Judges 16:5

Lords of the Philistines. Probably all five of the main Philistine rulers (see on ch. 3:3) joined in this effort to accomplish by bribery what they had failed to do by force of arms.

Wherein his great strength. Even though Samson must have been large in physique, the Philistines recognized that his strength was far beyond what one would expect from mere physical greatness. They imagined that he probably possessed some magic charm that was the secret of his power. Perhaps Samson at some time had boasted that there was a secret source of his strength.

Bind him. The Philistines hated Samson too much to kill him. His misery and their joy would be too short-lived. They wanted to keep him in chains to mock and deride him.

Eleven hundred pieces. After the manner of the time, these would be unminted silver bullion pieces, each one weighing a shekel. There were five lords of the Philistines. According to this verse, each of them was promising to pay Delilah that amount for tricking Samson into betraying the secret of his extraordinary strength. By money values of that age, this was an enormous bribe; it shows how eager the Philistines were to capture Samson. The 5,500 shekels thus paid to Delilah would be equivalent to the price of 275 slaves, at the rate paid for Joseph (Gen. 37:28).