Samson and Delilah Page #6

was drawing to a close.

My son.

I'm here, Father.

I have loved you...

... since before.

- I know, Father. I know.

- Since before and always.

It does not end.

Give to your people...

... to God.

Reach out.

You have the gifts.

Share them.

It is your destiny.

It does not end.

Remember. It...

He is dead.

Even at the death of his father,

Samson did not weep.

Though in time, his tears would be

shed for all the people of Israel.

In the days that followed,

Samson set aside his revenge...

... and worked only for the good

of the Israelites.

And he became a judge of his people.

Wise, good, helpful.

In every way the son his father

had wished and prayed for.

You'll stay with us?

My father, as he died, said...

... if I stay with my people...

... the Philistines will not attack us.

They threaten to burn the crops.

And cut off their own supplies?

No, empty threats.

Would they rally our people

against them, provoke war?

No.

I am here now.

Until the wheel turns again...

... I have come home.

What is strength?

A stone, which nature formed,

is now just dust.

Yet what has changed?

The greater strength is to do

as God asks of you.

Faith, that is real strength.

To bend your will to God's,

that takes courage, that takes strength.

My son has many friends and admirers.

I wish I could count myself

among them.

When you forbade him

to capture Samson...

... you took from him the prize

with which he hoped to win you.

Samson has not gone. He's stepped back,

the better to leap forward.

They say he teaches.

They say he's plowing the fields.

And I say he's not gone away.

My son prepares. He's right.

Perhaps I should admire him for that.

All God asks of us

is that we do his will.

For more than half my life,

I did not hear him.

Until I began to realize

that his voice...

... speaks to the heart of man

as well as the mind.

His generosity and love...

... may sometimes seem difficult

to understand...

... but it is always present.

Samson led his people as a judge...

... yet in his heart...

... the dark desires of man still sought

to hold sway over him.

The desires of the flesh...

... and the flame of revenge

had not been quenched.

During all the time of peace...

... when he stayed with his people,

two flames burned low in him...

... but were never extinguished:

The flame of lust

and the fire of revenge.

Please think again.

There must be something I can do...

... to help you change your mind.

- No, I'm certain, Ira.

My mind is made up.

When a man is thirsty,

so must he drink.

My need is as strong as thirst.

But God has bound you to himself.

You cannot leave him now.

I do not leave him. I ask him only

to come with me for a while.

- No.

- Yes.

I've decided.

- God decides.

- I decide.

Then you have abandoned him already.

Please...

... stay.

- I cannot.

I fear for you.

You, my only child, whom

I've prayed for every hour of my life.

Mother...

... I am leaving, but will always

be with you in my heart.

Then may the Lord protect you.

Goodbye, my son.

Go. Quickly.

Samson.

Samson, where are you going?

Where are you going?

- To Gaza.

- Gaza? But you can't.

- I must. I have an appointment there.

- No, Samson.

She's gone. It's over. Put revenge

behind you. It is finished.

- It is never finished.

- They will kill you.

If that is my destiny...

... then so be it.

Come back.

Come back to us.

Out of my way.

You should have heard them

screaming.

Scream, Philistine.

For all eternity.

I am the instrument of the Lord!

General Tariq.

General Tariq. General Tariq.

- On your feet, boy.

- Samson.

- Samson, he's...

- Now take a deep breath.

- You tell me like a soldier.

- Samson.

He's been here.

He's murdered a soldier, Mahal.

The officer with the scar.

- Has he been apprehended?

- No, he escaped. The city gates...

- They were still open? By all the gods...

- No. They were closed and barred.

- But they...

- Well, out with it, boy.

- Well, the city gates, they...

- Yes, yes.

They are torn off. They're gone.

Firstly, cut out the tongue of anyone

spreading this story beyond the city limits.

I don't want them laughing at us

all the way to Ramah.

Then we send our whole army

into Israelite territories...

... not just the borderlands.

We should burn them all, Father.

Commander.

Withdraw the whole army

from Israelite territories.

And the borderlands too.

- Order it back here to Gaza.

- Father.

Continue, commander.

If we attack, the Israelites

will simply disperse.

Let them form an army, attack us.

I will meet them in the field

and I will destroy them all...

... in open battle.

- And Samson?

He must not be allowed

to lead a rebel army.

Without him, we will defeat them.

With him at their head...

We must find a way to prevent that.

They say their god gives him

his strength.

I'm just a simple soldier, Majesty,

not a priest.

Your plan hardly indicates

a military cast of mind.

A soldier can only deal

with what he knows.

And what we know of Samson

is he prefers our women to his own.

The allure of strange flesh...

... is strong within him.

- This scheme is preposterous.

What certainty do you have that

this Samson will take the bait you offer?

- Wouldn't you, if she was offered to you?

- What are we, panderers?

This is no way to neutralize an enemy.

There is no general on this earth could

devise a better plan to lay his enemy low...

... than to capture him by that part

of his body in which he is the weakest.

The fish will take the bait.

But will the bait agree to the fish?

In fishing, there's only one certainty:

You can never be sure of your catch.

There's always the danger that the fish

may escape with the bait.

Is that not so, general?

Very well, agreed.

Delilah?

I'll be proud to serve my people.

- In return for a financial consideration.

- Yes.

Your loyalty to the throne

is measured in silver.

I'm offended, but not surprised.

How much?

Eleven hundred pieces of silver...

... from everyone in this chamber.

Agreed.

Let us proceed with all haste.

Promise me, general, never to devise

a scheme that puts me in that one's bed.

Careful, madam. You speak treason.

No. I speak as a woman.

A woman now of independent means.

Well, a girl must look to her future.

A future wealthy enough to escape

when the old king dies?

- Exactly.

- And Samson?

Would it be treason to tell you

I'm excited by the prospect...

... as a woman?

Would it be treason to tell you...

... I'm excited by your excitement,

as a man?

Tell me...

... have you ever wondered what it would

be like, you and me, together?

Several times.

I mean, several times each day...

... and each night.

Let's hope Samson

provides the same service.

Come home to us, Samson.

Have you not quenched

the fires within you?

Soon now. Soon I will come home.

Revenge is not the only cold dish

on which I have supped.

So tell me news of our people.

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