he Philistines) into which the Israelites, by reason of their doing evil in the Lord's eyes (Judges 13:1), have fallen.
Samson's special status, predicted by the angel, is born out in the pattern of events in Judges 13-16 as a whole. He is blessed by the Lord from birth through childhood (Judges 13:25). His extraordinary strength is established in 14:5-6, when he tears the lion apart. But Samson's human frailty is established in Judges 14 as well, for almost his first action as an Israelite adult is an adolescent one: to seek out forbidden sexual fruit. Samson's sexual appetite, like his physical strength, is an index of his special status inasmuch as he seems incapable of behaving sensibly where women are concerned. He vacillates from infatuation to rage to petulance and back again with his first wife. Nothing will do but he must have a Philistine woman, i.e., marry outside his own faith, clan, and culture. When she, loyal to her clan, betrays him, he plays a costly prank that results not in getting the girl but in her death. Then he hides (as if someone else would be blamed for all the trouble), which essentially obliges the Israelites to hand him over to their Philistine rulers for punishment. Now the fact that Samson uses all his strength to escape and, in the famous episode, slay a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of an ass in the process, buys the Israelites some time.
The Lord facilitates Samson's escape to Lehi, implying that the fallout of the jawbone episode is that the Philistines, fearful of Samson's overwhelming strength, keep their distance for a while. Then sexual appetite rears up again. Samson does escape from a brothel in Gaza, rather showily making a mess of Gaza's city gates in the process and buying a bit more time. But Delilah is another story. Now it would seem to take little imagination for Samson to figure out that Delilah has been bribed by the Philistines and that she is dangerous. His persistence i...