Vers. 18, 19. - Di-stress after triumph. I. ONE GREAT DELIVERANCE IS No SECURITY AGAINST ALL FUTURE TROUllLE. Samson is surprised and vexed that a new trouble should fall upon him after his great victory. There is a danger lest we should rest contented with past triumphs. • The Christian warfare can only end with the final 'rictory over death. Till then we are in the enemy's land, and must expect that one battle will only be succeeded by another. Though we may have a season of calm, an oasis in the desert, a quiet resting-place, "this is not our rest." Let us beware of the confident self-elation which often follows the conquest of a tempta- tion ; it may be an introdnction to a new and more dangerous one. IL SLIGHT EVILS MAY PROVE MORE DANGEROUS THAN GREAT ONES. Samson feels it humiliating to be in danger of dying of thirst after his victory over a much more imposing enemy ; but he had means to meet the greater foe, and none with which to face the smaller one. Evils are injurious not so much in proportion to their simple magnitude as in proportion to our susceptibility to them. The force of a. particular temptation depends on a man's special disposition and peculiarity of character, not simply on its inherent alarming or allnring qualities. It should humble us to learn that after escaping the greatest dangers by the help of God we may succumb to very small dangers if left to ourselves. III. SEASONS OF TRIUMPH ARE OFTEN FOLLOWED BY SEASONS OF DEPRESSION. Samson is despondent and querulous after his victory. So was Elijah (1 Kings xix. 4). No doubt this common experience is partly the result of nervous reaction. Excitable people oscillate between the extremes of ecstasy and despair. It has also moral grounds. We grow over-confident, we expect too much, we forget that l!fe cannot always be pitched in the heroic mood. The career of the loftiest souls 1s not one unbroken epic ; even this has its seamy side, its stale and unprofitable moments. There is a Divine purpose of discipline in this painful experience to keep us humble and in tmstful submission. IV. Gon HELPS us IN 0Ull DEPRESSION AS WELL AS IN OUR ELATION. God came to the rescue of Samson. Though he murmured, God had compassion on him. Go_d understands our weakness, and, understanding, pities it. He does not treat ~1s servants as heroes, but as children (Pa. ciii. 13). The depre~sion of feeli_n~ which destroys our consciousness of assurance does not destroy God s grace. It 1a import- ant to observe that the faith which is the condition of God's help is not our confidence in our own salvation, but the simple trusting of ourselves to God's c~re, so that when we least expect his help this may come upon us and surprise us, if only we thua cast ourselves upon his mercy.-A.
EXPOSITION. It mal have been many years after his victory CHAPTER XVI. at ha -Lechi, towards the latter part of his Ver.1.-Then. Itshouldbeand. Thereis twenty ye&ra' judgeship. Gaza, now Glvuzzeh, nothing to show when the incident occurred. one of the five chief cities of the Philistines, CH, XVI, 1-22.] THE BOOK OF JUDGES. 167