Judges 16:8
Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven green withs which had not been dried, and she bound him with them. Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven green withs which had not been dried, and she bound him with them.
The verse records that the lords of the Philistines brought up to Delilah seven green withs that had not been dried, also understood as fresh cords and bowstrings, and that at their direction she bound Samson with them. The binding was a test to learn by what means his strength could be taken away, as part of a deliberate plot to discover the secret of his extraordinary power in order to overcome it. That extraordinary strength was God-given and rested on his Nazarite condition under a lifelong vow, with his unshorn hair as its symbol.
The verse belongs to his betrayal after disobedience and close involvement with Israel's enemies, when through seduction his strength and Israel's defense were put into Philistine hands. It shows him yielding to temptation rather than relying on God's strength and governing his passions, giving them free rein on a course leading to shame, disaster, and death. The episode is part of a chain of deceit by which passion for a corrupt woman separated him from God and brought him to ruin.
It shows Samson blinded by Delilah's influence and enslaved by desire and infatuation, unable to discern her power to deceive, so that he placed his God-given strength within his enemies' reach. His fall illustrates that sexual temptation can overcome even a strong man. The account warns that lust can overpower judgment and destroy a person as surely as Delilah's treachery destroyed Samson.
His entanglement warns of the danger of being deceived and destroyed, for lust can enslave a person and blind them to Satan's power to deceive. The account warns that a seductive entanglement can become a snare that draws a person farther from God and leaves that person increasingly weak.