HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vers. 21-31.-.A hero's e,:rodus. The blind captive, led by a boy, and degraded to the office of a buffoon in the idolatrous services of the Philistines, is a sad spectacle. But inwardly he was nobler than when carrying the gates of Gaza. His soul's eyo has opened, and he repents. The locks that had been shorn grow again, and with them, gradually and, apparently, unconsciously, his strength returns. The Divinely- offered opportunity. The last act an atonement. I. GoD OFTEN SUFFERS HIS ENEMIES TO OVERLEAP THEMSELVES. Here they are exultant. They rejoice as over a foe utterly vanquished. They do not know that their festival, blasphemy against God, is to be the occasion of their destruction. "The green bay tree " may be nearer to the axe than insignificant fruit tree. II. THERE IS .AN "UNKNOWN QUANTITY," NOT TO BE CALCULATED UPON, IN THE REPENTANCE OF THE BACKSLIDER. Even the ruin of a believer may be the temple of the Holy Ghost. .A short time with God's blessing may suffice to retrieve the errors of a lifetime. "Faith as a grain of mustard seed" can" remove mountains." How often has Satan been disappointed of his prey I Some of the greatest of God's servants have been won back from backsliding. Let the wicked beware then of their companion and laughing-stock, and let the believing Church work on; the poor u_se- less wreck over which we despairingly weep may yet become a man age.in, a blessmg e.nd a comfort to many souls. III. THE PRAYER OF REPENTANCE AND FAITH MAY RETRIEVE A SOUL'S RUIN. Can God give ear to this heart-touching cry, and shall he not listen to his captive chil- dren in the dungeons of sinful habit or the temples ~f superstition? "Thi_s once,," " only this once." One prayer, one look at the Crucified, one grand effort m God & strength, how much it may do I IV. EVEN THE WEAK ONES OF GOD ARE MIGHTIER THAN THE GREAT ONES OF THE WORLD.-M.
Vers. 28-30.-Samson's heroic death. The death of Samson was more honourable to the man and more useful to his nation than any event in his previous career. The heruis,11 of his death followed the return of God's strength. I. THE RETURN OF STRENGTH. 1. It followed a great fall. We may learn lessons on. xvn. 1-13.) THE BOOK OF JUDGES. 17'
from our own failur~~· Th~ough our very weakness we may di.Reem the secret of strength. . The hum1hty which sho~ld accompany ~ailure is one of the first steps towards w:1ser conduct.. 2. It came m ~ season of durtreJJs. Samson wae a prisoner, defeated, meulted, mutilated. Sorrow 1s one road to God's grace, (1) as it teaches us the folly of the evil conduct that produced it, (2) as it leads us into a mood of serious and heart-searching reflection in which true wisdom is found, and (3) as it teaches us our helplessness, and compels us to tum to God for deliverance. 3. The return of strength followed a return to obedience. This wae suggested by the grow- ing of Samson's hair and the return to fidelity to his vow. It was gradual. We are received into God's favour immediately we return in penitent faith; but we only conquer evil consequences of sin and regain lost powers and position by degrees. 4. The return of strength was realised through prayer. Samson now knows his weakness. In his own soul be is weak. Strength must come from above. There is no prayer which God will more certainly hear than that \\ hich invokes bis aid in our performance of some great self-sacrificing duty. II. THE HEROIC DEATH. 1. Samson uses his new strength for the deliverance of his nati011,. It is not given him merely for the amusement of the Philistines. ff God gives us any special powers, he does so for some high purpose. We must not waste these in idle amusements, but put them to practical service. 2. Samson can only accomplish the greatest feat of his life by means that bring death to himself. (1) Thie we.a partly a result of his sinful weakness, which had betrayed him into the bands of his enemies, and brought him to such a position of bondage that his own death must be involved in that of the Philistines. Thus sin leaves consequences which produce suffering even after repentance and a return to a better life. (2) It was also an instance of that strange law which makes the greatest good to men depend on the sacrifice of the benefactor. It bas thus something in common with the death of Christ, though with many points of difference, Samson's death involv- ing the destruction of his enemies, while Christ's death is expressly designed to give salvotion to his enemies.-A.
EXPOSITION. CHAPTER XVII. Levit. v. 1. The word thou CW's~dst here and the voice of swearing in LevitictlS are Ver: 1.-We here light upon quite a dif- the same root. It was in consequence of ferent kind of history from that which has this adjuration that Micah confessed his preceded. We no longer have to do with guilt. Compare Matt. xxvi. 63, when our judges and their mighty deeds in delivering Lord, on the adjuration of the high priest, Israel from his oppressors, but with two broke his silence and confessed that he Wf\s detached histories, which fill up the rest of Christ, the Son of God. In Acha.n's con- the book, relating to the internal e.ff'e.irs of fession (Josh. vii. 19, 20) there is no distinct Israel. There is no note of time, except that reference to Levit. v. 1, though.this may have they happened before the time of Saul the been the ground of it. - • _ king (eh. xvii. 6; xviii. 1), and that Phinehas Ver. 3.-I had wholly dedicated. It i., the son of Elee.ze.r was a.live e.t the time of not clear whether the words are to bo ren- the occurrence of the second (eh. xx. 28). dered as in the A. V., had dedicated, express- Both, no doubt, a.re long prior to Samson. ing the dedication of them before they were The only apparent connection of the history stolen, or whether they merely express her of Micah with that of Samson is that both present purpose so to dedicate them. But relate to the tribe of Dan, e.nd it may be the A. V. makes very good sense. Her presumed were contained in the annals of former purpose had been that the money that tribe. Compare the opening of the should be given for her son's benefit to Books of Samuel (1 Sam. i. 1). :Mount make his house an house of gods. Now that Ephraim, i. e. the hill country of Ephraim, he had confessed, she resumed her pnrpose. as in eh. iii. 27 ; vii. 24, &c. Now therefore I restore it unto thee - Ver. 2.-The eleven hundred. See eh. that is, in the shape of the graven and xvi. 6, note. Thou ouraedat. The Cethib molten images, as it follows in the next and the Alexandrian Codex of the Septuagint verse. The narrative gives a curious ex- read, Thou cursedst, i. e. ndjuredst me, ample of the semi-idolatry of the times. A which is II better reading. There ia a direct graven image and a molten ima~e. Thero and verbal reference to the l11w conta.ined in is a. good deal of difficulty in assigning the JUPGl,:S. N li8 THE BOOK OF JUDGES. [CH. XVII. 1-13.