noah said, Now let thy words come to pass: how shall we order the child? and how shall we do unto him? And the angel of the Lord said unto Manoah, Of all that I said unto the woman, let her beware. She may not eat of any thing that cometh of the vine, neither let her drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thing: all that I commanded her let her observe. And Manoah said unto the angel of the Lord, I pray thee, let us detain thee, until we shall have made ready a kid for thee. And the angel of the Lord said unto Manoah, Though thou detain me, I will not eat of thy bread; and if thou wilt offer a burnt-offering, thou must offer it unto the Lord: for Manoah knew not that he was an angel of the Lord. And Manoah said. unto the angel of the Lord, What is thy name, that when thy sayings come to pass we may do thee honour? And the angel of the Lord said unto him, Why askest thou thus after my name, seeing it is secret? So Manoah took a kid with a meat-offering, and offered it upon a rock unto the Lord. And the angel did wondrously; and Manoah and his wife looked on. For it came to pass when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of the Lord ascended in the flame of the altar: and Manoah and his wife looked on it, and fell on their faces to the ground. But the angel of the Lord did no more appear to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was an angel of the Lord. And Manoah said unto his wife, We shall surely die, because we have seen God. But his wife said unto him, If the Lord were pleased to kill us, he would not have received a burnt-offering and a meat-offering at our hands; neither would he have showed us all these things; nor would, as at this time, have told us such things as these.

"And the woman bare a son, and called his name Samson: and the child grew, and the Lord blessed him." When he became a man, he was, at certain seasons, under a divine impulse from the Spirit of the Lord, in the camp of Dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol.

Samson was a man of supernatural strength of body, which endowment was connected with his condition as a Nazarite; but he seems to have been also a man of strong passions, over which he did not exercise that control which the principles of virtue and piety required. One of the evils arising to the Israelites from their subjection to the Philistines was, the intermarriages to which it gave rise, between their young people. Samson, among others, fell into this snare. Happening, at Timnath, to see a young woman of the daughters of the Philistines, with whom he was greatly pleased, he requested his parents to procure her as a wife for him. In vain did they remonstrate against his purpose, for his passion had obtained the complete mastery over him, and he insisted that his father should get

this woman for him. His parents, finding it useless to oppose the headstrong inclination of their son, yielded to his wishes with great reluctance; not knowing that Providence was ordering and disposing of this event to bring about a deliverance of the people from the yoke of the Philistines. They, however, judged it expedient to go down with their son to Timnath.

And when Samson came to the vineyards of Timnath, a young lion came roaring against him: "and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand." At this time his parents were not present with him, and he did not inform them when they came up of the event which had occurred. This visit to the woman of Timnath served to rivet his attachment, and at this time all matters were agreed upon between the parties. Accordingly, at the appointed time, Samson returned to Timnath to celebrate his nuptials; and feeling a curiosity to see what had become of the carcass of the lion. which he had slain on his former visit, he turned aside, and "behold there was a swarm of bees, and honey in the carcass of the lion. And he took thereof in his hands, and went on eating, and came to his father and mother, and he gave them, and they did eat; but he told them not that he had taken the honey out of the carcass of the lion." From this account it is evident that some months must have elapsed between these two visits; for that was required to render it practicable for a swarm of bees to build their combs and prepare their honey in the carcass of the lion. In that warm region, where it rains but seldom in the summer season, it is probable that the carcass had become dry, and so, the intestines being taken out, and the body suspended on the limb of a tree, might furnish a very convenient receptacle for a swarm of bees.

The marriage feast was celebrated for seven days, according to the custom of the place; and thirty companions were provided to attend on the bridegroom. "And Samson said unto them, I will now put forth a riddle unto you: if ye can certainly declare it me, within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty sheets and thirty change of garments: but if ye cannot declare it me, then shall ye give me thirty sheets and thirty change of garments. And they said unto him, Put forth thy riddle, that we may hear it. And he said unto them, Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness. And they could not in three days expound the riddle. And it came to pass on the seventh day, that they said unto Samson's wife, entice thy husband that he may declare unto us the riddle, lest we burn thee and thy father's house with fire. Have ye called us to take that we have? Is it not so? And Samson's wife wept

before him, and said, Thou dost but hate me, and lovest me not. Thou hast put forth a riddle unto the children of my people, and hast not told it me. And he said unto her, Behold, I have not told it my father nor my mother, and shall I tell it thee? And she wept before him the seven days, while their feast lasted; and it came to pass on the seventh day, that he told her, because she lay sore upon him. And she told the riddle to the children of her people. And the men of the city said unto him on the seventh day, before the sun went down, What is sweeter than honey, and what is stronger than a lion? And he said unto them, If ye had not ploughed with my heifer, ye had not found out my riddle. And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon, and slew thirty men of them, and took their spoil, and gave change of garments unto them which expounded the riddle. And his anger was kindled, and he went up to his father's house. But Samson's wife was given to his companion, whom he had used as his friend."

This history furnishes us with an instructive example of the evils which attend intermarriages between the children of God, and his enemies. We see also, that that which begins in sport may end in death. A wedding feast has often generated broils which terminated in woful disaster.

SECTION XXVIII.

SAMSON, NOT KNOWING WHAT WAS DONE, COMES TO VISIT HIS WIFE-HER YOUNGER SISTER IS OFFERED BY THE FATHER-SAMSON DECLINES ALL FURTHER CONNEX

ION, AND SETS THE GRAIN OF THE PHILISTINES ON FIRE-SLAYS A THOUSAND MEN IN LEHI-A MIRACULOUS FOUNTAIN OPENED IN THIS PLACE.

Ir appears that Samson was not informed that his wife had been given to another, and being sincerely attached to this treacherous woman, he came down in the time of harvest, with the present of a kid, to visit her, and was about to enter her chamber, but was prevented by her father, who now informed him that his wife had been given to his companion. For this strange proceeding her father offered no other reason than the impression which he had received, that he, Samson, had lost all affection for his wife. But willing to conciliate a man whom he had so much injured, and fearing the displeasure of a man whose passions were impetuous, and whose strength was irresistible, he offered to him as a wife his younger daughter. And, said he, "Is not her younger sister fairer than she? Take her, I pray thee, instead of her." Samson declined all further connexion with this family, and began to meditate vengeance against the whole nation of the Philistines. Having suffered so

heavy an injury, he laid a plan to destroy their corn which was standing in the field, and also that which was gathered into shocks. The plan adopted was, to catch three hundred foxes, (or jackals as some suppose,) and to tie them two and two by the tails, and to insert a burning brand, or torch, between each pair, and then to let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines. And the conflagration proved destructive not only to the standing corn and the shocks of grain already reaped, but also to the vineyards and olives. When the Philistines found that this destruction of their property had been caused by Samson the son-in-law of the Timnite, because his father-inlaw had taken away his wife and had given her to his companion, they determined to wreak their vengeance on him, as having given the provocation; and accordingly they came up and burnt her and her father with fire. And Samson, when he understood that the Philistines had come up with hostile intentions, attacked them and slew many of them, and then retired from their country and dwelt on the top of the rock Etam. The Philistines being determined to revenge themselves for all these injuries, marched with a considerable force into Judah, and spread themselves in Lehi. "And the men of Judah said, Why are ye come up against us? And they answered, To bind Samson are we come up, and to do to him as he hath done to us. Then three thousand men of Judah went to the top of the rock Etam, and said to Samson, Knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us? What is this thou hast done unto us? And he said, As they did unto me, so have I done unto them. And they said unto him, We are come down to bind thee, that we may deliver thee into the hand of the Philistines. And Samson said, Swear unto me that ye will not fall upon me yourselves. And they spake unto him, saying, No, but we will bind thee fast, and deliver thee into their hands. But surely we will not kill thee. And they bound him with two new cords, and brought him from the rock. And when he came to Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him: and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands. And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith." And "he cast away the jaw-bone out of his hand, and called that place Ramath-lehi," the import of which is, the lifting up of the jaw-bone. "And he was sore athirst, and called on the Lord, and said, Thou hast given this great deliverance into the hand of thy servant, and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised? But God clave a hollow place that was in the jaw, (or rather in Lehi, for the place had already received this name,) and there came

water thereout, and when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived; therefore he called the name thereof En-hakkore," that is, the well of him that called; which, says the sacred historian, "is in Lehi unto this day."

From these last words, it is evident that our translators were mistaken in supposing that the water issued from the jawbone; for it appears that the bursting forth of the waters was not temporary but permanent; and surely this perennial spring did not run continually from a jaw-bone. The simple fact is most obvious. From the weapon which Samson employed, the place received its denomination of Lehi. In this place there was a hollow, from which God caused a fountain to issue to allay Samson's thirst, and this became a perennial spring or well.

SECTION XXIX.

MORAL CHARACTER OF SAMSON-HIS LOVE OF DELILAH-BY TAMPERING WITH HER THE PHILISTINES LEARN WHEREIN HIS GREAT STRENGTH CONSISTED HIS HEAD SHORN AND HIS EYES PUT OUT-IS PUT INTO THE PRISON AT GAZA AND KEPT AT HARD LABOUR.

THE character of Samson was not very consistent. Although a consecrated Nazarite from his birth, yet he was a man much under the dominion of his passions. If we had nothing else to guide our judgment but this history of his acts, we should not be ready to draw the conclusion that he was a pious man: but as Paul has given him a place, as well as Jephthah, among distinguished believers, we must not hesitate to admit that, with all his imperfections, Samson was a sincere servant of God. The most objectionable part of his recorded life, was his illicit connexion with strange women, of which we have several examples; but in every instance, these amours became a snare to him. At Gaza his enemies surrounded the city, and only waited for the morning light, to put him to death; but this man, of more than human strength, "rose at midnight, and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of an hill that is before Hebron."

The most fatal attachment, however, which Samson cherished for the daughters of the Philistines was for a deceitful woman "in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah." The lords of the Philistines, understanding how much he was under her influence, offered her a very large reward if she would find out and reveal to them the secret of his astonishing strength of body, and on what it depended. Samson at first deluded her,