The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1888-12-13
DEATH OF SAMSON.

DEATH UF SAMSON.
LESSON xl, fouRTH QUARTER, IN
rERkATIoNAL SERIES, DEC. 16.
Text of the L<sson, Judges xvi, 21-3l.
Commit versss Goiden Text, Job xxxfi,
a-CommsnkAry By Rev. D. II. stearns.
lc,ndensed frem IessOn Helper Quarterly, by
permission of H 3. Hoffman, Philadelphia, pub.
llsher.]
II all the seaipturss the great truth is kept
before US fhat i - would ENJOY peace and
have victofy oven ~ enemies, it must be bv
mind STAYED upon God, and by an humble
willk with Hin IN cheerful and whole hearted
obedience Another truth brought before
US over and over and over again is that God
often chooses thu NEST unlikely instruments
with which 70 accomplish His purposes, that
no flesh may slory in His presence. And
evsrywhere we ~ taught Gods readiness tc
forgive and 70 restore to favor and useful.
nGs III sou,e assure when thers Is true
turning fron - 70 Him, either on the part
Of : nation q = Individual
Gideon judged Israel forty years and was
Au,ceeded By Abtoelech Tola and Jair: then
thg did evil again and were Oppressed by
ths Rh hfllSein<e md Ammodites eigkxeen
years; God then raised up Jephtha as their
deliverer and judge, and he was succeeded
by Ibzam, Elon and Abdon; then they did
evil again ana were delivered into the hands
of the Philistfnes, who oppressed them forty
years; God then raised up Samson as a de
iyerer and judge, and his is the last rule 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, 25.)
81. "The 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. His birth was fore
told by the Lord. who appeared twice to his
mother and once to his father; he was a
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, and no razor was to come
upon his head (Num. vi, IS; as to his
mighty acts, he had rent lion as he would
have rent kid, he had slain a thousand men
with the jawbone of an ass, when shut in a
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 the top of hill, and many
other marvellous feats of superhuman
strength had he performed. but now his
power and glory have departed from him,
and he is in the power of his enemies, poor,
blind, helpless prisoner. What is the cause
Of this terrible fall and why this reproach
upon the Lord through His servant? for not
only is Samson disgFaced, but the name of
the Lord is dishonered. Milton in his ''Sam-
son Agonistes" makes him say:
Il to God have brought
Dishoaor, obloguy, and oped the mouths
OF idiots and atheists, have brought scandal
To Israel, diffidence Of God, and doubt
II feeble hearts. propense enough before
10 wavcr or fall OIL AID join with idols
T::o carso was simply that Samson had de-
parted from Lis coasecration and had given
his tilne and attention to things which he
shcGiJ have been separated from. He saw a
wci-ian in Timnath; he saw an harlot in GAIA
nc lorel q woman in the valley OF Sorek;
md taus, instead Of making covenant with
his c.'cs dob xxi, u, be let his eyes lead
him iE.o trouble, and now he has lost them.
~. The hair OF his head began to grow
again" Not that Samsons strength lay in
his hair, but in his conservation to God, OF
which his locks were an outward token; and
as ge.ser The aartl evidence of his separa,
ton to GOD retul4iing, have we not reason tc
believe til sia his heart there is true peni
telce anG 4 sincere return to the God oi
israel who had SO wonderfully called him
but whom be had SO grievously slandered.
.."i "A great sacrifice unto Dagon, thei,
god" Dagon is mentioned ten times in
Samuel V, ~, and once in l Chronicles K, 10
1t was the great national god of the Philis
tines. fhe nanlc signifies fish," and it.
:orfa is said to have been the face and hands
of q man with the tail of a fish.
2t ''They praised their god" If Samson
had only praised the living and true God by
whole hearted conservation to Him, ther
these Gentilos had not had this occasion tt
praise their god.
''Oar God hath delivered into our hand,
our enemy.n lii this and the preceding yers,
We iiild this statement, and they no doubt
thought it true. Nebuehadnezzar probably
| thought that he subducd Jehoiakim, but it Il
written that ''the Lord gave Jehoiakim intt
his hand" lDan i, -
~. Call for Samson, that he may makt
us sport" A grea. company Oh uncircum
| cised Philjstires praising and wcrshiping
| Gevils or demons, and a servant of the Great
God OF Israel in their midst making sport
! for them. II is true he was not there of hi
own accord nor was it by any means to hi
liking; but II he had not OF his own free viii
and by his own choice departed from beinl
consecrated to God he had never come ii
this most pitiful and disgraceful condition.
20. ''fhe house was full of men ani
Women" Three Thousand on the roof, bu
| how many thousands inside we are not told
ell beholding while Samson makes sport
How few such gatherings are found t.
worship Cod; ono in Brooklyn, one in Lon
| don, few others here and there; but how
cay to gather the thousands if there is any
| sport iii tue service CT Satan. Which waJ
docs your own heart tend; | mean, whicl
| company do you honestly enjoy the most
For krow that there are Sunday schoo
teachers wao enjoy the 50 called good timt
Better than the house and service of God
% ''Samson called unto the Lord" IL
dos not seem to have been raised up to leat
forth an army, liko Othneil, Deborah ant
| bGr1i,, Gideon or Jephthah, but rather by
rcts OF personal valor to avenge Israel. w,
row see Lin i'll prayer, his last prayer, ans
strange as such prayer may seem to us, Cox
answered it. We must SEQ sampson here ol
tho sida OF Tie Lord desiring the overthrow
| cf the enemies OF tho Lord. Some one ha
suggested that he had better sight now thai
before &c lost lis eyes. 1t is not our natura
sight, hut the degree in which we see God O
the measure of Our faith which makes US t,
have power in His service.
- Samson took hold Of the two middl
| pillars" The people al watching, no doubt
to see what Few form the sport would take
wholly unconscious that in moment the,
wcald 10 in eternity. Samson knew that h
would die With them, but he knew Hin
whom he trusted; for g moment longer the,
nso all III tho same company, for n littl
| waile their bodies lay in the same heap, bu
| what about their souls which cannot diei
so .'Eic slew at his death more than b
slew il his hfen Thousands out into the ur
seen in moment and their ways now sepal
ate; Samson, tho only one among them a
who knew God, end no an unfaithful wit
ress: Lcs we cannot follow.