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Beginning of the End - Ellen G. White

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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.

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