Why didn't the Philistines assassinate Samson with archers?

Question

It seems that the Philistines had a one-track mind--or, at least, a one-weapon arsenal against Samson: ropes!

And the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and said unto her, Entice him, and see wherein his great strength lieth, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him; and we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver. (Judges 16:5)

Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven green withes which had not been dried, and she bound him with them. (Judges 16:8)

Delilah therefore took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And there were liers in wait abiding in the chamber. And he brake them from off his arms like a thread. (Judges 16:12)

In Judges 15:15 we see that Samson kills 1,000 Philistines with a donkey's jawbone. We are not told what weapons the Philistines tried to use against him, but we might assume they were fighting with spears and/or swords. It seems that, with super-human strength, Samson may have wielded a jawbone against these weapons successfully--but arrows? Could he have defended himself against archers? Why do we not read about the Philistines posting snipers against Samson? Why are ropes the only weapon against Samson actually mentioned?

NOTE: This question may have some similarity to one asked here: Why didn't the Philistines kill Samson while he was sleeping? However, this question is different and seeks an answer based on sound Biblical support.

Answer 1

Firstly, you are making an assumption: In Iron Age Israel, archery is an effective means of assassination.

You can only expect an explicit Biblical rejection of archery assassination if that were true. That isn't true. Archery isn't that accurate in the field, and doesn't have the space just outside Samson's sleeping chambers. And Samson is hardly likely to wait in a field for the Phillistines to march up an army of archers against him.

However, even if archery assassination were possible then the Philistines would still not have used it - the men of Gaza, however, possibly may have. The Phillistines are clear on why they want Samson bound: to do unto him as he did unto them (Judges 15:10) and to afflict him (Judges 16:5) and once they have him bound, their actions bear this up.

One also shouldn't overestimate the damage he did to the Philistines until Judges 16:30. He kills fewer of them than David or Saul will do later, nor does he lead any great battles. He is more disrespectful than he is dangerous, and that is how the Philistines treat him, as somebody to triumph against and to mock, as he triumphed against and mocked them.