A Weak Woman Subdues a Strong Man

As the betrayer plied Samson with her questions, he deceived her by declaring that the weakness of other men would come upon him if certain processes were tried. When she put the matter to the test, the cheat was discovered. Then she accused him of falsehood: “How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart is not with me? Thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lieth.” Three times Samson had the clearest evidence that the Philistines had leagued with his charmer to destroy him; but she treated the matter as a jest, and he blindly banished fear.EP 408.2

Day by day a subtle power kept him by her side. Overcome at last, Samson made known the secret: “There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb: If I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.”EP 408.3

A messenger was immediately dispatched to the lords of the Philistines, urging them to come without delay. While the warrior slept, the heavy masses of his hair were severed from his head. Then she called, “The Philistines be upon thee, Samson!” Suddenly awaking, he thought to exert his strength as before, but his powerless arms refused to do his bidding. He knew that “Jehovah was departed from him.” Delilah began to annoy him and cause him pain, thus making a trial of his strength; for the Philistines dared not approach him till fully convinced that his power was gone. Then they seized him and, having put out both his eyes, took him to Gaza. Here he was bound with fetters in their prison house and confined to hard labor.EP 408.4

What a change! Weak, blind, imprisoned, degraded to the most menial service! God had borne long with him. But when he had so yielded to sin as to betray his secret, the Lord departed from him. There was no virtue in his long hair, but it was a token of his loyalty to God. When the symbol was sacrificed in the indulgence of passion, the blessings of which it was a token were forfeited.EP 409.1

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.EP 409.2