reason of this conduct, avenged him on his wife and father-in- law by burning them to death, yet was he bent on further vengeance, and " slew the PhiHstines, hip and thigh, with a great slaughter."
After this we do not wonder that the Philistines sought to take him : we only wonder that his own countrymen did not embrace this opportunity of uniting with him to shake off the yoke of their oppressors. The tribe of Judah, amongst whom Samson had taken refuge, were only alarmed for their ovra safety ; and, to screen themselves, engaged to apprehend him, and deliver him up to the Philistines. On their swearing not to destroy him theinselves, Samson surrendered up himself to them ; and suffered them to bind him with two new cords. The Philistines seeing him brought to them a prisoner, exulted greatly, and shouted aloud for joy : but their joy was soon turned into sorrow : for Samson burst the cords asunder, as easily as flax is consumed by fire ; and, with the jaw-bone of an ass, which he found near him, he slew no less than a thou- sand men.
Now we do not mean to ascribe the whole of this to mere revenge ; for we doubt not but that he was moved to it by the Spirit of God : but as Jehu afterwards was actuated by pride even whilst in other respects he was under a divine impulse, so was Samson too much under the uifluence of a vindictive spirit, whilst in other respects he was executing the designs of Heaven.]
2. A vain-glorious spirit —
[On this last occasion, when God had vouchsafed to him so great a deliverance, we should have expected that he would have been forward to give God the glory : but behold, he took all the honour to himself: " With the jaw-bone of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw-bone of an ass have I slain a thousand men^." How lamentable, that at such a time he should forget by whom this miracle had been wrought, and should so provoke to jealousy his heavenly Benefactor ! This, it is true, is but too common : but how evil it is in the sight of God, we may see in the judgment inflicted for it on a heathen prince; who, when applauded for his eloquence, omitted to give the glory unto God : he was smitten with a mortal disease, and " eaten up of worms'^."]
3. A spirit of lewdness and incontinence —
[Here was his great failing. His first connexion in mar- riage was imprudent, but not sinful : but when that tie was dissolved by the death of his wife, he seems to have enter- tained no more thoughts of an honourable connexion, but
^ Judg. XV. 16. <^ Acts xii. 22, 23.
275.] Samson's character and end. 75
addicted himself to an unlawful commerce with harlots. On one occasion, for the gratification of his sinful appetites, he put himself in the power of his Philistine enemies, and would have fallen a sacrifice to their rage, if he had not, beyond all reason- able expectation, risen at midnight from the liarlot's bed, and, by supernatural strength, borne away the gates of the city which had been barred against him**. At another time he became enamoured of a woman, called Delilah : and the violence of his attachment to her was ere long the occasion of his death. Bribed by the PhiHstines, she sought to obtain from him information respecting the source of his great strength. He to amuse her, and to avoid a disclosure of so important a secret, told her various things, and submitted to various experiments ; all of which issued in wonderful displays of his strength. But at last, " wearied to death" by her in- cessant importunity, he madly confided to her the secret, ' That his strength would vanish if only his locks were cut, since they were the badge of his Nazariteship, and the token or seal of his consecration to God : that seal once broken, the blessings which God had conferred upon him as a Nazarite would be forfeited and lost.' She now saw that she had gained her point, and prepared every thing for his destruction. But would not one have thought that after such a disclosure he would have taken care not to put himself in her power ? Yet behold, he soon afterwards fell asleep with his head in her lap ; and afforded her an opportunity of employing a man to cut oft' his hair. This being done, she woke him, as on former occa- sions ; and he, unconscious that the Lord had departed from him, went forth to shake himself as at other times. But now his strength was gone ; and the Philistines seized him and put out his eyes, and bound him with fetters of brass, and made him grind in a prison. What an avdul example is here of the miseries consequent upon unbridled lust ! The infatuation it produces is beyond all conception. Verily the fetters of brass did not form a stronger bond for his feet, than ungoverned pas- sions make for the souls of men. Even reason and common sense often appear to fail the persons who are under their in- fluence ; insomuch that, with temporal and eternal ruin before their eyes, they rush on, till they bring upon themselves the miseries which they would not shun.]