12. I will now put forth a riddle unto you.'-It was a very ancient custom among different nations-as the Phonicians, the Egyptians, the Greeks, and others--to relieve their entertainments, by proposing difficult and obscure questions, to the solution of which a reward was annexed, usually equivalent to the forfeiture which inability incurred. This was a favourite amusement and exercise of ingenuity among most people in those times, when the very limited extent of knowledge and general information, afforded few topics of interesting conversation or discussion. Devices of this sort were particularly necessary for amusement and pastime in a festival of seven days duration, like the present. We need not remind the reader that the tales of ancient and modern times, Oriental and European, abound in instances in which the interest of the story turns upon some great advantage or exemption from calamity depending upon the successful interpretation of a riddle. This was also, and is still in the East, a favourite, but certainly a very mistaken, method of testing the abilities of a person of reputed wisdom or learning. Thus the queen of Sheba came to prove Solomon with hard questions' (1 Kings x. 1). The Arabs, Persians, and Turks have ancient and modern books, of great reputation among themselves, containing riddles, or rules by which riddles may be interpreted or manufactured.

The seven days of the feast.-There are several points in the account of this wedding to suggest that marriages were among the Jews occasions of profuse expense and display. It is so even now, and even in Palestine itself, although any parade of wealth is there dangerous to them. Burckhardt, in the interesting account which he gives of the Jews of Tiberias, says, At their weddings they make a very dangerous display of their wealth. On these occasions they traverse the city in pompous procession, carrying before the bride the plate of almost the whole community; and they feast in the house of the bridegroom for seven successive days and nights. The wedding feast of a man who has about fifty pounds a year, and no Jew can live with his family on less, often costs more than sixty pounds.' Travels in Syria, p. 327.

13. Thirty sheets and thirty change of garments.'-Instead of sheets' the marginal reading of shirts' is unquestionably to be preferred. That is to say, he offered thirty dresses, which probably consisted only of a shirt and upper garment. Indeed, as it is probable that only one garment, of woollen, was worn at this time by the common people, the shirt may be taken to denote that the dresses were such as persons of consideration usually wore. See the note on Deut. xxix. 5.

14. 'Out of the eater came forth meat, etc.- Meat' having now acquired a more restricted sense than that in which it is here employed, 'food' would be better; or to render the antithesis more exactly similar to the original, even eatables' might be employed. There is no difficulty in this first member of the riddle, the antithesis being clear enough under any of these readings. But it is less obvious in the second member-out of the strong came forth sweetness:' for the antithesis of sweetness' is not 'strength' but sourness' or 'bitterness;' and if the clause had read out of the sour or bitter came forth sweetness,' the opposition would have been perfect. Indeed, there can be little doubt that this is the signification, rightly understood. Bochart has shewn that the Hebrew word for 'bitter' is occasionally used for strong,' and sharp' for both. So, in the Arabic, Mirra, strength,' and Marir, 'strong, robust,' come from the root Marra, to be bitter.' Thus too in the Latin, Acer, sharp,' applied to a man, denotes one who is valiant, who eagerly engages his enemy; and this very term is applied by Ovid as an epithet for lions: genus acre leonum, 'the sharp (a fierce) kind of lion.' The true antithesis of the riddle may therefore be thus stated: Food came from the eater: and sweetness from the sharp'-that is, eager, fierce, or violent. The Syriac and Arabic versions both render the original by 'bitter:' and some copies of the Septuagint have and πίκρου • from the bitter, instead of ἀπὸ ἰσχυροῦ. Josephus gives the enigma in this form; that which de

19. Ashkelon,' otherwise called Askelon or Ascalon, was, as we have before seen, the chief and denominating city of one of the five principalities of the Philistines. It was taken, with the others, by Judah (ch. i. 18), but that tribe did not long retain it. It was situated on the Mediterranean coast, between Gaza on the south and Ashdod on the north. It is distant about twelve miles from the former town, and, as well as can be ascertained, about twice that distance w.s.w. from Timnath. Why Samson went so far it is not easy to determine, unless it were that his aggression might be committed in another, and perhaps more adverse principality than that in which the previous transactions had taken place. In the time of Herodotus the place was famous for a temple, which, he says, was the most ancient of those consecrated to the Heavenly Venus, and which had been plundered by the Scythians, B.C. 630. This Heavenly Venus was no doubt the same as 'Astarte, -the Ashtaroth,' and the queen of heaven' (i. e., the moon) of the Bible. After passing through the hands of the powers which were successively dominant in this region, Ashkelon became the seat of a bishopric in the early ages of Christianity; and, in the time of the Crusades, the degree of importance which it still retained, and the strength of its position, caused its possession to be warmly contested between the Christians and Saracens; and it was the last of the maritime towns which were taken by the former (A.H. 548, A.D. 1153). In the history of the Crusades it is chiefly famous for a battle fought in its plains in 1099, when Godfrey of Bouillon defeated the Saracens; and another in 1192, when the sultan Saladin was defeated, with great slaughter of his army, by our Richard the First. Its fortifications were at length totally destroyed by the sultan Bibars in A.D. 1270, and the port filled up with stones. This doubtless sealed the ruin of the place. Since the expulsion of the Christians, it has ceased to be a place of any importance. Sandys, early in the seventeenth century, describes it then as a place of no note; more than that the Turke doth keepe there a garrison.' Fifty years afterwards Von Troilo found it still partially inhabited; but its desolation has long been complete, and it is now an entirely deserted ruin a scene of desolation,' says Jolliffe, the most extensive and complete I ever witnessed, except at Nicopolis'-verifying the divine predictions delivered when Askelon was in its glory, Ashkelon shall not be inhabited' (Zech. ix. 5); and, Ashkelon shall be a desolation.'. ... And the sea-coast shall be dwellings and cottages for shepherds, and folds for flocks' (Zeph. ii. 4, 6); and this is the literal truth at present with respect to the Philistine coast in general, and in particular of Ashkelon and its vicinity. See Richardson, ii. 204.

Askelon was accounted the most impregnable town on the Philistine coast. It is seated on a hill, which presents an abrupt, wave-beaten face to the sea, but slopes gently landward, where a ridge of rock winds round the town in a semicircular direction, terminating at each extremity in the sea. On this rock the walls were built, the foundations of which remain all the way round, and, although generally ruined, maintain in some few places the original elevation, which was considerable. They are of great thickness, and flanked with towers at different distances. It is remarkable that the ground falls within the walls, as it does on the outside; the town was therefore situated in a hollow, so that no part of its buildings could be seen from without the walls. The interior is full of ruins of domestic habitations, of Christian churches in the Gothic style, with some

traces of more ancient remains. Of the latter, the prin cipal ruin is situated about the centre of the town, and appears to have been a temple; in which a few columns of grey granite, and one of red, with an unusually large proportion of felspar, and some small portion of the walls, are all that now remains. It is possible that this structure may have been the successor of that old temple for which the place was anciently famous. Askelon was the native place of Herod the Great, who considerably improved it, and built there a celebrated palace, some traces of which might still possibly be discovered. Askelon was never of much importance as a sea-port, the coast being sandy and difficult of access. There is no bay or shelter for shipping; but a small harbour, at a short distance to the northward, serves now, as it probably did formerly, to receive the small craft that trade along the coast.

20. His companion, whom he had used as his friend.'This friend was probably what is called in the New Testament 'the friend of the bridegroom.' This person (called the paranymph) was a trusted friend, who was charged with a peculiarly delicate and confidential office. He de

voted himself, for a time, almost entirely to the affairs of the bridegroom; before the day of marriage, he was usually the medium of communication between the bridegroom and the bride; during the marriage festivity, he was in constant attendance, doing his best to promote the hilarity of the entertainment, and rejoicing in the happiness of his friend. Nor did his duties terminate with the completion of the marriage, but he was considered the patron and confidential friend of both parties, and was usually called in to compose any differences which might arise between them. Samson's friend must, as his paranymph, have had peculiar facilities in forming an acquaintance with the woman, and of gaining her favourable notice; and the treachery of one whom he had so largely trusted, must have been peculiarly distressing to Samson. Milton, also, entertains the view that the paranymph is here intended

CHAPTER XV.

1 Samson is denied his wife. 3 He burneth the Philistines' corn with foxes and firebrands. 6 His wife and her father are burnt by the Philistines. 7 Samson smiteth them hip and thigh. 9 He is bound by the men of Judah, and delivered to the Philistines. 14 He killeth them with a jawbone. 18 God maketh the fountain En-hakkor for him in Lehi.

BUT it came to pass within a while after, in the time of wheat harvest, that Samson visited his wife with a kid; and he said, I will go in

1 Heb. let her be thine.

turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails.

5 And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines, and burnt up both the shocks, and also the standing corn, with the vineyards and olives.

6 Then the Philistines said, Who hath done this? And they answered, 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 and burnt her and her father with fire.

7 ¶ And Samson said unto them, Though ye have done this, yet will I be avenged of you, and after that I will cease.

8 And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam.

9 Then the Philistines went up, and pitched in Judah, and spread themselves in Lehi.

10 And the men of Judah said, Why are ye come up against us? And they answered, To bind Samson are we come up, to do to him as he hath done to us.

11 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? what is this that thou hast done unto us? And he said unto them, As they did unto me, so have I done unto them.

12 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

Verse 4. Foxes.—The by

shual, of the Hebrew, rendered fox' in our version, is now generally agreed to be, in most cases, the jackal (canis aureus). This animal is well enough represented as something between the wolf and the fox, whence some naturalists are disposed to describe it as the wolf-fox.' It is about the size of the former animal. The upper part of the body is of a dirty yellow: a darker mark runs upon the back and sides; and the under parts are white. The jackals associate together like the wolves, and form large packs, sometimes, in Palestine, of about two or three hundred; differing, in this respect, from the fox, which is not gregarious. In such packs, they prowl at night in search of prey, which chiefly consists of carrion, to obtain which they approach to the towns and villages, and sometimes enter and prowl about the streets, when they can gain admittance. In some towns, large numbers remain concealed during the day, in holes and corners, which they leave at night to scour the streets in search of food. It is often necessary to secure the graves of the recently dead with great care, to prevent the corpse from being disinterred and devoured by these animals. The howlings of these packs of jackals are frightful, and give great alarm to travellers; hence they

said unto them, Swear unto me, not fall upon me yourselves.

that ye wil

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. 14 And when he came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him: 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 And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith.

16 And Samson said, With the jawbone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men.

17 And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking, that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand, and called that place "Ramath-lehi.

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 of the uncircumcised?

19 But God clave an hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water thereout; and when he had drunk, his spirit came again, and he revived: wherefore he called the name thereof "En-hakkore, which is in Lehi unto this day.

20 And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.

are also called in Hebrew N ayim, howlers,' improperly rendered wild beasts of the islands,' in Isa. xiii. 22; xxxiv. 14; Jer. 1. 39. They do not molest man, unless when they can do so with great advantage, as when he lies asleep, or disabled by wounds or sickness. The jackals, like the foxes, live in holes which they form in the ground: they are particularly fond of establishing themselves in ruined towns, not only because they there find numerous secure retreats, ready made, or completed with ease, but because the same facilities attract to such places other animals, on some of which they prey. From this circumstance, the prophets, in describing the future desolation of a city, say it shall become the habitation of jackals; a prediction verified by the actual condition of the towns to which their prophecies apply. Thus, the ruins of Askelon, which we noticed in the last chapter, afford habitation to great numbers of these animals.

But a species of fox is also of frequent occurrence in Palestine; and it appears that the Hebrews included both it and the jackal under the name of shual, although the latter was sometimes specially distinguished as the 'ayim.' It must therefore, in most cases, be left to the bearing of the context to determine, when the jackal and when the fox are

respectively denoted by the name (shual) common to both. That the jackal is the animal indicated in the text now before us, we may infer from the number of the animals taken by Samson, which must have been easier with creatures which sometimes prowl in large packs, than with a solitary and very wily animal like the fox, which is with great difficulty taken alive. This consideration obviates the cavils which have been made to the largeness of the number; and we are also to consider that the text does not oblige us to suppose that the three hundred were caught all at once, or even all by Samson himself. In the Bible, a person is continually described as doing what he had directed to be done; and, no doubt, such a person as Samson could easily procure whatever assistance he required.

-Tail to tail.'-That the ancients had an idea of such conflagrations being produced by animals, and particularly by foxes, is very evident. It is alluded to more than once, proverbially, by the Greek poets, as a thing well known. Thus, Lycophron makes Cassandra represent Ulysses as a cunning and mischievous man-the 'man for many wiles renowned' of Homer-and styles him, very properly, Aauroupos, a fox with a firebrand at his tail, for wherever he went mischief followed him And, what is still more to the purpose, the Romans, who, at their feast in honour of Ceres, the patron goddess of grain, offered in sacrifice animals injurious to corn-fields, introduced into the circus, on this occasion, foxes, with firebrands so fastened to them as to burn them, in retaliation, as Ovid seems to explain it, of the injuries done to the corn by foxes so furnished. Richardson, in his Dissertation on the Eastern Nations, speaking of the great Festival of Fire, celebrated by the ancient Persians on the shortest night of the year, says: Among other ceremonies common on this occasion, there was one, which, whether it originated in superstition or caprice, seems to have been singularly cruel. The kings and great men used to set fire to large bunches of dry combustibles, fastened around wild beasts and birds, which being let loose, the air and earth appeared one great illumination; and as these terrified creatures naturally fled to the woods for shelter, it is easy to conceive that conflagrations, which would often happen, must have been peculiarly destructive.'

There is, however, considerable difficulty in understanding how this feat of Samson's was effected. Commentators,

following the reading of the Septuagint, have, with common consent, adopted the interpretation, that two foxes were tied together by their tails with a firebrand between them. Now this does not appear to have been the practice of the Romans in their festival of Ceres, nor can it be clearly traced in any other instance. We may preferably understand the text to mean that each fox had a separate brand; and most naturally so; for it may be questioned whether two united would run in the same direction. They would assuredly pull counter to each other, and ultimately fight most fiercely; whereas there can be no doubt that every canine would run, with fire attached to its tail, not from choice but necessity, through standing corn, if the field lay in the direction of the animal's burrow: for foxes and jackals, when chased, run direct to their holes, and sportsmen well know the necessity of stopping up those of the fox while the animal is abroad, or there is no chance of a chase. We may therefore consider, that by the word rendered tail to tail' is meant that the end or tail of the firebrand was attached to the tail of the animal. Finally, as the operation of tying three hundred brands to as many fierce and irascible animals could not be effected in one day by a single man, nor produce the result intended if done in one place, it seems more probable that the name of Samson, as the chief director of the act, is employed to represent the whole party who effected his intentions in different places at the same time, and thereby insured that general conflagration of the harvest which was the signal of open resistance to the long-endured oppression of the Philistines. [Sce Kitto's Daily Bible Illus., Moses and the Judges, 3d ed.]

6. Burnt her and her father with fire.-The threat which had before frightened Samson's bride into treachery to her husband, is now executed in consequence of the results which that treachery produced. This is remarkable. The act was no doubt a tumultuary proceeding of the persons whose produce had been injured or destroyed by the fire which Samson kindled. It is not easy to say what was the precise motive of this act. What Samson says in the next verse, Though ye have done this,' etc., seems to sanction the opinion that they intended, by this deed, to propitiate Samson, and prevent further aggression; but that the hero did not, for all this, think that he had sufficiently availed himself of the occasion for avenging the cause of oppressed Israel (see chap. xiv. 4) which the conduct of the Philistines towards himself had given. We

are to recollect that Samson was, from his birth, the appointed avenger of Israel; and that, finding that his people were become contented slaves-more fearful of offending the Philistines than of asserting their independencehe was obliged to act individually, in transient and desultory attacks, which, in order not to commit his nation against their own will, he wished to be considered as acts of large revenge and retaliation for his own personal wrongs. Hence it is that the retaliatory measures of the Philistines are never directed against the nation, but against Samson personally, which shews that they considered him as acting on his own account; whereas, in fact, he was merely taking occasion from his private wrongs to avenge the wrongs of his people, for which purpose, as he knew well, he had been raised up, and gifted with the extraordinary personal prowess which he possessed.

8. In the top of the rock Etam.'-Rather in a cleft of the rock Etam. Clefts of the rock difficult of access, easily defended, and well suited for temporary retreats, are of frequent occurrence in Palestine. De la Roque, in his Voyage en Syrie, relates a fact curiously illustrative of this incident. The Grand Seignor, wishing to seize the person of the emir, gave orders to the pacha to take him prisoner. He accordingly came in search of him with a new army, in the district of Chouf, which is a part of Mount Lebanon, wherein is the village of Gesin, and close to it the rock which served for retreat to the emir. It is named in Arabic Magara Gesin, the cavern of Gesin, by which name it is famous. The pacha pressed the emir so closely, that this unfortunate prince was obliged to shut himself up in the cleft of a great rock, with a small

CHAPTER XVI.

1 Samson at Gaza escapeth, and carrieth away the gates of the city. 4 Delilah, corrupted by the Philistines, enticeth Samson. 6 Thrice she is deceived. 15 At last she overcometh him. 21 The Philistines take him, and put out his eyes. 22 His strength renewing, he pulleth down the house upon the Philistines, and dieth.

THEN went Samson to Gaza, and saw there 'an harlot, and went in unto her.

2 And it was told the Gazites, saying, Samson is come hither. And they compassed him in, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were 'quiet all the night, saying, In the morning, when it is day, we shall kill him.

3 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.

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

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 and we will

number of his officers. The pacha besieged him here several months, and was going to blow up the rock by a mine, when the emir capitulated.

'The rock Etam.'-We know nothing about the position of this rocky hill, farther than we may gather from the context. Josephus says it was in the tribe of Judah, that is, within its western frontier; and this statement is confirmed by what follows in the text, as well as by the fact that Rehoboam, king of Judah, fortified Etam, a town which was no doubt on or near this rock. The summits and hollows of rocks have, since Samson's time, in all ages, furnished retreats to the heroes of the country. We shall find other instances in the sacred history.

17. Ramath-lehi.'--The words should be translated rather than given as a proper name; and the hill of the jawbone' is preferable to the interpretation which is given as a marginal reading.

6

19. God clave an hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water thereout.'-Lehi, the name which Samson gave to the place, is jawbone' in Hebrew. From a fondness for multiplying miracles, it would seem,' says Dr. Hales, several of the ancient versions, followed by the English translation, understand Lehi here to denote the jawbone of the ass, rather than the place so called; at variance with the sequel. The marginal reading, Lehi, is correct. All modern commentators concur in this. Indeed, the propriety of this correction is evident from the context; for if we have 'jawbone' here, we ought to retain it in the concluding clause of this verse; and instead of saying, which is in Lehi unto this day,' say, which is in the jawbone unto this day.'

give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver.

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

7 And Samson said unto her, If they bind me with seven7green withs that were never dried, then shall I be weak, and be as another

man.

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

9 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. So his strength was not known.

10 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.

11 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..

12 Delilah therefore took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And there