cated to the guests, and they, toward the close of the seventh day, gave in their answer. But Samson was perfectly aware of the treachery that had been practised: and, though he resolved to fulfil his promise, thirty of the inhabitants of Askelon were sacrificed to his resent:ment; for he went thither and slew thirty men and gave their spoil to the persons who had expounded his riddle. В. С. This marriage was productive of much calamity to the Philistines: for Samson's father-inlaw, having given his wife to another man on pretence that she was not beloved by him, the Israelite caught three hundred foxes, and sent them, with fire-brands at their tails, into the corn fields, so that all the standing harvest and other fruits of the earth were utterly con. sumed. Confounded at so great and unexpected a disaster, the Philistines eagerly enquired after the cause, and on hearing of the treatment which Samson had received, they took an ample revenge on his late wife and father-in-law by reducing them and their habitation to ashes. However, Samson's anger was not yet ap-peased; for he fell unexpectedly upon a party of his oppressors, and defeated them with great slaughter. This transaction roused the indignation of the Philistines, who, accordingly, pursued the object of their malice to the rock Etam and acquainted the men of Judah with their determination to chastise his insolence.. Accordingly three thousand Israelites went up to the top of the rock, and, after remonstrating on the absurdity of opposing their masters, brought Samson, bound, toward his enemies. At this sight the Philistines raised a general shout; but their triumph was of short duration, for Samson suddenly burst his bonds asunder, and, rush ing upon them with no other weapon than the jaw-bone of an ass, laid a thousand men dead at his feet. The instrument of their destruction was, also, rendered highly beneficial to the conqueror, for, on his expressing a fear that he might perish with thirst, God vouchsafed to cleave a hollow place in the jaw-bone, whence issued out an ample supply of water. After an interval of twenty years, the Philistines thought their enemy was within their power, and, accordingly, secured the gates of Gaza, with an intention to put him to death next morning. This precaution, however, was frustrated; for Samson, quitting his lodging at midnight, pulled up the city gates, with their posts and bars, and carried them up to the top of a hill in the vicinage of Hebron. Subsequent to this transaction, Samson became enamoured of a Philistine harlot, called Delilah, who lived in the valley of Sorek, and who soon occasioned his destruction. The five lords of the Philistines, being apprised of this circumstance, offered Delilah a considerable sum to discover the secret of her lover's un. common prowess, and to find by what method he might be reduced to the ordinary strength of other men. This proposal was cheerfully embraced, and all the arts of deceit and insinuation were practised by this unprincipled woman, to obtain the promised recompence; but Samson eluded the impending mischief, for some time, by assigning fictitious reasons for his strength. At length, however, being wearied with her importunities, he imprudently confessed that it lay entirely in his hair, and that he had been a Nazarite to God, from the time of his birth. Delilah, perceiving that she had now obtained the invaluable secret, caused him to be shaven, whilst he was asleep, and delivered him into the hands of his enemies, who barbarously put out his eyes, loaded him with fetters of brass, and compelled him to grind in the prison at Gaza. Elated with their triumph over so formidable an enemy, the Philistines resolved to celebrate a festival to their god Dagon; and, accordingly assembled in an edifice of such extent, that three thousand persons could conveniently sit upon the roof. In the height of their rejoicing and mutual congratulations, they sent for their blind adversary, to make sport with him; but their festivity proved of short duration, for Samson, having requested permission to lean upon the two pillars which supported the roof, and having earnestly besought the Almighty to strengthen him once more, overturned the idolatrous fane and buried the whole assembly in its ruins.. Meanwhile, Samuel, who had been dedicated to the service of God from his infancy, and who, at this time, was employed in opening and shutting the doors of the tabernacle, was roused from sleep by the voice of his Maker, and acquainted with the awful retribution which should speedily overtake the indolence of Eli, and the licentiousness of his sons. "Behold," said the Lord,. "I will do a thing in Israel, at which the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle. In that day I willi perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house: when I begin I will also make an end: for I have told him that I will judge his house: for ever, for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not." Samuel was fearful of repeating these awful predictions to the high priest, but, being solemnly adi jured to hide nothing, he disclosed the whole purport of the vision. After this occurrence, Samuel received many testimonies of Divine favor, and displayed such superior wisdom and piety that all the Israelites reverenced him as a prophet of the Lord. The fatal catastrophe of Samson's oppressors inspired Israel with the hope of effecting their emancipation from Philistine tyranny, and induced them to give battle to their haughty masters, in the vicinage of Eben-ezer; but God refused to espouse their cause, and permitted them to be ignominiously repulsed with the loss of four thousand men. Hereupon they resolved to bring the ark of the covenant into their camp, under the idea of striking a panic into the enemy, and of giving fresh animation to their own troops. This absurd project, however, was attended with the most fatal consequences; for Eli's two sons, with a prodigious number of Hebrews, were put to the sword; and the ark itself fell into the hands of the Philistines. At the news of these calamities, Eli, who had impatiently waited the result of the battle, fell backward from his seat and broke his neck; and the wife of his son Phinehas, expired on the same occasion, after giving birth to a child whom she named Ichabod, to signify that the glory of Israel was departed. de The Philistines carried their invaluable prize to Ashdod, and placed it in the temple of Dagon; but on their entering the fane, next morning, they had the mortification to see their idol lying upon his face before the ark. This circumstance, however, was attributed to mere accident, and the image was replaced in its original position; but, next day, it was found in the same humble posture, with the additional vexation of its head, feet CO and hands being broken off, and lying upon the threshhold. This occurrence, together with a dangerous distemper which raged in Ashdod, induced the inhabitants to send away the ark, and it was accordingly removed to Gath; but as the same affliction followed it both thither and to Ekron, it was at length dismissed, by the counsel of the Philistine priests, with suitable trespass offerings. The unexpected return of this sacred symbol, occasioned much rejoicing among the inhabitants of Bethshemesh, and a sacrifice was cheerfully offered in the field where it stopped: but, some of the people having presumed to examine the interior of it, the festival was suddenly changed into a scene of woe, and upwards of fifty thousand persons were struck dead by their offended Maker. The survivors were so extremely terrified at this unexpected judgment that they immediately caused the ark to be removed to Kirjath-jearim, where Eleazar, the son of Abinadab, was solemnly consecrated to become its keeper. В. С. 1096, Samuel, who by this time discharged the two important duties of judge and prophet, embraced this opportunity of exhorting the Israelites to put away their strange gods, to devote their hearts entirely to the worship of their Creator, and to implore that de liverance from the Philistine rulers, which their idola trous practises had hitherto prevented. Accordingly the people promised to fulfil his injunctions, and a solemn assembly, was held at Mizpeh, for the laudable purposes of fasting and prayer. : This meeting gave great umbrage to the Philistines, who immediately resolved to commence hostilities against their unhappy tributaries, and, with this design, began |