How in the midst of all this wickedness can he be deemed a saint ?
[We must make great allowance for the dispensation under which he lived, and the peculiar darkness of his times. But God forbid that we should vindicate such conduct as his ! We
^ ver. 1 — 3.
apprehend that we must look for his piety rather in his latter days than at any time previous to his confinement at Gaza. Certainly his early days were marked with a pious submission to his parents : and it is probable, that, in his wonderful exer- tions, there was more of affiance in God, and a regard for Israel's welfare, than appears upon the face of the history. Moreover, when God rebuked his pride by suflfering him to be in danger of perishing through thirst, he betook himself to prayer, and obtained a miraculous supply of water from God, by a well opened, not in the jaw-hone, as the translation im- ports, but in Lehi, as the marginal rendering more justly intimates^; the place being by anticipation called Lehi, in reference to this feat wrought by the jaw-bone.'\
But in our text we see the greatest proof of his
piety ; as will more fully appear, whilst we consider,
II. His end —
[Like Manasseh, this ill-fated Judge humbled himself in his affliction, and sought the Lord. Of this there is abundant evidence in his prayer. We grant that even here there seems to be a remnant of that vindictive spirit which we have before noticed : but we are willing to hope, that it was the cause of God and of Israel that he desired to avenge, rather than his own. The compliance of God with his request seems to warrant this conjecture. Indeed God's honour, if we may so speak, required such a signal act of vengeance to be inflicted on his enemies. The Philistines had assembled in a spacious edifice, to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon, their idol-god. To him they ascribed praise and honour, as having triumphed over the God of Israel. Thousands of their chief men and women were as- sembled in the place, and three thousand others on the roof; and Samson was brought forth, to be made an object of profane mirth and triumph. Then it was that Samson offered this prayer, and willingly devoted himself to death, that he might be an instru- ment of God's vengeance on them. The place was supported by two contiguous pillars : and God enabled him, by a wonderful exertion of strength, to pull down the pillars in an instant, and thus to overwhelm at once the whole assembly. He fell indeed himself in the common ruin : but in his death he reminds us of that adorable Saviour, who " triumphed over principalities and powers upon the cross," and " hy death overcame him that had the power of death, and delivered those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage."
Here we cannot but contemplate the benefit of affliction. At Lehi, it was rendered serviceable to humble his pride ; and
e " En-hak-kore" means, The tvell of him that cried : and it con- tinued in Lehi for many years. Judg. xv. 19.
\
276.] micah's false confidence. 77
at Gaza it brought him fully to repentance. We are ready to pity the degraded Judge of Israel when we see him reduced to such a state of misery by his enemies : but, if we pity the man, we congratulate the sinner; to whose final salvation these heavy trials were made subservient : and we congratulate all, whatever their afflictions be, who find them overruled for so great a good.]
This subject may well be improved,
1. For warning —
[How painful is it to see a person, who had been conse- crated to God from his first conception in the womb, and who had given early hopes of fulfilling the desires of his parents and the designs of God, abandoning himself to the lawless indul- gence of his appetites and passions ! Yet thus it is with many, whose parents have watched over them with the tenderest care,