Thus was Midian subtheir heads no more.

selves together, and pursued after them; and Gideon and the three hundred came to Jordan, and passed on, faint, yet pursuing. And they smote the host. Then the men of Israel said unto Gideon, Rule thou over us, thou and thy son, for thou hast delivered us from the hand of Midian. And Gideon said unto them, I will not rule over you, neither shall my son; the Lord shall rule over you. dued, so that they lifted up And the country was in quietness forty years, in the days of Gideon. But after his death, the children of Israel turned again, and made Baalberith their god, and remembered not the Lord their God, who had delivered them out of the hands of all their enemies on every side. And they made Abimelech, the son of Gideon, their king; and he slew all his own brothers, but one, and was himself slain at last. And after him came many other judges to rule Israel; but Israel forsook the Lord and served not Him, but strange gods, the gods of the heathen. And the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines; and the children of Ammon fought against them, so that Israel was scre distressed, and cried unto the Lord. And He said, Go, and cry unto the gods which ye have chosen let them deliver you. And the children of Israel said, We have sinned. And they put away the strange gods from among them, and served the Lord. And His soul was grieved for the misery of Israel. Then Jephthah, who feared God, was made head and captain over Israel, and he went and fought against the children of Ammon. And the Lord delivered

them into his hands. And Jephthah judged Israel six years, and then died. And after him, Ibzan, and Elon, and Abdon judged Israel in peace.

How ungrateful were the children of Israel to God! While under the rule of some good judge who feared God, they kept themselves from idols; but as soon as they were left to themselves, they seemed to forget all that had been done for them, and all the mighty works of the Lord, and began to bow down and worship the idols of wood and stone, made by the hands of men. It was because they had disobeyed God that they were tempted to commit such sin. They had allowed the heathen men and women to live in peace amongst them. They had even married amongst them. And to bring them to a sense of their sin, God was obliged to punish them heavily, and sell them as slaves amongst the heathen. Then, when they suffered, they remembered God, and cried to Him in their anguish. And He never cast them off; but in His great mercy saved them again and again.

Did the children of Israel obey God, and destroy all the heathen?

What was the consequence of their disobedience?

Who judged Israel after the death of Joshua, and all that generation?

What was the story of Sisera?

Who was raised up by God to save Israel?

How did God show His power through Gideon and the three hundred men?

Did Israel remain faithful to God after the death of Gideon?

The Story of Samson.

AMSON, the strongest man of old,
Judged Israel twenty years;
His birth an angel had foretold,

The child of hopes and fears.

A lion roaring in his way,
He rent it like a kid;
And honey found, another day,
Within its carcase hid.

He slew the heathen Philistines

With jaw-bone of an ass;
He burnt their olives, corn, and vines,
As so much withered grass.

And whilst his enemies await,
In Gaza's bounds, their prey,
Samson tore up the city gate,
And bore it far away.

Alas! he turned aside from good,
Betrayed his secret strength,
And then, abandoned by his God,
Was made a slave at length.

The Philistines put out his eyes,
But God forgives him then,
And, in the hour blind Samson dies,
He slays three thousand men.

CHAPTER XVII.

Israel in the Hands of the Philistines. Story of Samson, the Strong Man, and Judge of Israel.

ND the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord; and the Lord delivered them into the hand of the Philistines forty years.

And there was a certain man of the tribe of Dan, whose name was Manoah, and he had no children; and the angel of the Lord appeared unto his wife, and told her that she should have a son. And the angel said, No razor shall come on his head, for he shall be a Nazarite, and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hands of the Philistines. Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God came unto me, and his countenance was like the countenance of an angel of God, very terrible. But I asked him not whence he was, neither told he me his name. Then Manoah intreated the Lord to send the angel again. And God hearkened to the voice of Manoah, and the angel