Artist: Claude Mellan
Delilah preparing to cut Samson's hair with scissors in her right hand, below her chest are the head and shoulders of the sleeping Samson
Delilah was a woman of Sorek. She is the only woman in Samson's story who is named. The Bible says that Samson loved her (Judges 16:4) but not that she loved him. [The two were not married] and the idea that they had a sexual relationship is, in the words of Josey Bridges Snyder, "at most implicit in the biblical text".
The lords of the Philistines bribed her to discover the source of Samson's great strength, each offering to give her 1,100 silver coins.
Three times she failed.
First, at his own suggestion, she bound him with "seven green withes," but these he easily snapped asunder. Then she tied him with new ropes: these also failed. Then, she fastened the locks of his hair to the loom but with the same result.
Finally, after many complaints that Samson did not trust her, he told her that his strength lay in his hair. Then, when he was asleep, she ordered a servant to cut Samson's hair. She then awoke him, and delivered him into the hands of the waiting Philistine chiefs.
