Beginning of the End: Samson’s Final Repentance and Tragic Victory

 The boasting Philistines claimed that victory had come from their gods, and they 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 around 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 land.” After a time, as if weary, Samson asked permission to rest against the two central pillars that supported the temple roof.

Then he silently prayed, “O Lord God, remember me, I pray! Strengthen me, I pray, just this once, O God, that I may at one blow take vengeance on 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 everyone in that vast crowd in one crash. “So the dead that he killed at his death were more than he had killed 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 the man whom God had chosen to be the deliverer of His people.

The news was carried to the land of Israel, and Samson’s relatives rescued the body of the fallen hero without opposition. They “buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah.”

How dark and terrible is the record of Samson’s life, which could have been a praise to God and a glory to the nation! If Samson had been faithful to his divine calling, he could have accomplished the purpose of God. But he yielded to temptation, and his mission to humble Israel’s enemies was fulfilled in bondage and death.

Physically, Samson was the strongest man on earth—but in self-control, integrity, and firmness, he was one of the weakest. Whoever is mastered by earthly desires is  weak. Real greatness is measured by the power of the feelings that we control, not by those that control us.

Those who are brought to the test while fulfilling their duty may be sure that God will preserve them, but any who deliberately place themselves under the power of temptation will fall, sooner or later. Satan attacks us at our weak points, working through character defects to gain control of the whole person. He knows that if we cherish these defects, he will succeed.

But no one needs to be overcome. Help will be given to every person who really wants it. Angels of God that ascend and descend the ladder that Jacob saw in vision will help everyone who chooses, to climb even to the highest heaven.