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From Eternity Past
to God. When the symbol was sacrificed in the indulgence of passion,
the blessings of which it was a token were forfeited.
In suffering and humiliation, a sport for the Philistines, Samson
learned more of his own weakness than he had ever known before.
His afflictions led him to repentance. As his hair grew, his power
gradually returned. His enemies, regarding him as a fettered and
helpless prisoner, felt no apprehensions.
Samson’s Final Repentance and Tragic Victory
The Philistines, exulting, defied the God of Israel. A feast was
appointed in honor of Dagon, the fish god. Throngs of Philistine
worshipers filled the vast temple and crowded the galleries about the
roof. It was a scene of festivity and rejoicing.
Then, as the crowning trophy of Dagon’s power, Samson was
brought in. People and rulers mocked his misery and adored the god
who had overthrown “the destroyer of their country.” After a time, as if
weary, Samson asked permission to rest against the two central pillars
which supported the temple roof.
Then he silently uttered the prayer, “O Lord God, remember me,
I pray Thee, and strengthen me, I pray Thee, only this once, O God,
that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines.” With these words
he encircled the pillars with his mighty arms, and crying, “Let me die
with the Philistines!” he bowed himself and the roof fell, destroying
at one crash all that vast multitude. “So the dead which he slew at his
death were more than all they which he slew in his life.”
The idol and its worshipers, priest and peasant, warrior and noble,
were buried together beneath the ruins of Dagon’s temple. And among
them was the giant form of him whom God had chosen to be the
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deliverer of His people.
Tidings were carried to the land of Israel, and Samson’s kinsmen,
unopposed, rescued the body of the fallen hero. They “buried him
between Zorah and Eshtaol, in the burying place of Manoah his father.”
How dark and terrible the record of that life which might have been
a praise to God and a glory to the nation! Had Samson been true to his
divine calling, the purpose of God could have been accomplished. But
he yielded to temptation, and his mission was fulfilled in bondage and
death.