Matthew Henry Commentary Judges 16:18-21

"And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up this once, for he hath told me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and brought the money in their hand. And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and shaved off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him. And she said, The Philistines are upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times, and shake myself free. But he knew not that Jehovah was departed from him. And the Philistines laid hold on him, and put out his eyes; and they brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison-house." — Judges 16:18-21 (ASV)

See the fatal effects of false security. Satan ruins people by flattering them into a good opinion of their own safety, and so leads them to disregard everything and fear nothing; then he robs them of their strength and honor, and leads them captive at his will. When we sleep, our spiritual enemies do not.

Samson's eyes were the gateways to his sin (Judges 16:1), and his punishment began there. Now that the Philistines had blinded him, he had time to remember how his own lust had blinded him before. The best way to preserve the eyes is to turn them away from looking at vanity.

Take warning from his fall to watch carefully against all fleshly lusts; for all our glory is gone, and our defense has departed from us, when our separation to God, as spiritual Nazirites, is profaned.