Samson ultimately did not see or appreciate the link between his supernatural strength and God. This explains the seeming strangeness in Samson’s remaining with Delilah after telling her the truth in Judges 16:17, and going to sleep on her lap (Judges 16:19). Samson had apparently come to believe that his strength was simply his own, and that no matter what he did with his Nazirite vow, he would not lose his strength. He was unable to see his complete dependence on the Lord for his strength, a gift of God’s mercy.1 And so his error is not so much that he disclosed the secret of his strength, as foolish as that was, but that he presumed he was virtually invincible because his strength was always present in spite of his breaking of all aspects of his Nazirite vow—touching animal carcasses, hosting a drinking feast, and having his head shaved. He thought, “Surely the Lord will not really forsake me now when I need him most.” How pathetic! The words the Lord had left him
are among the saddest in the book of Judges.
20 And she said, “The Philistines are upon you, Samson!” And he awoke from his sleep and said, “I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.” But he did not know that the LORD had left him.