon after the episode in Ga'za, he fell in love with a Phi-lis'tine woman named De'li'lah. With the treachery so common among the Phi-lis'tines, she used her charm over him for his own downfall. Blinded and enslaved by his unholy affection for her, he permitted himself to be led step by step into a violation of his Naz'a-rite vow, and thus to his ruin.
