The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1888-12-15

LESSON xl, FOURTH QUARTER, IN
TERNATlONAL SERIES, DEC. 16.

LESSON xl, FOURTH QUARTER, IN
TERNATloNAL SERIES, DEC. 16.
Text of the lesson, Judges xvi. a1-3i.
Commit Verses Golden Text, sob xxxii,
documentary by I;cr. ID. III. stcarns
[Condcnsad from Lesson Helper Quarterly, by
permission of IL. s. Hoffman, phiado!pAia pub
Usher
In all the Scriptures the great truth is kept
before US that If we would ENJOY peace and
have victory over al enemies. it must be by
a mind stayed upon God, and by an humble
walk with Him in cheerful ana whole hearted
obedience. Another truth brought before
US over and over aad over again is that God
often chooses tho most unlikely instruments
with which to accomplish His purposes, that
no flesh may glory in His presence. And
everywhere we are taught Gods readiness to
forgive and to restore to favor and useful
ness in some measure when there is u true
turning from sin to Him, either on the part
Of nation or an individual
Gideon judged Israel forty years and was
succeeded By Abimelech, Toa and Jair; then
they did evil again and were oppressed by
the Philstines and Ammoutcs eighteen
years; God then raised up Jcphtha as their
delivcrer and iudge, and he was succeeded
by IbZam, Zion ana A1Gon; then uuey ca,
evil again ana were delivered into the hands
of the Philistines, who oppressed them forty
years; God then raised up Samson Gs a dc
livercr and judge, and his is the last rrle re-
corded in the book of Judges, the closing
chapters describing the condition of things
when every man did that which was right
in his own eyes" Chap. xvii, 6; xxi, 81
q. "Thc philistines took him, and put out
his eyes" Behold him, prisoner, slave,
blind and helpless, and consider who he is
and what he had been. Ills birth was fore
told By the Lord, who appeared twice to his
mother and once to Lis father; he was
Nazarite TO God from his birth, that is, one
who was fully separated unto the Lord, hav-
Ing nothing to do with the vine, either as to
wine or grapes, AM 10 razor was to come
upon his head Gum. Vi, IS; is to his
mighty acts he had rent q lion as he would
have rent kid, lie had slain thousand men
with the jawbocc of an Gss, when shut in
city by those who wanted to kill him he arose
in the night and took the gates and the posts
and the bar on his shoulders and carried
them away to tho top Of hill, and many
other marvellous fcats of suncrhunan
! strength had he performed, but now bis
power and glory have departed from him,
and he is in the power Of his enemies, a poor,
blind. helpless prisoner. What is the cause
of this terrible fall, and why this reproach
upon the Lord through His scrvant2 for not
ir ls=--.agnl I,.r+ Of
the Lord is dishonored. Milton in his ''..5aln-
son ASOnistos" makes him say:
TO God have brought
Dish0nor, obloquy, and oped the mouths
OF idiots and atheists, have brought scandal
TO Israel, GiEideuce Of God, and Goubt
II feeble hearts, p-opeIse enough before
To waver or fail Of and join with IDOLS
The cause was simply that Samson had do,
/ parted from his conservation and had given
his time and attention to things which he
should have been separated from. lie saw a
woman in Timnath; he saw an harlot in GAIA;
| he loved woman in the valley Of Sorek;
and thus, instead of making a covenant with
/ his eyes dob XXI, \, he let his eyes lead
| him into trouble, and now lie has lost them.
90. The hair Of his head began to grow
| again" Not that Samson's strength lay in
/ his hair, but in his conservation TO God of
| which his locks were al outward token; and
! rs we see the outward evidence of his separa-
| ton to God returning, have we not reason to
/ believe that IN his heart there is true pcni-
| tencc and Il sincere return to the God of
4 Israel, who had SO wonderfully called him,
/ but whom he had 50 GrievousIy slandcred.
23. "a great sacrifice unto DaSon, their
| god" Dagon is mentioned ten times in
/ Samuel ', -, and once in 1 Chronicles X, -.
1t was the great national god Of the Philis-
tines. The name signifies fish" and its
form IS said to have been the face and hands
Of man with the tail OF fish.
%. They praised their god" II Samson
| had only praised the living and truc God by
q whole hearted conservation TO Hin, then
these Gentiles had not had this occasion to
praise their god.
''Our God hath delivered into our hands
our eacny.n In this and the preceding verso
we find this statement, and they 10 doubt
thought it true. Ne5uchadnczzar proba5lv
| thought that tie sGbducd jehoiakim, bat it Is
written that ''tho Lord gave Jehoial1 IL into
his hand" Dan. i, -
p. call for Samson, that he may make
Us sport" 4 great company Of uncircula-
ciscd Phiiistins5 praising and worsilipin~
| devils or demons, and Il servant Of the Great
God of Israel il tacir midst making snort
for them. II is true tie was not there of his
own accord nor was it by any means to his
liking; but if he had not of his own free will
and by his own choice departed from being
| consecrated to God, he had never come to
this most pitiiul and disEraceful condition.
-. ''Ihc house was fun Of men and
| women" Three thousand on the roof. but
now many thousands inside We are not told /;
all beho!ding whilo Samson makes sport
How few such gatherings arc found to
worship Cod; one il Brooklyn, one in Lon
don, few others hero and there; but how
easy to gather the thousands if there is any
sport i'll tho service of Satan Which way
docs your own heart tend; mean, which
company do You honestly enjoy the most}
For l know that there arc Sunday school
teachers WHO enjoy the 50 called good time
better than the house and service Of God.
%. ":5aUson called unto the Lord lie
docs not seem to have been raised up to lead
forth an army, ike Ota2cil, Deborah and
Barak, Gideon or Jephthaa, but rather by
acts OF personal valor to avenge Israel We
now see lin in prayer, his last prayer and
strange as sach prayer may seem to Us, God
answered it. We must see Sampson here on
the side of the Lord desiring the overthrow
Of the enemies OF tho Lord. Some one has
suggested that he had better sight now than
before he lost his eyes. it is not our natural
sight, but the degree in which We see God or
the measure Of cur faith which makes Us to
havo power in lis service
20. Samson took hold Of tho two middle
pillars The people al Watching, no doubt,
to see what new form the sport would take.
wholly unconscious that in a moment they
would be in eternity. Samson know that lie
would die with them, but he knew Liza
whom he trusted; for a moment LONGER they
arc ell in the Same company, for q little
whilo their bodies lay in the Same heap, but
what about their souls which cannot def