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Samson - part 5: Samson's final act of strength

Samson's hair regrows for a final act of strength.
Contributed by Richard Gunther
Story also available on our translated websites: Spanish, Portuguese, German, French
1
Three times Delilah had asked Samson to tell her the secret of his strength and three times he had mislead her. <br/>So she said to him, ‘How can you say you love me, when you don't mean it? You've made a fool of me three times.’ <br/>Samson got so sick and tired of Delilah bothering him that he finally told her the truth. – Slide 1
2
‘My hair has never been cut,’ Samson explained. ‘I have been dedicated to God as a Nazirite from the time I was born. If my hair were cut, I would lose my strength and be as weak as anybody else.’ – Slide 2
3
Delilah sent a secret message to the Philistine kings and said, ‘Come back one more time. He has told me the truth.’ Then brought money with them. Delilah lulled Samson to sleep in her lap and then Samson's seven locks of hair were cut off. – Slide 3
4
Then she shouted, ‘Samson! The Philistines are coming!’ He woke up and thought, ‘I'll get loose and go free, as always.’ He did not know that the Lord had left him and he had lost his strength. – Slide 4
5
The Philistines easily captured Samson and put his eyes out. – Slide 5
6
They took him to Gaza, chained him with bronze chains, and put him to work grinding at the mill in the prison. – Slide 6
7
But his hair started growing back. – Slide 7
8
The Philistine kings met together to celebrate and offer a great sacrifice to their god Dagon. They sang, ‘Our god has given us victory over our enemy Samson!’ – Slide 8
9
They were enjoying themselves and said, ‘Call Samson to entertain us!’ <br/>When the people saw Samson, they sang praise to their god: ‘Dagon has given us victory over our enemy, who devastated our land and killed so many of us!’ – Slide 9
10
Samson said to the boy who was leading him by the hand, ‘Let me touch the columns that hold up the building. I want to lean on them.’ <br/>The building was crowded with men and women. All five Philistine kings were there, and there were about three thousand men and women on the roof, watching Samson entertain them. – Slide 10
11
Then Samson prayed, ‘Sovereign Lord, please remember me. Please, God, give me my strength just this one time more, so that with this one blow I can get even with the Philistines for putting out my two eyes.’ – Slide 11
12
So Samson took hold of the two middle columns holding up the building. Putting one hand on each column, he pushed against them and shouted, ‘Let me die with the Philistines.’ – Slide 12
13
He pushed with all his might, and the building fell down on the five kings and everyone else. Samson killed more people at his death than he had killed during his life. – Slide 13
14
His brothers and the rest of his family came down to get his body. They took him back and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of his father Manoah. He had been Israel's leader for twenty years. – Slide 14
15
He will be remembered as a man who had great strength given to him by God but also as a man with great weaknesses that led him to disobey God and end up in in all kinds of trouble and suffering. – Slide 15
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Slide 16