ner of his death. The Philistines having deprived him of sight, kept him, like a wild beast, for mockery and insult; and brought him, on a certain occasion, into a large amphitheatre, where several thousand persons were assembled to celebrate a feast in honour of their god Dagon. By this time Samson's hair had recovered its growth, his strength was restored, and he used it to destroy both himself and his enemies. Having persuaded the boy, who guided his steps, to place him where he could reach two pillars, upon which the roof of the building rested, he tore them down, and the mass falling upon those who sat under it, crushed them to pieces. Among the number of the slain was Samson, who had, indeed, entreated as an act of mercy from God that he might not survive.

There are few matters related in the preceding chapter which appear to us to stand in need of any particular explanation or defence. With respect to the miraculous interference, by which God was pleased, from time to time, to manifest his readiness to forgive his repentant people, and the uniformity of his gracious designs towards mankind at large, no more can be said, than has been said already of other, and equally surprising transactions. The personal feats of Samson, the victories of Gideon, Jephthah, and others, were all achieved by that power, which is circumscribed by no laws, and however contrary to the natural order of things some of them may appear, they cannot be rejected, without invalidating the whole testimony of Scripture. It is not so, however, in reference to certain other transactions, whose contrariety to the immutable laws of right, stands conspicuous. The assassination of Eglon, and the murder of Sisera, are both of them deeds, of which no Christian can approve; and which, though they were permitted by Jehovah, and applauded by the people of Israel, we are not justified in supposing that the Almighty regard ed with favour. On the contrary, there cannot be a doubt that here, as in the case of Jacob's treachery, God made guilty persons the instruments by which his ends were attained, exactly as, in our own times, the rebel and the regicide were God's ministers of wrath, to a blinded court and an impious nation. So it is with respect to the intestine feuds, and terrible punishments, inflicted, as well by one party of Israelites upon another, as by the Israelites upon the heathen. These were the offspring, and the necessary offspring of barbarous times which God could not

hinder, without violently counteracting all the operations of the human mind, and as such never has been, and we may well believe, never will be his mode of guiding man to the truth, there is no ground of disbelief, or even of uneasiness, in the most revolting of these histories. So far indeed are such disclosures from invalidating the testimony of Scripture, that they add to it, inasmuch as the inspired writer, by relating the crimes and follies, not less than the virtues and great actions of his countrymen, establishes a claim upon our confidence, which any other line of conduct must have failed to create, because it is perfectly inconceivable that any one, whilst inventing a fiction, would have interspersed it with so many notices, derogatory from the honour of this nation.

Abstaining, therefore, from the discussion of points, which, if we regard them impartially, stand in no need of discus sion, we shall content ourselves with the remark, that God does not always select the most perfect moral characters, to be the executioners of his judgments, a truth which is nowhere more distinctly proved, than in the cases of Samson, Ehud, and Jael.

CHAPTER XIV.

Government of the Judges continued-Loss of the Ark—Miraculously restored-Saul anointed King-His History and Death.

A. M. 4259 TO 4341.-B. c. 1152 To 1070.

WHILE Samson was thus exerting his supernatural strength to harass the external enemies of Israel, its internal affairs, as well civil as religious, were administered by Eli, the high-priest. Pious and upright in his own character, Eli appears, nevertheless, to have permitted the grossest abuses to be practised by his sons Hophni and Phinehas, till the people became at last disgusted with the service of God, who in return denounced against them and their governor the heaviest judgments.

One of the most regular attendants upon the pubB. C. lic festivals at this time was a man named Elkanah, 1142. a Levite of the tribe of Ephraim, who had married two wives, one of whom bore him children, while the other was barren. The latter, doubly distressed on account of the reproaches of her more fortunate rival, prayed earnestly that God would take away her reproach, and was, on a certain occasion, assured prophetically by the high-priest, who noticed her manner, that the prayer which she had uttered would be heard. In due time a son was born to her. named him Samuel, in commemoration of the circumstances which preceded his birth, and having devoted him to the service of the tabernacle, she brought him up, as soon as he had attained to a proper age, and gave him into the care of Eli.

She

It happened on a particular night, as the child lay asleep in his bed, that he heard distinctly the voice of some one calling to him by name. As he knew nothing, as yet, of Divine communications, Samuel naturally concluded that he had been summoned by Eli, and running unto the highpriest's chamber, declared himself ready to fulfil his wishes.

This occurred thrice, till Eli perceived that his young charge had been favoured with a vision, and instructed him how to act. The consequence was, that God rendered Samuel the channel of communication between himself and Eli, by informing him of the evils which would befall the high-priest; and the child, being closely questioned in the morning, concealed nothing from his guardian.

From that hour, Samuel may be said to have entered upon his prophetic career. As he grew towards manhood, God held communications with him more direct and more frequent; and his countrymen, seeing this, began to look up to him with peculiar deference and respect. But the deference which they paid to Samuel operated not as a corrective of the evil practices into which they had fallen. Punishment alone seems ever to have brought the Hebrews to a sense of their own folly, and a heavy calamity, such as "made both the ears of every one that heard it tingle," soon overtook them.

There was war at this time with the Philistines, and in an action fought near Eben-ezer, the Israelites were defeated with the loss of four thousand men. Irritated rather than disheartened by the defeat, the Israelites again mustered their forces, and attributing to the material ark that virtue which belonged only to God's favour, obtained by means of their own obedience, they sent to request that it and its attendant priests might come down to the army. The ark was accordingly brought into the camp, Hophni and Phinehas, as in duty bound, accompanying it; and the people, confident that Jehovah would now fight for them in real earnest, advanced boldly to the charge. But the event by no means justified their superstitious expectations. They were totally defeated, thirty thousand men, including the two sons of the high-priest, being slain; and the ark, on whose presence they had counted so fondly, fell into the hands of the Philistines. Such was the commencement of God's threatened punishment upon Eli and his house; but it ended not here. A messenger abruptly communicating to the high-priest the loss which had been sustained, the old man fell backwards from his seat and died, while Phinehas's wife, being prematurely taken in labour, lived only till she had brought a son into the world, whom she named I-chabod.

VOL. I.-Z

1122.

In the mean while, the Philistines, elated with B. C. their victory, conveyed the ark of God to Ashdod, and placed it in triumph in the temple of their god, Dagon. Their horror, however, was only to be equalled by their astonishment, when, on entering the fane on the following day, they found that the statue of Dagon had fallen flat on the ground, and though they raised him up and planted him once more upon his pedestal, the same thing again occurred during the ensuing night. On this occasion, indeed, the image of Dagon was broken to pieces, and the people of Ashdod became so alarmed, that they caused the fatal ark to be conveyed beyond their walls. It was, in consequence, removed from city to city, till it had made a circuit round the principal settlements of the Philistines, and wherever it came, evil came with it, both upon the people and upon their gods. A severe and loathsome disease broke out among them; swarms of field-mice consumed their corn ere it was cut down, and the hand of Jehovah was seen to lie heavily upon them. It was now that certain of their priests and divines strongly advised them to send away the chest, which they, not unnaturally, regarded as the origin of all their troubles. In consequence of this advice a certain number of golden mice and emerods were deposited in the ark, which was put into a cart, to which a couple of heifers were yoked, whose calves the priests directed their rulers to secure; yet the animals no sooner found themselves at liberty, than, setting the instincts of nature at defiance, they proceeded at a quick pace towards Beth-shemesh, within the territories of Israel. Here, upon an extensive plain, in which a number of reapers were employed, they halted. The people, flocking round, soon began to exhibit their joy at the occurrence of so propitious and unlooked-for an adventure. The cart being broken up into firewood, the heifers were offered as a sacrifice upon the spot, while the Levites, with all solemnity, placed the ark on the top of a huge stone. Unfortunately, however, the men of the place, instigated by curiosity and forgetful of God's prohibition, pressed forward to gaze into the chest, for which offence seventy were struck dead out of a crowd of upwards of fifty thousand persons.

The effect of this judgment was to impress the people of Beth-shemesh with an excessive dread of the ark, which