was in honour of himself, and not of God, and he called the place after the jawbone, as it seems, in a boastful spirit. Yet still Samson had faith. He did not swerve to idolatry, nor break his Nazarite vow, so when he chose to use them his wondrous gifts showed themselves; and when, faint and thirsty after his battle, he called on God for help, a miraculous fountain sprang forth-whether out of the jawbone or out of the place he had named from it is not quite clear. Though for his own needs, he had fought God's battles, and God blessed his prayer. It shows what he might have been! He seems to have lived a careless and easy life, judging Israel so far as sometimes to use his giant strength against the Philistines, but never delivering his people, and wasting his grandest gifts. He wandered into Gaza, the great Philistine city, for his own pleasure, and when the Philistines discovered his coming and shut the great gates of the town, expecting to secure him, he rose in the middle of the night and walked away with the gates, posts and all, upon his back, up to the top of the hill above Hebron.

[The Church has always seen in this exploit a likeness to the Saviour rising at midnight and bursting the gates of the grave. He deigned to mould His likenesses beforehand, not only in the good, but in the weak and headstrong; and Samson, even though failing in all his mission, still traced out beforehand the Power that hath broken the gates of brass and smitten the bars of iron asundernot for Himself alone, but for His people.]

LESSON XLVIII.

SAMSON BETRAYED BY DELILAH.

B.C. 1140.-JUDGES xvi. 4—21.

And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.

And the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and said unto her, Entice him, and see wherein his great strength lieth, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him: and we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver.

And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee.

And Samson said unto her, If they bind me with seven green withs* that were never dried, then shall I be weak, and be as another man.

Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven green withs which had not been dried, and she bound him with them.

Now there were men lying in wait, abiding with her in the chamber. And she said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he brake the withs, as a thread of tow is broken when it toucheth the fire. his strength was not known.

So

And Delilah said unto Samson, Behold, thou hast mocked me, and told me lies now tell me, I pray thee, wherewith thou mightest be bound.

And he said unto her, If they bind me fast with new ropes that never were occupied, then shall I be weak, and be as another man.

Delilah therefore took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And there were liers in wait abiding in the chamber. And he brake them from off his arms like a thread.

And Delilah said unto Samson, Hitherto thou hast mocked me, and told me lies tell me wherewith thou mightest be bound. And he said unto her, If thou weavest the seven locks of my head with the web.

And she fastened it with the pin, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awaked out of his sleep, and went away

with the pin of the beam, and with the web.

And she said unto him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart is not with me? thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lieth.

And it came to pass, when she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him, so that his soul was vexed unto death;

That he told her all his heart, and said unto her, There hath not come a razor upon mine head; for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my birth if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man.

And when Delilah saw that he had told her all his heart, she sent and called for the lords of the Philistines, saying, Come up this once, for he hath shewed me all his heart. Then the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and brought money in their hand.

And she made him sleep upon her knees; and she called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him.

And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the LORD was departed from him.

But the Philistines took him, and put out his eyes, and brought him down to Gaza, and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison house.

COMMENT.-Alas, alas! the great Nazarite, instead of being the likeness of the Saviour, is the likeness of rebellious Israel. He seems to show, in one sad emblem, the ways of the people so often * Moist fresh-twisted willow boughs.

delivered by the Spirit of the Lord, so often drawn away by their own weakness and wilfulness only to find themselves betrayed, and then, in spite of warning, returning to the temptation and sin, to their full and lasting ruin. Nor is he only the likeness of sinful Israel, but of every one who will not resist the snares of his own wishes and fancies. They will be sure to become his punishment by-and-by. Self-will, idleness, greediness, are Delilahs to children; dress and vanity, foolish books, and idle talk, to young women; drink, money, and many another evil, to men. If we return to

a sin after a warning, there is little hope for us.

The wicked woman who so basely and cruelly betrayed the strong man who had given her his love, had this additional guilt, that, unlike her who had first led him aside in early youth, she was no Philistine, but a daughter of his own tribe of Dan, living at Sorek, close to his native place! Nobody but Judas Iscariot did so base a part as hers, when she sold the secret that she beguiled from his foolish affection to the enemies of his nation and hers! See, too, the mischief of the love that is given unworthily. Affection that is bestowed for mere outward charms, instead of being based on esteem, is always in danger of being thrown away. Samson distrusted, even while he yielded. He put her off with a falsehood three times to satisfy her, and each time she tried the experiment, while Samson knew not that the Philistines were hidden in the inner chamber to seize him. The first time he told her to bind him with the twisted wands of willow, the next time with new ropes; the third, his invention failing him, he came nearer the truth. The long locks of hair, never clipped from his birth-and he must have been about forty years old-were not worn loose and flowing, but plaited into seven great tresses, and, looking at the web or half-woven piece of cloth that hung down from the beam of the loom, he told her he should lose his strength if his hair were worked into it like so much yarn. Forthwith she wove it inprobably to his amusement-fastened it to the ceiling or floor with a strong pin, and then roused him with the cry that his enemies were upon him. He rose up, and, without seeming to feel it, carried off the cloth, pin and all. At last he was wearied out, and yielded up his secret-no doubt supposing an Israelite woman

could not betray him, and believing that no one could touch his hair without his consent. Little he thought that she would lull him to sleep, and cause a man to shave away the badge of his dedication, the pledge of the faith that, for all his weakness, he had kept whole! Then, when by insults of her own the cruel woman had convinced herself that his might had departed from him, she called in the enemy. Weak and helpless in their hands, he could no longer defend himself, and in their cruel revenge they carried him to Gaza, the city he had once broken through so triumphantly, and blinded his eyes; and there he was set in his captivity to the work of a slave,

All the corn in the East is ground between two millstones, the upper lodged on a sort of socket hollowed in the top of the lower, and moved round by the hand; and this, in blindness, weakness, and captivity, was the task of the man who but for his own seif-indulgent weakness might have been the glorious deliverer and leader of his country, the type of the Sun of Righteousness.

LESSON XLIX.

THE DEATH OF SAMSON.

B.C. 1140.—JUDGES xvi. 22—31.

Howbeit the hair of Samson's head began to grow again after he was shaven.

Then the lords of the Philistines gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their god, and to rejoice: for they said, Our god hath delivered Samson our enemy into our hand.

And when the people saw him, they praised their god for they said, Our god hath delivered into our hands our enemy, and the destroyer of our country, which slew many of us.

And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Samson, that he may make us sport. And they called for Samson out of the prison house; and he made them sport: and they set him between the pillars.

And Samson said unto the lad that held him by the hand, Suffer me that I may feel the pillars whereupon the house standeth, that I may lean upon them.

Now the house was full of men and women; and all the lords of the Philistines were there; and there were upon the roof about three thousand men and women, that beheld while Samson made sport.

And Samson called unto the LORD, and said, O Lord GOD, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes.

And Samson took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and of the other with his left.

And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life.

Then his brethren and all the house of his father came down, and took him, and brought him up, and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol, in the burying-place of Manoah his father. And he judged Israel twenty years.

COMMENT.-While Samson was brought low and was grinding in his prison-house at Gaza, his hair began to grow again, and with it his strength to return. We must not look on his hair as a spell or charm with which his strength was connected. It was the token of his faith and obedience to the command given to his parents, and, great as had been his failures, he had never wilfully broken that Nazarite vow. He had been indolent, selfish, sensualhad only exerted himself for his own pleasure or his own anger, but he had never gone after idols, nor drunk wine or strong drink; he had not fulfilled his mission, but he had not forsaken God, and therefore in his chastisement he was not forsaken of Him, but his miraculous strength was allowed to grow as he cherished the token of it.

There was great rejoicing among the Philistines at his capture; and it should be observed that the praise of it was particularly ascribed to their god, to Dagon, who had fallen on his face before the Ark of the Lord, but whom they now believed to have won the victory. Therefore a great national feast was decreed, to take place in the temple of Dagon at Gaza, and as part of the festivities the blind Samson was to be led out to be shown to all the multitude, and mocked at in his fall and weakness. Now Samson had been before at Gaza, and, blind as he was, he knew the place. The old city of Gaza, of which ruins of stones and pillars still remain, was built on the side of a low, but steep, sharp hill, and the temple of Dagon appears to have been, after a not very unusual fashion of