And after a time he went again to Timnath to take his wife, and on turning aside to see the carcass of the lion, he found only its skeleton, in the hollows of which bees had deposited honey. And he took of the honey, for himself and his father and mother.

Samson's Riddle.-At the marriage feast, Samson puts forth a riddle to thirty young men, referring to the lion and the honey: "Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness." And as they could not guess this riddle, they threatened his wife "to burn her and her father's house," and she enticed Samson, and she told the young men the secret. And Samson went down to Ashkelon, and slew thirty men, and took their garments to pay the wager which he had lost. And he left Timnath in fierce anger.

Samson kills the Philistines.-Now Samson's love for his wife led him again to Timnath, with a present; but his wife had been given to another. In a rage, he collects a number of foxes, and tying lighted firebrands to their tails, set fire by these means to the ripe corn.

Then the Philistines burned his wife and her family with fire, as they had at first threatened, but Samson "smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter, and went and dwelt on the top of the rock Etam."

And the Philistines gathered together in numbers to take Samson, and three thousand of the men of Judah went up to bind Samson, and to complain that by his conduct he had brought evil upon his nation. And they bound Samson, and delivered him up.

Now when they came to Lehi, the Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson, and he burst the bonds, as though they were burnt flax.

And looking about for some weapon, he found the

jawbone of an ass; and he took it "and slew a thousand men therewith."

And when he was ready to die for thirst, "God clave a hollow in the jawbone, and there came water thereout" for him to drink.

Gaza and Sorek.-And Samson went to Gaza, and when the people knew he was there, they collected together quietly and said, "In the morning, when it is day, we will kill him." But at midnight he arose, and took away the gates of the city, and carried them to the top of a hill near Hebron, a distance of about thirty miles.

Samson betrayed.-And after this, Samson made acquaintance with a strange woman named Delilah, in the valley of Sorek. And the lords of the Philistines induced her, by a very large bribe, five thousand five hundred shekels of silver, to betray him. So she tried to win from him the secret of his strength, and after much trouble, he acknowledged that it lay in his hair.

Then Delilah cut off his hair during his sleep, and the lords of the Philistines took him bound to Gaza, where they put out his eyes, and put him in a prison to grind at the wheel.

His death.-Now Samson's hair grew while in the prison, and his strength returned. And the lords of the Philistines, having a feast in the temple of Dagon, sent for him to make sport for the people. And Samson prayed unto the Lord, and said: "O Lord God, 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 asked the lad who led him, to shew him the pillars on which the house rested, and he said: "Let me die with the Philistines."

And he took hold of the two middle pillars, on

which the house was borne up, and bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon the people that were therein.'

"So the dead which he slew at his death were more than those whom he slew in his lifetime." For the house was full, and there were three thousand on the roof.

Samson judged Israel during twenty years.

persons

Micah the Idolater.-And it came to pass in the time of the Judges, that Micah, a man of Mount Ephraim, stole eleven hundred shekels of silver from his mother, and afterwards restored it unto her.

And because she had devoted this money to God, she desired him to make a graven image and a molten image. So Micah made them, and had a house for their worship, and consecrated one of his sons for its priest.

And afterwards a Levite passed that way, and Micah hired him to be his priest, and he dwelt in the house at hired wages.

The Danites.-Now the men of the tribe of Dan sent five of their people northward to seek more land. And as they passed through Mount Ephraim, they lodged at the house of Micah, where they saw the Levite, his priest, who asked counsel of God for them.

And afterwards, six hundred men of Dan went northward to possess the country round Laish. And they took away the Levite, and the images which Micah had made; and when they had beaten the men of Laish, and destroyed the town, they built another city and called it Dan, and they set up the images of Micah there.

And the men of Dan continued to worship it, until the time of the captivity, and as long as the tabernacle was in Shiloh.

Benjamin and the Levite.-Now there was a certain Levite in Mount Ephraim, who was journeying with his wife from Bethlehem Judah toward Mount Ephraim. And he lodged one night in Gibeah of Benjamin. And the men of Benjamin grossly ill-used the wife of the Levite, and she died; and the Levite cut her dead body into twelve parts, and sent a part to each tribe with the story of his wrongs.

Then the people gathered together to Mizpeh; and they demanded of the tribe of Benjamin that those wicked men of Gibeah should be punished for their crime, but the Benjamites chose rather to fight with the other tribes of Israel. And they destroyed of Israel forty thousand men in two battles; but on the third day, the Israelites were victorious by means of an ambush and Benjamin was so utterly defeated, that only six hundred men escaped to the rock of Rimmon.

And the men of Israel said in their wrath that none of them would give his daughter to Benjamin for a wife, so that that tribe was nearly extinguished.

They afterwards repented, and gave them wives, taken from Jabesh Gilead.

And when these were not enough, the children of Benjamin were allowed to steal themselves wives at Shiloh. So that the tribe was not destroyed.

These events are supposed to have happened about the years 1406 to 1400 B.C., when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the grandson of Aaron, was the priest of the tabernacle.

EXERCISES ON CHAPTER XV.

Who judged Israel between Jephthah and Samson ?
What events occurred about this time?

Of what country was

Ruth a native? Why did she leave it?

What was the direction of Moab from Bethlehem of Judah? Relate the sad story of her husband and friends. Why did they go to Moab? Did Naomi wish them to follow her?

What was Ruth's decision? To what place did Naomi belong? At what time did they return? How did Ruth occupy herself? Whose attention did she attract? What instruction did he give to his reapers? Was he a relation?

What was the result of this acquaintance?

Who was the son of this marriage? And the grandson?
By whom was Israel oppressed in Samson's time?

What animals did he kill? Whence did Samson seek a wife? To whom did he give a riddle? Name some other great feats of Samson. How was he taken ?

How did he die?

What is said of the time of his death? Describe the state of the country. Who took money from his mother? Who decoyed the Levite from Micah?

What did they take beside? By what tribe was a Levite greatly wronged? In what town?

How did he call the tribes to a council? What was determined? What was the result of this war?

How many Benjamites survived?

How did they procure wives for the six hundred survivors ?

CHAPTER XVI.

SAMUEL.

THERE are two books called the books of Samuel.

The first book of Samuel contains thirty-one chapters, and extends over a period of about one hundred years, from B.C. 1155 to B.c. 1055.

The first twenty-four chapters are believed to have been written by Samuel himself, and were probably finished by the prophets Nathan and Gad, who succeeded him. 1 Chronicles, XXIX., 29.

The people were still under the dominion of the Philistines, who greatly oppressed them, and took every means to prevent the recovery of their liberty.

The chief subjects of the book are, the priesthood of Eli, his death, and that of his wicked sons; the birth and early training of Samuel, his judgeship; the