20. "His companion, whom he had used as his friend." This friend was probably what is called in the New Testament "the friend of the bridegroom." This person (called the poranymph) was a trusted friend, who was charged with a peculiarly delicate and confidential office. He devoted himself, for a time, almost entirely to the affairs of the bridegroom; before the day of marriage, he was usually the medium of communication between the bridegroom and the bride; during the marriage festivity, he was in constant attendance, doing his best to promote the hilarity of the entertainment, and rejoicing in the happiness of his friend. Nor did his duties terminate with the completion of the marriage, but he was considered the patron and confidential friend of both parties, and was usually called in to compose any differences which might arise between them. Samson's friend must, as his paranymph, have had peculiar facilities in forming an acquaintance with the woman, and of gaining her favourable notice; and the treachery of one whom he had so largely trusted, must have been peculiarly distressing to Samson. Milton, also, entertains the view that the paranymph is here intended

"The Timnan bride Had not so soon preferr'd

Thy paranymph, worthless to thee compared."-Samson Agonistes.

CHAPTER XV.

1 Samson is denied his wife. 3 He burneth the Philistines' corn with foxes and firebrands. 6 His wife and her father are burnt by the Philistines. 7 Samson smiteth them hip and thigh. 9 He is bound by the men of Judah, and delivered to the Philistines. 14 He killeth them with a jawbone. 18 God maketh the fountain En-hakkore for him in Lehi.

But it came to pass within a while after, in the time of wheat harvest, that Samson visited his wife with a kid; and he said, I will go in to my wife into the chamber. But her father would not suffer him to go in.

2 And her father said, I verily thought that thou hadst utterly hated her; therefore I gave her to thy companion: is not her younger sister fairer than she? 'take her, I pray thee, instead of her.

3 And Samson said concerning them, Now shall I be more blameless than the Philistines, though I do them a displeasure. 4 And Samson went and caught three hundred foxes, and took firebrands, and turned tail to tail, and put a firebrand in the midst between two tails.

5 And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines, and burnt up both the shocks, and also the standing corn, with the vineyards and olives.

6 Then the Philistines said, Who hath done this? And they answered, Samson, the son in law of the Timnite, because he had taken his wife, and given her to his companion. And the Philistines came up, and burnt her and her father with fire.

7 And Samson said unto them, Though ye have done this, yet will I be avenged of you, and after that I will cease.

8 And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter: and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam.

9 Then the Philistines went up, and. pitched in Judah, and spread themselves in Lehi.

10 And the men of Judah said, Why are ye come up against us? And they answered, To bind Samson are we come up, to do to him as he hath done to us.

11 Then three thousand men of Judah 'went to the top of the rock Etam, and said to Samson, Knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us? what is this that thou hast done unto us? And he said unto them, As they did unto me, so have I done unto them.

12 And they said unto him, We are come down to bind thee, that we may deliver thee into the hand of the Philistines. And Samson said unto them, Swear unto me, that ye will not fall upon me yourselves.

13 And they spake unto him, saying, No; but we will bind thee fast, and deliver thee into their hand: but surely we will not kill thee. And they bound him with two new cords, and brought him up from the rock.

14 And when he came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him: and the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands 'loosed from off his hands.

15 And he found a new jawbone of an ass, and put forth his hand, and took it, and slew a thousand men therewith.

16 And Samson said, With the jawbonc of an ass, heaps upon heaps, with the jaw of an ass have I slain a thousand men.

17 And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking, that he cast away the jawbone out of his hand, and called that place "Ramath-lehi.

18 And he was sore athirst, and called on the Lord, and said, Thou hast given

this great deliverance into the hand of thy | again, and he revived: wherefore he called

servant: and now shall I die for thirst, and fall into the hand of the uncircumcised?

19 But God clave an hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water there out; and when he had drunk, his spirit came

9 Or, Lehi.

the name thereof "En-hakkore, which is in Lehi unto this day.

20 And he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty years.

10 That is, the well of him that called, or cried

Verse 4. "Foxes." The shall of the Hebrew, rendered "fox" in our version, is now generally agreed to be in most cases, the jackal (canis amens). This animal is well enough depictured as something between the wolf and the, fox, whence some naturalists are disposed to describe it as "the wolf-fox." It is about the size of the former animal. The upper part of the body is of a dirty yellow: a darker mark runs upon the back and sides; and the under parts are white. The jackals associate together like the wolves, and form large packs, sometimes, in Palestine, of about two or three hundred; differing, in this respect, from the fox, which is not gregarious. In such packs they prowl at night in search of prey, which chiefly consists of carrion, to obtain which they approach to the towns and villages, and sometimes enter and prowl about the streets, when they can gain admittance. In some towns, large numbers remain concealed during the day, in holes and corners, which they leave at night to scour the streets in search of food. It is often necessary to secure the graves of the recently dead with great care, to prevent the corpse from being disinterred and devoured by these animals. The howlings of these packs of jackals are frightful, and give great alarm to travellers; hence they are also called in Hebrew איים ayim "howlers," improperly rendered "wild beasts of the islands," in Isa. xiii. 22; xxxiv. 14; Jer. ii. 39. They do not molest man, unless when they can do so at great disadvantage, as when he lies asleep, or disabled by wounds or sickness. The jackals, like the foxes, live in holes which they form in the ground: they are particularly fond of establishing themselves in ruined towns, not only because they there find numerous secure retreats, ready made, or completed with ease, but because the same facilities attract to such places other animals, on some of which they prey. From this circumstance, the prophets, in describing the future desolation of a city, say it shall become the habitation of jackals, a prediction verified by the actual condition of the towns to which their prophecies apply. Thus, the ruins of Ascalon, which we noticed in the last chapter, afford habitation to great numbers of these animals.

But the common fox is also of frequent occurrence in Palestine; and it appears that the Hebrews included both it and the jackal under the name of shual, although the latter was sometimes specially distinguished as "the ayım." It must therefore, in most cases, be left to the bearing of the context to determine, when the jackal and the fox are respectively denoted, by the name (shual) common to both. That the jackal is the animal indicated in the text now before us, we may infer from the number of the animals taken by Samson, which must have been easier with creatures which sometimes prowl in large packs than with a solitary and very wily animal like the fox. This consideration obviates the cavils which have been made to the largeness of the number; and we are also to consider that the text does not oblige us to suppose that the three hundred were caught all at once, or even all by Samson himself. In the Bible, a person is continually described as doing what he had directed to be done, and, no doubt, such a person as Samson could easily procure whatever assistance he required.

"Tail to tail."-This was doubtless to prevent them from making too rapid a retreat to their holes, or, indeed, from going to their holes at all. They were probably not so tied that they should pull in different directions, but that they might run deviously and slowly, side by side, bearing the brand between them. The only difficulty is in understanding what sort of firebrand was employed, and in what manner it was conveyed by the jackals. The facility with which during the droughts of summer, the produce of the ground may be set on fire, has been already explained in the note to Exod. xxii. 6.

That the ancients had an idea of such conflagrations being produced by animals, and particularly by foxes, is very evident. It is alluded to more than once, proverbially, by the Greek poets, as a thing well known. Thus, Lycophron makes Cassandra represent Ulysses as a cunning and mischievous man-the "man for many wiles renowned" of Homer-and styles him, very properly, λαμπουρις, a fox with a firebrand at his tail. And, what is still more to the purpose, the Romans, who, at their feast in honour of Ceres, the patron goddess of grain, offered in sacrifice animals injurious to corn-fields, introduced into the Circus on this occasion foxes with firebrands so fastened to them as to burn them, in retaliation, as Ovid seems to explain it, of the injuries done to the corn by foxes so furnished. In Leland's Collectanea, there is an engraving representing a Roman brick, found twenty-eight feet below a pavement in London, about the year 1675, on which is exhibited, in basso-relievo, the figure of a man driving into a field of corn two foxes with a fire fastened to their tails. Richardson, in his 'Dissertation on the Eastern Nations,' speaking of the great Festival of Fire, celebrated by the ancient Persians on the shortest night of the year, says: "Among other ceremonies common on this occasion, there was one, which, whether it originated in superstition or caprice, seems to have been singularly cruel. The kings and great men used to set fire to large bunches of dry combustibles, fastened around wild beasts and birds, which being let loose, the air and earth appeared one great illumination; and as these terrified creatures naturally fled to the woods for shelter, it is easy to conceive that conflagrations, which would often happen, must have been peculiarly destructive."

6. "Burnt her and her father with fire." -The threat which had before frightened Samson's bride into treachery to her husband is now executed in consequence of the results which that treachery produced. This is remarkable. The act was no doubt a tumultuary proceeding of the persons whose produce had been injured or destroyed by the fire which Samson kindled. It is not easy to say what was the precise motive of this act. What Samson says in the next verve, "Though ye have done this," &c., seems to sanction the opinion that they intended, by this deed, to propitiate Samsos, and prevent further aggression; but that the hero did not, for all this, think that he had sufficiently availed himself of the occasion for avenging the cause of oppressed Israel (see chap. xiv. 4) which the conduct of the Philistines towards himself had given. We are to recollect that Samson was, from his birth, the appointed avenger of Israel; and that, finding that his people were become contented slaves-more fearful of offending the Philistines than of asserting their independence. he was obliged to act individually, in transient and desultory attacks, which, in order not to commit his nation against their own will, he wished to be considered as acts of large revenge and retaliation for his own personal wrongs. Hence it is that the retaliatory measures of the Philistines are never directed against the nation, but against Samson personally, which shows that they considered him as acting on his own account; whereas, in fact, he was merely taking occasion from his private wrongs to avenge the wrongs of his people, for which purpose, as he knew well, he had been raised up, and gifted with the extraordinary personal prowess which he possessed.

8. "The rock Etam." -We know nothing about the position of this rocky hill, farther than we may gather from the context. Josephus says it was in the tribe of Judah, that is, within its western frontier; and this statement is confirmed by what follows in the text, as well as by the fact that Rehoboam, king of Judah, fortified Etam, a town which was no doubt on or near this rock. The summits and hollows of rocks have, since Samson's time, in all ages, furnished retreats to the heroes of the country. We shall find other instances in the sacred history.

17. "Ramath-lehi;" "the hill of the jawbone," which Dr. Boothroyd gives as the interpretation of this proper name, is preferable to that which is given as a marginal reading.

19. "God clave an hollow place that was in the jaw, and there came water thereout." -Lehi, the name which Samson gave to the place, is "jawbone" in Hebrew. "From a fondness for multiplying miracles, it would seem," says Dr. Hales, "several of the ancient versions, followed by the English translation, understand Lehi here to denote the jawbone of the ass, rather than the place so called; at variance with the sequel. The marginal reading, Lehi, is correct." All modern commentators concur in this. Indeed, the propriety of this correction is evident from the context; for if we have "jawbone" here, we ought to retain it in the concluding clause of this verse; and instead of saying, "which is in Lehi unto this day," say, "which is in the jawbone unto this day."

20. " He judged Israel."-The marginal observation is no doubt correct.

CHAPTER XVI.

1 Samson at Gaza escapeth, and carrieth away the gates of the city. 4 Delilah, corrupted by the Philistines, enticeth Samson. 6 Thrice she is deceived. 15 At last she overcometh him. 21 The Philistines take him, and put out his eyes. 22 His strength renewing, he pulleth down the house upon the Philistines, and dieth.

THEN went Samson to Gaza, and saw there 'an harlot, and went in unto her.

2 And it was told the Gazites, saying, Samson is come hither. And they compassed him in, and laid wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were *quiet all the night, saying, In the morning, when it is day, we shall kill him.

1 Heb. a woman an harlot. Heb. silent.

3 And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at midnight, and took the doors of the gate of the city, and the two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the top of an hill that is before Hebron. 4 And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.

5 And the lords of the Philistines came up unto her, and said unto her, Entice him, and see wherein his great strength lieth, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to 'afflict him: and we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver.

Heb. with the bar. 4 Or, by the brook. 5 Or, humble.

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6 And Delilah said to Samson, Tell | fast with new ropes that never were occume, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength pied, then shall I be weak, and be as anlieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound other man. to afflict thee.

7 And Samson said unto her, If they bind me with seven "green withs that were never dried, then shall I be weak, and be as another man.

8 Then the lords of the Philistines brought up to her seven green withs which had not been dried, and she bound him with them.

9 Now there were men lying in wait, abiding with her in the chamber. And she said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he brake the withs, as a thread of tow is broken when it toucheth the fire. So his strength was not known.

10 And Delilah said unto Samson, Behold, thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: now tell me, I pray thee, wherewith thou mightest be bound.

11 And he said unto her, If they bind me

12 Delilah therefore took new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And there were liers in wait abiding in the chamber. And he brake them from off his arms like a thread.

13 And Delilah said unto Samson, Hitherto thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: tell me wherewith thou mightest be bound. And he said unto her, If thou weavest the seven locks of my head with the web.

14 And she fastened it with the pin, and said unto him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awaked out of his sleep, and went away with the pin of the beam, and with the web.

15 And she said unto him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart is not with me? thou hast mocked me these | praised their god: for they said, Our god

24 And when the people saw him, they | twenty years.

Verse 1. " Gaza." This town was the capital of the most southern of the Philistine principalities, and is situated about fifteen miles to the south of Ascalon, sixty miles south-west from Jerusalem, and between two and three miles from the sea. It is always mentioned as an important place in the Old Testament. Alexander the Great, after destroying Tyre, laid siege to Gaza, which was at that time occupied by a Persian garrison, and took it after a siege of two months. Alexander was often repulsed, and twice wounded during the siege; and after the town was taken he avenged himself by the most savage treatment of the brave governor, Betis. He did not destroy the town; but having killed a part of the old inhabitants and sold the rest, he re-peopled it with a new colony, and made it one of his garrisons. It was afterwards (B.с. 98) destroyed by Alexander Jannæus, the king of the Jews. It lay desolate about forty years, and was rebuilt by Gabinus, the Roman president of Syria. Augustus gave it to Herod the Great, after whose death it was re-annexed to Syria. It was afterwards, according to Josephus, again destroyed by the Jews, with several other towns, to avenge a massacre of their countrymen at Cæsarea. This explains the expression of St. Luke, who, in mentioning Gaza, observes that it was then "desert" (Acts viii. 26). It must, however, soon have been rebuilt or repaired, as it existed in the time of Hadrian, who granted it some important privileges; these were enlarged by Constantine, who gave it the name of Constantia, in honour of his son, and granted it the rank and privileges of a city. This seems to have led to the statement that Gaza was rebuilt by Constantine; but we cannot find good autho651