2 her father would not suffer him to go in. And her father said, I verily thought that thou hadst utterly hated her; therefore I gave her to thy companion; using Samson exceeding ill in not endeavouring to bring about a reconciliation and waiting for it: to prevent Samson's resentment he adds, [Is] not her younger sister fairer than she? take her, I pray thee, 3 instead of her. And Samson, turning from him with scorn and indignation, said concerning them, to those whom he met, Now shall I be more blameless than the Philistines, though I do them a displeasure. Probably the people approved the mar4 riage with Samson's companion, and were present at it. And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, with the assistance of his countrymen and father's house,* and took firebrands, or torches made with pitch, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails, he coupled them to 5 prevent their running into holes. And when he had set the brands on fire, he let [them] go into the standing corn of the Philistines, some in one part and some in another, and burnt up both the shocks, and also the standing corn, with the vine6 yards [and] olives.† Then the Philistines said, Who hath done this? And they, that is, some of them who had heard Samson's threatening words, answered, and said, Samson, the son in law of the Timnite, because he had taken his wife, and given her to his companion. And the Philistines came up,

Foxes were numerous in that country, and several places were named from the multitude of toxes found there,

+ God, who directed the beasts to Noah's ark, and the quails to Israel's camp, must have assisted Samson in collecting those foxes; and by this means he avoided an open rup ture with the Philistines; he rids his own country of many noxious animals, and severely Scourges his enemies.

Mr. Orton observes, that the Romans used every year, in the middle of April, to let loose in the circus, or the place where the public exercises were performed, some foxes with burning torches at their tails: a custom probably derived from the Phenicians, who lived in the country which was formerly the Philistines', and that this custom was kept up in remembrance of this event.

But as many very respectable writers have given a different interpretation of this story, the Editor begs leave to add the following quotation. The only difficulty in this chapter, is to account for the story of Samson's foxes. Where could he meet with such a vast num. ber as three hundred? how could he unkennel them and catch them? where could he put them? and how feed and preserve them, till he had collected the whole number, and found a fit opportunity for his purpose? and then how could he manage such a vast number of beasts, tie them together, put them in their proper places, and set firebrands to them; and all this without being discovered by the owners of the corn, who might have risen in a body with all their neighbours, and prevented his design? Truly I cannot account for it, nor do I think he did any such thing. The Hebrew word, Schualim, which is rendered foxes, differs but one very small stroke at the top of one letter, from the Hebrew word Schoalim, which signifies sheaves This very little mistake might be made in transcribing; and allowing this, all the difficulty vanishes at once. When Samson had determined to destroy their corn, he observed they had made up all their sheaves into three hundred shocks; these three hundred shocks could not be set on fire one after another without loss of time, and danger of discovery on this account he judged it necessary to lay two sheaves of corn at length upon the ground, to make a communication between every two shocks; for this purpose he turned tail to tail, or the bottom of one sheaf to the top of another. Observe, it is not said, he tied tail to tail, but he turned one toward the other; and then putting some combustible matter between the two sheaves, such as hemp, flax, or the like, which he could easily carry, he set fire to it, which, probably aided by a dry season, and the wind, spread directly from sheaf to sheaf, and shock to shock; and running over the neighbouring fields, consumed the standing corn, the vineyards and olives. All this, an ingenious, active man, as Samson was, could do in one night, and without discovery. Let the reader judge, whether this is not the most easy, natural, and plain account of the matter. See Saurin's Dissertations, Vol. IV. Diss. 17,

and burnt her and her father with fire; burned the house and them in it: this was barbarous ; but God was righteous in thus 7 punishing their treachery. And Samson said unto them, Though ye have done this, yet will I be avenged of you, and after that I will cease, unless some further provocation be given. • And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter, some › in one place, some in another, as they came in his way and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam; a strong place, where Rehoboam afterward built a city, 2 Chron. xi. 5, 6.

9

Then the Philistines went up, and pitched in Judah, and 10 spread themselves in Lehi. And the men of Judah said, Why are ye come up against us, since we pay our tribute, and have committed no offence? And they answered, To bind Samson are we come up, to do to him as he hath done to us; we have no quarrel with you, but with Samson, for the injury he hath 11 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, and therefore. are not to be attacked and offended by us? what [is] this [that] thou hast done unto us? thou hast provoked them to come against us, and we shall smart for it. And he said unto them, As they did unto me, so have I done unto them; I have only requited 12 the wrong I have received. 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 unto them, Swear, unto me, that ye will not fall upon me yourselves; instead of upbraiding them with cowardice, he consents on this condition. 13 And they spake unto him, saying, No; but we will bind thee fast, and deliver thee into their hand: but surely we will not kill thee. And they bound him with two new cords, and brought him up from the rock; their tender mercy was cruelty; they would not kill him themselves, but deliver him bound to his enemies, that they might kill him.

14

[And] when he came up unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him, for joy that they had got their enemy into their hands 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, 15 melted like wax before the fire. And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thou16 sand men therewith.† And Samson said, With the jawbone

* This was strange indeed! They should rather have made him their captain, have gone out against the Philistines, and thrown off the yoke. But they chose rather to secure peace by delivering up their brave countryman, than make an attempt to recover their liberty.

+ It would have been wonderful to have slain so many with a sword or spear, but more so with this poor weapon. No doubt when the Philistines saw him break his cords so easi ly, and fearing the men of Judah would join him, they all fled, and gave him a great ad-vantage against them,

of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass have I 17 slain a thousand men.* And it came to pass when he had made an end of speaking, that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand, and, to perpetuate his victory and the Philistines' disgrace, called that place Ramathlehi, that is, the lifting up, or, casting arvay of the jawbone.

18

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 19 of the uncircumcised ?† But God had compassion upon him, and clave an hollow place that [was] in the jaw, not in the jaw itself, but in Lehi, as in the margin, that is, the place where the action was performed, and there came water thereout: and when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived : wherefore he called the name thereof Enhakkore, that is, the well of him that called, or cried, which [is] in Lehi unto this day, in the field that is so called in remembrance of this exploit. 20 And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years; Israel submitted to him, the country was quiet, and the Philistines made no inroads upon them.

REFLECTIONS.

1. ROM the calamity that befell Samson's wife, we learn,

trayed and abused her husband, for fear of being burned; and now she is plunged into the flames she would have avoided. It is a common case in the world. When men through unreasona ble fears, or from other motives, betray their friends and violate their consciences, what can they expect but suffering? The God to whom vengeance belongeth brought this evil upon her; and it often happens that those who deal treacherously, are dealt, treacherously with sooner or later there will be a recompense for both good and evil.

2. In perusing such chapters as this, let us not seek after or be influenced by, allegorical interpretations. This is hinted at here, because nothing has done greater dishonour to scripture. Men of warm imaginations pretend to find strange mysteries even in a plain narrative, and much more in dark or doubtful passages. Scarce any chapter in the bible has been more tortured than this; especially the story of Samson's foxes. Some have made it a type of Christ's disciples; which by the way is no compliment

This was his triumphant song. It is beautiful in the original, as the word signifies both an ass and an ape.

Josephus says, this dreadful thirst was brought upon him as a punishment for not acknowledging the hand of God in this affair: I have slain a thousand; but not a word of God's band or help in it.

to them. Multitudes have made Samson a type of Christ himself, because he said in figurative language, he was come to set fire on the earth. A celebrated commentator among the ejected ministers makes it a type of heretics, by which he meant the Cavaliers and Arminians in the church; and, in order to be even with him, a high church writer published a virulent book against the dissenters, and called it Foxes and Firebrands. And if the commentators of the present day had not more sense, they might make it a type of the Corsairs and Algerines. It is a matter of great importance to guard against being led into false interpretations of the scriptures, by those commentators who deal much in types and allegories, and make plain history say, or at least signify, any thing and every thing. It is this which has made the word of God so little understood, and opened the mouths of the enemies of revelation to banter and blaspheme.

3. This chapter furnishes us with repeated instances of the power of God; and shows us, that he can never be at a loss to strengthen and relieve his servants. These stories are not incredible, because they are not impossible. The hand of the Lord is in them. Under the influence of that spirit of strength and courage which he can impart, one shall chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, and that even by a jawbone; and rather than one who is fighting his battles shall perish for thirst, he may turn a rock into a fountain of water. In him let us trust for the strength we want against our spiritual enemies for through him we may hope to do valiantly; and let us take encouragement to trust in him from these ancient records of his power and goodness, and argue, as Samson does in v.8, from past experience of his care. Let us hope and believe that if we are faithful to him, he who hath delivered, and who doth deliver, will still deliver and that he, with whom nothing is impossible, will make us more than conquerors.

CHAP. XVI.

Samson carries away the gates of Gaza; Delilah, corrupted by the Philistines, enticeth and overcometh him; the Philistines put out his eyes; the manner of his death, and of thousands of the Phile istines who were slain with him.

THE

HEN went Samson to Gaza, which lay in the southern part of the country, to observe what state things were in, and saw there an harlot, and went in unto her; he fell in com2 pany with a bad woman, and was nearly ruined by her. [And it was told] the Gazites, saying, Samson is come hither ; perhaps he was discovered by the woman herself. And they VOL. II.

compassed [him] in, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were quiet all the night, lest he should be alarmed, and break through their guard, saying, In the morn3 ing, when it is day, we shall kill him. And Samson lay till midnight, and arose 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, between Gaza and Hebron; probably he slew some of the guard, and the rest being terrified, ran away.

4

And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, a place in the tribe of Judah, but now in possession of the Philistines, where he was again entangled by a woman, whose name [was] Delilah, which signifies, a consumer or destroyer; a proper name for such an infamous creature. 5 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; probably he had boasted that the secret where his great strength lay was only known to himself; they imagined it was some spell or charm; they say nothing about killing him, lest she should startle at the proposal: and we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred [pieces] of silver, more than seven hundred pounds; willing to be at any expense to get rid of such a powerful enemy. And Delilah said to Samson, in the midst of her caresses, and as if greatly concerned about every circumstance that related to a person whom she so much loved, Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength [lieth,] and wherewith thou mightest be bound to 7 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; a notorious lie; but he hoped thus to 8 put her off and satisfy her. Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven green withs which had not been dried, and she prevailed with him to let her try the experiment, 9' and bound him with them. Now [there were] men lying in wait abiding with her in the chamber, whom she intended to call in if he had not broken them, otherwise she was to turn it off in jest. 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. So his strength was not 10 known. And Delilah said unto Samson, at some convenient distance of time afterward, Behold, thou hast mocked me and told me lies: now tell me, I pray thee, wherewith thou mightest be 11 bound. And he said unto her, If they bind me fast with new ropes that never were occupied, (in the Hebrew, wherewith work hath not been done,) then shall I be weak, and be as 12 another man. Delilah therefore took new ropes, and bound