After this his enemies strove to entrap him by guile rather than by violence; and they were too successful in the end.
(5) Delilah. Falling in love with a woman of Sorek, named Delilah, he became so infatu ated by his passion that nothing but his bodily strength could equal his mental weakness. The princes of the Philistines, aware of Samson's in firmity, determined by means of it to get posses sion, if possible, of his person. For this purpose they propose a tempting bribe to Delilah, and she enters at once into the treacherous compact. She employs all her art and blandishments to extract from him the secret of his prodigious strength. Having for some time amused her with fictions, he at last, in a moment of weakness, disclosed to her the fact that it lay in his hair, which if it were shaved would leave him a mere common man. Not that his strength really lay in his hair, for this in fact had no natural influence upon it one way or the other. His strength arose from his relation to God as a Nazarite, and the preserva tion of his hair unshorn was the mark or sign of his Nazariteship, and a pledge on the part of God of the continuance of his miraculous physical powers. If he lost this sign, the badge of his con secration, he broke his vow, and consequently for feited the thing signified. God abandoned him, and he was thenceforward no more, in this re spect, than an ordinary man. His treacherous paramour seized the first opportunity of putting his declaration to the test. She shaved his head while he lay sleeping in her lap, and at a concerted signal he was instantly arrested by his enemies lying in wait. Bereft of his grand endowment. and forsaken of God, the champion of Israel could now well adopt the words of Solomon; 'I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets, and her hands are bands; %Otos° pleaseth God shall escape from her; but the sinner shall be taken by her.' Having so long pre sumptuously played with his ruin. Heaven leaves him to himself, as a punishment for his former guilty indulgence. He is made to reap as he had sown, and is consigned to the hands of his relent less foes.
(6) Imprisonment and Death. His punish ment was indeed severe, though he amply re venged it, as well as redeemed in a measure his own honor, by the manner in which he met his death. The Philistines having deprived him of sight, at first immured hint in a prison, and made him grind at the mill like a slave. As this was an employment which in the East usually de volves on women, to assign it to such a man as Samson was virtually to reduce him to the lowest state of degradation and shame.
In process of time, while remaining in this con finement, his hair recovered its growth, and with it such a profound repentance seems to have wrought in his heart as virtually reinvested him with the character and the powers he had so cul pably lost. Of this fact his enemies were not aware. Still exulting in their possession of the great scourge of their nation, they kept him, like a wild beast, for mockery and insult. On one of
these occasions, when an immense multitude, in cluding the princes and nobility of the Philistines, were convened in a large amphitheater, to cele brate a feast in honor of their god Dagon, who had delivered their adversary into their hands, Samson was ordered to be brought out to be made a laughing stock to his enemies. a butt for their scoffs, insults, mockeries, and merriment. Se cretly determined to use his recovered strength to tremendous effect, he persuaded the boy who guided his steps to conduct him to a spot where he could reach the two pillars upon which the roof of the building rested. Here, after pausing for a short time, while he prefers a brief prayer to Heaven, he grasps the massy pillars, and bow ing with resistless force, the whole building rocks and totters, and the roof, encumbered with the weight of the spectators, rushes down, and the whole assembly, including Samson himself, are crushed to pieces in the ruin! Thus terminated the career of one of the most remarkable personages of all history, whether sacred or profane.
(7) Character. Samson is one of those who are distinctly spoken of in Scripture as endowed with supernatural power by the Spirit of the Lord. "The Spirit of the Lord began to move him at times in Maltaneh-Dan." "The Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax burnt with fire." "The Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon. and slew thirty men of them." But on the other hand. af ter his locks • were cut, and his strength was gone from him, it is said "He wilt not that the Lord was departed from him" (Judg. xii :25; xiv :6, to; xv :14 ; XVi :20). The phrase, "the Spirit of the Lord came upon him." is common to him with Othniel and Gideon (Judg. iii:10; VI:34) ; but the connection of supernatural power with the integ rity of the Nazaritic vow, and the particular gift of great strength of body. as seen in tearing in pieces a lion. breaking his bonds asunder, carry ing the gates of the city upon his back, and throwing down the pillars which supported the house of Dagon are quite peculiar to Samson. In deed, his whole character and history have no ex act parallel in Scripture. It is easy, however, to see how forcibly the Israelites would be taught, by such an example, that their national strength lay in their complete separation from idolatry, and consecration to the true God; and that He could give them power to subdue their mightiest ene mies. if only they were true to his service (comp.
i Sam. ii :To). The enrollment of his name by an apostolic pen (Heb. xi:32) in the list of the an cient worthies, 'who had by faith obtained an ex cellent repute,' warrants us undoubtedly in a favorable estimate of his character on the whole. while at the same time the fidelity of the inspired narrative has perpetuated the record of infirmities which must forever mar the luster of his noble deeds.