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Page 31
"Why do you tell me that you love me, as long as you deceive me and keep
from me your secret?" And she pleaded with him day after day, until at
last he yielded to her and told her the real secret of his strength. He
said:
"I am a Nazarite, under a vow to the Lord, not to drink wine, and not to
allow my hair to be cut. If I should let my hair be cut short, then the
Lord would forsake me, and my strength would go from me, and I would be
like other men."
Then Delilah knew that she had found the truth at last. She sent for the
rulers of the Philistines, saying:
"Come up this once, and you shall have your enemy; for he has told me
all that is in his heart."
Then while the Philistines were watching outside, Delilah let Samson go
to sleep, with his head upon her knees. While he was sound asleep, they
took a razor and shaved off all his hair. Then she called out as at
other times.
"Rise up, Samson, the Philistines are upon you."
He awoke, and rose up, expecting to find himself strong as before; for
he did not at first know that his long hair had been cut off. But the
vow to the Lord was broken, and the Lord had left him. He was now as
weak as other men, and helpless in the hands of his enemies. The
Philistines easily made him their prisoner; and that he might never do
them more harm, they put out his eyes. Then they chained him with
fetters, and sent him to prison at Gaza. And in the prison they made
Samson turn a heavy millstone to grind grain, just as though he were a
beast of burden.
But while Samson was in prison, his hair grew long again; and with his
hair his strength came back to him; for Samson renewed his vow to the
Lord.
One day, a great feast was held by the Philistines in the temple of
their fish-god, Dagon. For they said:
"Our god has given Samson, our enemy, into our hand. Let us be glad
together and praise Dagon."
And the temple was thronged with people, and the roof over it was also
crowded with more than three thousand men and women. They sent for
Samson, to rejoice over him; and Samson was led into the court of the
temple, before all the people, to amuse them. After a time, Samson said
to the boy who was leading him:
[Illustration: _He bowed forward with all his might and pulled the
pillars with him_]
"Take me up to the front of the temple, so that I may stand by one of
the pillars, and lean against it."
And while Samson stood between the two pillars, he prayed:
"O Lord God, remember me, I pray thee, and give me strength, only this
once, O God: and help me, that I may obtain vengeance upon the
Philistines for my two eyes!"
Then he placed one arm around the pillar on one side, and the other arm
around the pillar on the other side; and he said: "Let me die with the
Philistines."
And he bowed forward with all his might, and pulled the pillars over
with him, bringing down the roof and all upon it upon those that were
under it. Samson himself was among the dead; but in his death he killed
more of the Philistines than he had killed during his life.
Then in the terror which came upon the Philistines the men of Samson's
tribe came down and found his dead body, and buried it in their own
land. After that it was years before the Philistines tried again to rule
over the Israelites.
Samson did much to set his people free; but he might have done much
more, if he had led his people, instead of trusting alone to his own
strength; and if he had lived more earnestly, and not done his deeds as
though he was playing pranks. There were deep faults in Samson, but at
the end he sought God's help, and found it, and God used Samson to set
his people free.
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