and said, "If they bind me with seven green withes that were never dried, then shall I be weak, and be as another man." Accordingly, they, receiving the green withes from the lords of the Philistines, had him bound with them; but as soon as the men who lay in wait attempted to seize him, "he brake the withes as a thread of tow is broken, when it toucheth the fire. So his strength was not known." Again he was beset by this ensnaring woman to reveal the secret; and she now added reproaches to her entreaties. Upon which he told her, if they would bind him with new cords which had never been used, he would be helpless as another man; but when this experiment was also tried, "he brake them off his arms as a thread." A third time he deceived her, by saying, "If thou weavest the seven locks of my head with the web," I shall be weak as another man; but when this was done while he was asleep, and the Philistines arose upon him, "he awaked out of his sleep and went away with the pin of the beam and with the web." Delilah now became exceedingly importunate, and called in question Samson's love for her. "And she pressed him daily with her words, and urged him so that his soul was vexed unto death." He therefore, at length, revealed unto her his whole. heart, and said, "There hath not come a razor upon my head, for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb: if I be shaven, then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man." From this it appears, that Samson's extraordinary strength did not depend on any muscular force which he naturally possessed, but was a supernatural endowment; and this is also signified in those passages where it is said, that the Spirit of the Lord came upon him. Delilah perceiving that she had now succeeded in eliciting from him the secret which he had so industriously concealed before, caused, while Samson slept, a man to shave the seven locks of his head; and then brought his enemies upon him. "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." The Philistines, now finding that their formidable enemy was completely in their power, proceeded in the first place to put out his eyes; and then took him down to Gaza, "and bound him with fetters of brass; and he did grind in the prison-house."

Wretched, indeed, was the condition of Samson, and small was the prospect that he would ever again have it in his power to retaliate upon his enemies, and the enemies of God, for their treachery and cruelty; but the providence of God is mysterious, and the retributions of vindicatory justice are often terrible, even in this world. It was so ordered, that this judge in Israel, who had in his lifetime destroyed so great a number of this

accursed people, should be able, in the moment of his death, to destroy more of the Philistines than during his whole life.

While immured in the prison his hair began again to grow, and his former extraordinary strength was restored. The Philistines were all gross idolaters, and of the devoted race of the Canaanites, whom the Israelites were commanded to extirpate. The god which they worshipped was called Dagon, and was represented by an image or idol, which was partly a fish, and partly man, of which an account has heretofore been given. In Gaza there was a spacious temple dedicated to this idol; and the Philistines, having now overcome their greatest enemy, celebrated a feast in this temple, and "offered 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 when their hearts were merry, they said, Call for Samson, that he may make us sport. And when he was brought out of the prison, he made them sport. And they set him between the pillars." It seems that this huge edifice rested upon two large pillars, which stood near to each other. "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, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged on 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."

SECTION XXX.

ORIGIN OF IDOLATRY IN ISRAEL IN THE HOUSE OF MICAH-THE DANITES SEND SPIES TO SEEK A NEW HABITATION-SIX HUNDRED MEN ARE SENT OUT TO SEIZE A COUNTRY VISITED BY THE SPIES—THEY CARRY OFF MICAH'S GODS AND THE PRIEST WHO OFFICIATED-THESE IDOLS THEY SET UP AND WORSHIPPED FOR A LONG TIME.

THE sacred historian, after finishing the history of Samson, who is thought to have been contemporary with Eli, goes back to give an account of the rise of idolatry among the people of Israel, after the death of Joshua. A certain woman of mount Ephraim had amassed a considerable sum of money, which her son, whose name is Micah, stole. The old woman, who had no pious feelings, seemed to have suspected her son of the theft, and poured out curses on the person, whoever he might be, who had taken her treasure. Micah feeling uneasy in his conscience, and finding that he was suspected, came forward and confessed his crime, and restored the money to his mother. She now declared that she had "wholly dedicated the silver unto the Lord." This, at first view, seems to have been a very pious act; but the truth was, that her religion was deeply infected with the spirit of superstition and idolatry; for she designed it for "a graven image, and a molten image. And, accordingly, a sufficient quantity of the restored silver was put into the hands of the founder, and these images were formed, and placed in the house of Micah: and that this idolatrous worship might be conducted with suitable ceremony and pomp, this man erected a building or temple, purposely for the reception of his gods. He also "made an ephod, and teraphim, and consecrated one of his sons, who became his priest." This introduction of idolatry met with no resistance, for at that time there existed no king in Israel, nor any other governing power to restrain the practice of iniquity, "but every man did that which was right in his own eyes."

Soon after the erection of this house of idolatrous worship, a young Levite from Beth-lehem-judah, who by the mother's side seems to have been descended from the tribe of Judah, left his native place, and wandered off in search of a place, until he came to the house of Micah, who invited him to take up his abode with him and officiate as his priest; for he thought that this young man being a Levite was better suited for the sacerdotal office than his own son, whom he had before consecrated. To this proposal, the young Levite acceded, and Micah promised to give him ten shekels of silver, by the year, and a suit of apparel, and his victuals. "Then said Micah, now I know that the Lord will do me good, seeing I have a Levite to my priest."

In those days of anarchy, the Danites feeling themselves straitened for want of room, sent five men of valour to look out a suitable place to which some of them might emigrate. These men came, in their expedition, to the house of Micah, where they recognized the young Levite, and finding that he officiated here as a priest, they requested him to ask counsel of God, whether their way would be prosperous. The priest soon gave them a favourable response, saying, "Go in peace: before the Lord is your way wherein ye go.' It may be remarked here, that in the first advances towards idolatry, the object was not to introduce other gods, but to worship the true God by images, or other visible representations. Thus, when the Israelites forced Aaron to make the golden calf, Jehovah was professedly the object of their worship; and when Jeroboam set up the idolatrous calves in Dan and Beth-el, the object was, to worship Jehovah by these images. And so, in this case, Micah and his priest considered their images as means of worshipping the true God.

These five spies of Dan, having received an encouragement from the young priest, proceeded on their journey, until they came to Laish, where they found a good country, and a people living quietly and securely; and they appeared to be without any means of effectual defence against invasion, "for there was no magistrate in the land," and no man was restrained from following his own inclinations by any fear of civil rulers. These people seem to have nominally appertained to the Zidonians, but being far off, and not engaged in commerce, they were suffered to pursue their own course unmolested. When the spies returned to Zorah and Eshtaol, whence they had gone out, they gave a very favourable account of the country which they had discovered. They represented it as "a very good land"-"a place where there is no want of anything that is in the earth," and as one of sufficient extent and easy to be possessed. Upon hearing this report, the Danites despatched "six hundred men, appointed with weapons of war." This little army, conducted by the spies, came to mount Ephraim, to the house of Micah; and being informed of the "house of gods" which was here, they sent in the five men who were acquainted with the place, "to take the graven image, and the ephod, and the teraphim, and the molten image." And when the priest said, "What do ye? they said, Hold thy peace, lay thine hand upon thy mouth and go with us, and be to us a father and a priest. Is it better for thee to be a priest unto the house of one man, or that thou be a priest unto a tribe and a family in Israel? And the priest's heart was glad, and he took the ephod, and the teraphim, and the graven image, and went in the midst of the people." As soon as Micah and the men of

his house were informed of the robbery which had been committed, they pursued after the children of Dan, and overtook them, and cried after them. "And they turned their faces and said unto Micah, What aileth thee, that thou comest with such a company? And he said, Ye have taken away my gods which I made, and what have I more? And what is this that ye say unto me, What aileth thee? And the children of Dan said, Let not thy voice be heard among us, lest angry fellows run upon thee, and thou lose thy life, with the lives of thy household. And the children of Dan went their way; and when Micah saw that they were too strong for him, he turned and went back unto his own house."

This company of the tribe of Dan now prosecuted their enterprise against the people of Laish, whom they found in the same careless and defenceless state which had been represented by the spies. "And they smote them with the edge of the sword, and burnt the city with fire; and there was no deliverer, because it was far from Zidon; and they had no business with any man." "And they built a city and dwelt therein; and they called the name of the city Dan, after the name of Dan their father." "And the children of Dan set up the graven image: and Jonathan the son of Gershom, the son of Manasseh, he and his sons were priests to the tribe of Dan until the day of the captivity of the land. And they set up Micah's graven image, which he made, all the time that the house of God was in Shiloh."

Although idolatry was a capital crime, according to the laws given to the Israelites, as being the highest treason against God their king, yet during this period of anarchy, which preceded the raising up of judges to govern the land and enforce the laws, no notice was taken of this open defection of the children of Dan from the worship of the true God. It seems that the worship of these images of Micah continued for a long time, even as long as the tabernacle remained at Shiloh.

The transactions mentioned in this section, and also those recorded in the following, are commonly believed to have occurred while Phinehas was high-priest.

SECTION XXXI.

HISTORY OF THE LEVITE AND HIS CONCUBINE, AND THE WAR AGAINST BENJAMIN.

How much, under God, we are indebted to the existence of civil government, can only be known by contemplating a people among whom there is no such institution; or where the ordinance is so far perverted, and salutary authority so far relaxed,