Beginning of the End - Ellen G. White

mother's womb. If I am shaven, then my strength will leave me, and
I shall become weak, and be like any other man."
Delilah immediately sent a messenger to the lords of the
Philistines, urging them to come without delay. While the warrior
slept, the Philistines lopped off the heavy masses of his hair from his
head. Then Delilah called, "The Philistines are upon you, Samson!"
Waking up suddenly, he thought he would exert his strength as
before, but his powerless arms refused to obey him, and he knew
that "the Lord had departed from him." Delilah began to annoy him
and cause him pain, thus testing him for his strength, because the
Philistines did not dare come near to him until they were fully
convinced that his power was gone. Then they seized him, put out
both his eyes, and took him to Gaza. There they bound him with
chains in their prison house and confined him to hard labor.
What a change! Weak, blind, imprisoned and degraded to the
most lowly service! God had been patient with him a long time, but
when he had gone so far in sin as to betray his secret, the Lord left
him. There was no special power in his long hair, but it was a sign
of his loyalty to God. When the symbol was sacrificed while he was
giving in to passion, the blessings that it represented were given up.
In suffering and humiliation, and as an amusement for the
Philistines, Samson learned more about his own weakness than he
had ever known before. His sufferings led him to repentance, and as
his hair grew, his power gradually returned. His enemies, regarding
him as a chained and helpless prisoner, felt that he was no threat.
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