Women in the Bible

Delilah Facts for 9-13 Year Olds

Categories: Samson, Women in the Bible

Delilah’s name means “delicate” or “dainty one.”
It’s a Hebrew name.
Her story is found in Judges 16.
She is from the valley of Sorek, located about 12½ miles southwest of Jerusalem.
At the time, the Philistines occupied that area, but scholars can’t say if she is a Hebrew or a Philistine woman.
Delilah’s status in society is unknown.
Samson loves her; her feelings towards him are unknown.
Samson is a Nazirite with astonishing strength.
The Philistines desire to know the reason behind Samson’s strength and how to defeat him.
The Philistines approach Delilah and offer to pay her to find out why he is so strong.
The five Philistine kings each promise to pay her 1100 pieces of silver for the information.
Scholars aren’t sure about the value of that sum, but the coins might weigh between 100 and 150 pounds, so it’s a lot of money.
Delilah approaches Samson directly: “Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued.”
Samson replies, “If anyone ties me with seven fresh bowstrings that have not been dried, I’ll become weak as any other man.”
Warriors hide in the room, and when Samson falls asleep, Delilah ties him up.
She then shouts, “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!”
He easily snaps the bowstrings and is ready to fight.
Delilah complains, “You have made a fool of me; you lied to me.”
She keeps asking.
Samson says the secret is being tied with new ropes.
Delilah gets new ropes, ties him up with warriors in the room, and the same scenario is repeated.
When she awakens him, he snaps the ropes “as if they were threads.”
She complains again, accusing him of making a fool out of her.
When she asks the third time, Samson says if the “seven braids of my hair are woven into the fabric on the loom and tightened with the pin,” he will become as weak as any other man.
Delilah does this while he is sleeping, and shouts, “The Philistines are upon you!”
Samson awakes and pulls up the whole loom.
Delilah accuses him of not loving her.
She nags him daily until his “soul is annoyed to death.”
Finally, Samson tells her “everything.”
Samson refuses to accept that there is real danger afoot.
He tells her, “If my head is shaved, my strength will leave me and I will become as weak as any other man.”
Delilah convinces the Philistines that this time it’s the truth.
The Philistines return, silver in hand, allowing her to live free the rest of her life.
Delilah puts Samson to sleep on her lap. His hair is shaved off.
And his strength leaves him.
She calls out, once again: “Samson, the Philistines are upon you!”
He awakens, expecting everything to be unchanged, but he doesn’t know that “the Lord has left him.”
The Philistines seize him and bind him and put him in prison. Eventually, his hair will regrow, and he will regain his strength.
Delilah never reveals her feelings about any of the events that transpire.
She simply disappears from the story.
Scholars refer to Delilah as the example of a temptress who lures men into dangerous or compromising situations.