Samson Is Blinded and Imprisoned

Samson is taken to Gaza, where he is shackled and forced to grind grain in prison.

Samson did not know the Lord had departed after his hair was shaved (16:18-20). His failed expectation of escape is followed immediately by Philistine seizure, blindness, restraint, and labor. The hair-regrowth notice comes before the lords' Dagon celebration and public display of Samson (16:23-27), while a later prayer asks God for strength (16:28).

Samson is brutalized and imprisoned, yet the narrative quietly records that his hair grows again.

Understanding the Big Idea

Philistines seize Samson, gouge out his eyes, bring him to Gaza, bind him in bronze, and force him to grind in prison. The narrator then notes that his hair begins to grow again. These are acts of capture and violence followed by a small narrative opening; the new growth does not itself say that strength has returned or that the Lord has restored him.

To name the Philistines’ blinding, restraint, and forced prison labor of Samson while preserving the hair-regrowth notice as a narrative opening rather than a guaranteed restoration.

Samson’s suffering in captivity is not the gospel’s atoning act. Christ died for sins and was raised (1 Corinthians 15:3-4); neither blindness nor forced labor is a spiritual requirement or proof that God has abandoned a person.

1. What do the Philistines do to Samson’s eyes?
2. Where is he taken and what work is forced on him?
3. What does verse 22 say begins to happen?
4. Does it say the Lord or Samson’s strength has returned?
5. Why should this episode not be used as a general explanation of blindness?