Even the strongest can yield to temptation and be betrayed.

We read in the Bible of the strong man named Samson. One day he met a lion in his path. Samson had no weapon, but he caught the lion with his hands and tore it to pieces as if it were a kid. At another time he caught three hundred foxes and tied fire brands to the tail of each one of them. He then drove the foxes into the corn fields of the Philistines who were his enemies, and destroyed all their crops.

The Israelites were not pleased with Samson, and resolved to betray him to the Philistines. Three thousand of them bound Samson and took him to the camp of the Philistines. But as soon as the Israelites had left, Samson snapped the great cords as if they were flax burnt with fire, and finding the jaw bone of an ass he seized it and slew a thousand Philistines.

Samson once went to a city named Gaza where he spent the night. The people there laid in wait to catch him next morning, and closed the gates in the big walls of the city. But next morning Samson rose and came to the gates of the city and lifted them up—posts and all—and walked off with them.

After a while Samson met a woman named Delilah. He loved her and often went to visit her. The Philistines knew this and said to Delilah:

“Entice him and see wherein his great strength lieth that we may overcome him.” They agreed to give Delilah a great quantity of silver for betraying Samson into their hands. Delilah agreed to do this and asked Samson what made him so strong, and how could he be bound so that he could not be taken.

Samson did not know her purpose and at first would not tell her what made him so strong. His strength lay in his long hair which fell down over his shoulders, but nobody knew it but Samson. Finally Delilah teased him so much that he told her he had not cut his hair nor shaved his beard all his life, and that all his strength lay in his hair. One day she caught Samson asleep and cut off all his beautiful hair, and when he awoke he was as weak as any other man. Then the Philistines came and took him away and Delilah was paid her money for betraying poor Samson.

The Philistines then put out his eyes, and took him over to Gaza and made him grind in the mill. There he worked for a long time and the Philistines made sport of him. One day they were having a great offering in the temple. So they took the blind Samson up to the temple and set him between its pillars. But by this time his hair had grown out again and his strength had returned to him.

So while the temple was full of people Samson wrapped his mighty arms around the pillars and pulled them down and the temple fell in, and he and all his enemies were buried together.