be des troyed, that in bitter experience he might learn, how without God's presence he was nothing at all.

And so our falls always teach us best." But, as ever, sin proves the hardest taskmaster. Every indignity is

heaped on fallen Samson. His eyes are put out; he is loaded with fetters of brass, and set to the lowest

prison work of slaves. And here, also, the history of Samson finds its parallel in that of blinded Israel, with

the judgment of bondage, degradation, and suffering, consequent upon their great national sin of casting

aside their Nazarite vow.

But, blessed be God, neither the history nor its parallel stops here. For "the gifts and callings of God are

without repentance." The sacred text expressly has it: "And the hair of his head began to grow, as it was

shorn" - that is, so soon as it had been shorn. Then began a period of godly sorrow and repentance,

evidenced both by the return of God to him, and by his last deed of faith, in which for his people he

sacrificed his life; herein also following the great Antitype, though "afar off." We imagine,320 that "the lad"

who led him to the pillars on which the house of Dagon rested was a Hebrew, cognizant of Samson's hopes

and prayers, and who, immediately after having placed him in the fatal position, left the temple, and then

carried the tidings to Samson's "brethren" (16:31).

It is a high day in Gaza. From all their cities have the princes of the Philistines come up; from all the country

around have the people gathered. The temple of the god Dagon - the fish-god, protector of the sea - is

festively adorned and thronged. Below, the lords of the Philistines and all the chief men of the people are

feasting at the sacrificial meal; above, along the roof, the gallery all around is crowded by three thousand

men and women who look down on the spectacle beneath. It is a feast of thanksgiving to Dagon, of triumph

to Philistia, of triumph against Jehovah and His people, and over captive Samson. The image of Dagon - the

body of a fish with the head and hands of a man - which less than twenty years before had fallen and been

broken before the ark of Jehovah (1 Samuel 5:4), stands once more proudly defying the God of Israel. And

now the mirth and revelry have reached their highest point: Samson is brought in, and placed in the middle

of the temple, between the central pillars which uphold the immense roof and the building itself. A few

words whispered to his faithful Hebrew servant, and Samson's arms encircle the massive pillars. And then

an unuttered agonizing cry of repentance, of faith from the Nazarite, once more such, who will not only

subordinate self to the nation and to his calling, but surrender life itself! Blind Samson is groping for a new

light - and the brightness of another morning is already gilding his horizon. With all his might he bows

himself. The pillars reel and give way. With one terrible crash fall roof and gallery, temple and image of

Dagon; and in the ruins perish with Samson the lords of the Philistines and the flower of the people.

It has been told in Zorah. Gaza and Philistia are hushed in awe and mourning. Samson's brethren and his

father's house come down. From the ruins they search out the mangled body of the Nazarite. No one cares

to interfere with them. Unmolested they bear away the remains, and lay them to rest in the burying-place of

Manoah his father.

And so ends the period of the judges. Samson could have had no successor - he closed an epoch. But

already at Shiloh a different reformation was preparing; and with different weapons will repentant Israel,

under Samuel, fight against the Philistines, and conquer!