Samson is in prison at Gaza; dieth with the Philistines.

18 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.

19 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.

20 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.

21 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. 22 Howbeit the hair of his head began to grow again after he was shaven.

23 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.

24 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. 25 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.

26 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. 27 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.

28 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.

29 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.

30 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.

31 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 buryingplace of Manoah his father. And he judged Israel twenty years.

LECTURE 434.

Of having a good hope, at our latter end.

Oh that they who sin wilfully, and think themselves in safety notwithstanding, would see the lively picture of their own fatal peace, in Samson sleeping on the knees of Delilah! He has at last told her all his heart; and she is employing a man "to shave off the seven locks of his head," the secret of his strength, the token of his covenant with God. The lords of the Philistines stand behind with "money in their hands." She begins to afflict him. He awakes out of his sleep, and says within himself, "I will go out as at other times before." But his vow is broken. His strength is gone. The Lord has departed from him. See how true is this proverb of Solomon: "the adulteress will hunt for the precious life!" Prov. 6. 26. See how applicable are these words of Azariah, "The Lord is with you, while ye be with him; and if ye seek him, he will be found of you; but if ye forsake him, he will forsake you!" 2 Chron. 15. 2.

And now behold Samson, with his eyes put out, taken down to Gaza, there bound with fetters of brass, made to grind in the prison house, and brought forth to furnish sport in the festival! Note the triumph of his enemies! And observe, with shame, the praise, which these idolaters offer to their god Dagon; whilst we so often receive mercies, without rendering our due acknowledgments to the great Giver of all good gifts! Yet cannot their false god yield them safety. No; neither can their praises, however hearty, if addressed to an idol deity, fail to be an abomination in the ears of the Lord. Far otherwise does it fare with the prayer of penitence and faith, offered up from the lowest depths of woe, with true devotion, to the true God. Samson thus praying, is heard; thus believing, is strengthened; and, as we may reasonably hope, thus repenting, is forgiven. But would we wish our case to be as doubtful as his? Would we not rather have for ourselves, and leave behind us for the comfort of our friends, some more sure ground for hoping that our end is not destruction? Let us then study to serve God consistently, all the days of our life. Let us endeavour to serve Him truly, with all the affections of our heart. Let us neither embrace a false religion, nor whilst we hold with that which is true, consent to a wicked practice. Let us never be at ease in the commission of any one suspected sin. Let us never put off till the close of life the performance of any one known duty. Let us never give the least advantage that we can help to Satan. Let us never venture to violate, by word or deed, our engagements and vows to God.

Give us, Lord, we pray Thee, the faith of Samson, and grace to avoid the faults by which he fell! Strengthen us, like him, to contend against thine enemies; and give us with him victory in the end!

Micah setteth up image worship.

LECTURE 435.

Against the inventions of men in worshipping God. The remainder of the book of Judges does not continue the history in regular order, but tells us of things which happened at different times, between the settlement of the Israelites in Canaan and the commencement of the first book of Samuel. Indeed there can be little or no doubt, that all the things here recorded happened in the early part of that period, within two generations at the utmost from the times of Moses and Aaron. See Ch. 20. 28. We should be so much the more surprised to find, to what excess of licentiousness the Israelites had now proceeded; if it were not

that we have already seen them go so far astray, in the times of Moses and Aaron themselves. For if even under the strict discipline of a camp, with the mighty works and words of God so fresh in their recollection, and with the privations of the wilderness so continually afflicting them, they could nevertheless venture to transgress; it is no wonder that success rendered them presumptuous, and that in the midst of plenty they forgat God.

It is true that the Israelites are said to have "served the Lord, all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua." Judges 2. 7. But the sin of Micah and his mother was a transgression of the second commandment, not of the first. The images which they made, and the sanctuary which they set up, were intended to promote the worship of the one only and true God, the Lord Jehovah. The mother had devoted to this purpose eleven hundred pieces of silver. The son found the money, and took it. The mother missed the money, and mentioned her loss to her son, with the expression of a curse against the person who had taken it. The son confessed that he had got it; and restored it. The mother prayed the Lord not to curse but bless him. And in the end they both joined together in the enterprise of making images, and a house in which to keep them, and sacred garments for their priest to wear; and also in consecrating one of Micah's sons to act as priest. And afterwards, when they were visited by a Levite, on his journey from Bethlehem, a town belonging to "the family of Judah," Micah gladly engaged his services for the priest's office, displacing his own son; and he then expressed the utmost confidence that the Lord would do him good, seeing he had a Levite for his priest. Which last circumstance seems to prove plainly, that there was a full intention here to worship the true God of Israel, though it was to be done by unlawful means.

"In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes." This is mentioned to account for these gross irregularities. A king indeed there was; but Israel would not obey his orders. The Lord their God was their king; but the people notwithstanding did that which pleased themselves. This is the true history of all such image worship as has been practised in Christian churches. God has forbidden it. Men think that it will help them in worshipping God. They do that which is right in their own eyes, instead of looking to God for their direction as to the right way of serving Him. And is not this also the case in our own manifold religious sects, and in their various new devices for worshipping God after ways of their own invention? They mean to do God honour. But they overlook the directions which He in this very matter has given them. And they forget that in every new division they make, and every new way of worship they set up, they are going astray from that hearty communion of spirit, and true unity of faith and practice, which is his declared will in our behalf.

The Danites visit the house of Micah in their way to Laish.

1 In those days there was no king in Israel: and in those days the tribe of the Danites sought them an inheritance to dwell in; for unto that day all their inheritance had not fallen unto them among the tribes of Israel. 2 And the children of Dan sent of their family five men from their coasts, men of valour, from Zorah, and from Eshtaol, to spy out the land, and to search it; and they said unto them, Go, search the land: who when they came to mount Ephraim, to the house of Micah, they lodged there. 3 When they were by the house of Micah, they knew the voice of the young man the Levite: and they turned in thither, and said unto him, Who brought thee hither? and what makest thou in this place? and what hast thou here? 4 And he said unto them, Thus and thus dealeth Micah with me, and hath hired me, and I am his priest.

5 And they said unto him, Ask counsel, we pray thee, of God, that we may know whether our way which we go shall be pros

perous.

6 And the priest said unto them, Go in peace: before the LORD is your way wherein ye go.

7 Then the five men departed, and came to Laish, and saw the people that were therein, how they dwelt careless, after the manner of the Zidonians, quiet and secure; and there was no magistrate in the land, that might put them to shame in any thing; and they were far from the Zi

donians, and had no business with any man.

8 And they came unto their brethren to Zorah and Eshtaol: and their brethren said unto them, What say ye?

9 And they said, Arise, that we may go up against them: for we have seen the land, and, behold, it is very good: and are ye still? be not slothful to go, and to enter to possess the land.

10 When ye go, ye shall come unto a people secure, and to a large land: for God hath given it into your hands; a place where there is no want of any thing that is in the earth.

11 And there went from thence of the family of the Danites, out of Zorah and out of Eshtaol, six hundred men appointed with weapons of war.

12 And they went up and pitched in Kirjath-jearim, in Judah : wherefore they called that place Mahaneh-dan unto this day: behold, it is behind Kirjath-jearim. 13 And they passed thence unto mount Ephraim, and came unto the house of Micah.

14 Then answered the five men that went to spy out the country of Laish, and said unto their brethren, Do ye know that there is in these houses an ephod, and teraphim,and a graven image, and a molten image? now therefore consider what ye have to do. 15 And they turned thitherward, and came to the house of the young man the Levite, even unto the house of Micah, and saluted him.