DELILAH AND SAMSON.

THE extraordinary prowess of Samson had rendered him so formidable a foe to the Philistines, that they made many efforts to get him into their power, which he invariably baffled. Having suffered himself to be bound with new cords exceedingly strong, as soon as his enemies approached to seize him he burst the cords as if they had been threads, and having no weapon at hand he took the jaw-bone of an ass which happened to be lying near, and with it slew no less than a thousand men. Soon after this exploit, despising the power of the Philistines, he went to Gaza, and entering the house of a courtesan remained there till midnight. Having received intelligence that the men of the city were approaching to secure him, he arose, took the two gates of Gaza, with all their appurtenances, posts, bars, and chain, placed them upon his shoulders and carried them to the top of a hill, that is before Hebron, which is supposed by some commentators to have been twenty miles distant. Shortly after this, however, that unfortunate event befel him which was the ultimate cause of his death. Happening to meet with a beautiful woman, named Delilah, in the vale of Sorek, a place famous for its vines, he fell in love with her, but whether he married her or took her as a concubine does not appear, though the general character of Samson renders the latter at least probable. The chief men among the Philistines observing the madness of his passion, bribed this mercenary woman to extract from him the secret of his wonderful strength. Having secured the bribe, she at length succeeded in winning from him the important communication, which was, that his vigour lay in the preservation of his hair. This she immediately revealed to his enemies, and having lulled him to sleep with her caresses, she "called for a man, and she caused him to shave off the seven locks of his head; and she began to afflict him, and his strength went from him."*

THE DEATH OF SAMPSON.

No sooner had Sampson fallen into the snare laid for him by Delilah, than he was seized by the Philistines, and cast into prison in their city of Gaza. Here he remained about a year in solitary confinement, no doubt exposed to the severest privations, as he was in the power of a cruel and revengeful enemy. He was bound in strong fetters of brass, and "did grind in the prison-house," as slaves were accustomed to do, subjected to the most degrading indignities. In the course of time, his hair grew to its original length; thus, although his great strength was interrupted by losing those consecrated locks wherein that strength lay, it was renewed as soon as they had attained their former growth. About this time, the princes of the Philistines, not in the least suspecting that his vast bodily energies would ever be restored, assembled in the temple of Dagon to commemorate the deliverance from their most formidable enemy. Being a day of national festivity, all the princes and nobles were present before that huge idol, to which they bowed in senseless adoration. After they had performed their impious devotions, the feast was spread for them, and, " when their hearts were merry" they sent to the keeper of the prison, commanding that Sampson should be brought before them, in order that they might amuse themselves at his sufferings, and triumph in his degradation. When they had "made sport with him" for some time, indignant at their unmanly cruelty, Sampson desired his guide to allow him to seat himself against the pillars that supported the edifice in which his cowardly foes were deriding him, and which was at this time full of people, both above and below the galleries. His request was no sooner complied with, than he" took hold of the two middle pillars upon which the house stood, and on which it was borne up, of the one with his right hand, and the other with his left. And Sampson said, Let me die with the Philistines; and he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein; so the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life *."