oc
T H E TORCH OF REASON, SILV E R T O N , OREGON , JA N U A R Y 12. 1899.
2
hours, 20 m inutes steady work,
w ithout allow ing one m inute for
NCE upon a tim e, as the sto-
rest, sleep, eating or drinking,
rv J o k s sav, there was a
i But why did they peim .t his?
m an bv the name of Sam-
He was solitary and alone, with a
large arm y against him ; he had
son
Before he J was horn his moth-
a very prim itive weapon which
Thi« was a very
IS or
over two or
liberal esti-
oppos-
and he was to be born io some a H(rorig odor on their clothes w i l l ,
.
.
ed to him were men of war, arm ed
mother; if a woman had no son cauHe (be bees to get angry and
abits o annn
It has alw ays been a source of with bows and arrows, spears, ja v
there was no possibility of the h o r- g(jng them . If they sting a person
wonder as to how these anim als elins and other weapons with which
or being conferred upon her. Wo- wbo is not clean, how long would
they could inflict a death wound
men were of little consequence and th
M ¡n the putrefying carcass were fastened together.
, . , . The
, x . old
«laughter» were bariHy welcomed of a lion ¡„ a hot clim ate? 1 would ¡Scotch preacher decided th a t they long before Samson could get w ith
when born. Women were bought
{er Sam8On an«l his father and | had tallH 300 feet lon8- IIe af,er' in strik in g distance. Their coun
...
,
i
-
i
a-’ o r r l o
r o d llfW I
it
fin m P W n ilf..
h ilt
try did not extend but a few miles
and sold like cattle even by the mother had the honey from such a wards reduced it som ewhat, hut
still left them exceedingly long. But, in each direction, and in less than
Biblical people who were God s | ie(a bive th an myself.
seriously, how could these foxes’ the tim e stated they could have
chosen ones.
Sam pson then gave the riddle to ,
gathered all of their men of war to
F in ally an angel appeared to th< (birty young men and l>et they tails he tied together? One man
gether.
Their arm y was large
woman and told her she was to be could not solve it. They het th irty could not accomplish th e feat, if his
enough to conquer and hold in su b
come the m other of a son.
He changes of garm ents and th irty life depended upon it, especially in
jection all the children of Ju d a h in
was to be a “ N azarite” all the days sheets (or shirts) they could. an enem y’s country and for such a
cluding Samson.
of his life. T h at is, he was not to (Judges xiv. 12). Samson foolish purpose.
Sam son’s next feat was to carry
After th is occurrence, the P hilis
touch liquor of any description, ly told his wife the answer to the
away the gates to the city of Gaza,
or grapes, or any fruit of the vine, riddle and she told the young men. tines investigated the m atter and,
gates, posts, bars and all, taking
or eat of any unclean thing. He “ The sp irit of the Lord cam e upon in retaliatio n , burned Sam son’s
them to the top of a hill “ th a t is
was also denied the use of a razor, him ” again and he went down to wife and father-iri law. This a n
before H ebron.” As the gates of a
and his hair and beard m ust not Ashkelon and killed th irty men, gered him and he “smote them hip
city were supposed to be strong
be touched by any sharp tool. Such took their clothes and paid his b et and thigh with great slaughter;
people were N azarites, “ sacred unto with them . (Judges xiv. 19). W’hv and he went and dwelt in the top I enough to prevent the en trance of a
foe, and wide enough to perm it the
th e L ord”. (Num . vi.) Ibis may
(be people of Ashkelon permit of the rock E tam .” Again we ask,
speedy entrance or exit of their
explain why so m any HO"ca^ e(^ i this? W hat were the th irty whom why did the P hilistines perm it him
own arm y, and Hebron was about
“ cranks ’ wear lung hair and beard.
killed doing all the tim e he was to do these things? They had a
35 miles away, this was no easy
Sam son’s first appearance in a killing them ? Did they sit idly by great arm y, held the children of
Ju d ah as a slave nation, yet they job.
public character was when he went waiting their turn?
Sam son had a great faculty of
perm itted one of these slaves to
to visit T im nath. Previously he had
“ And Samson went and caught kill, rob, burn and pillage about as getting into trouble through wo
been moved by the “sp irit of the
three hundred foxes, and took fire he pleased!
men. All of his troubles were oc
.'Lord” in the cam p of Dan, but we
E vidently he did not get a casioned by this failing. But this
\ re not told of any wonderful brands (m argin, torches) and tu rn
ed tail to tail, and put a firebrand scratch in these com bats, as he was may be the peculiarity of those who
thing he did. He went down to
in the m idst between two tails.
ready to hold off 3,000 men if they are “ sacred unto the L ord,” and
T im n ath and there was sm itten
“ And when he had set the brands did not agree to his term s very soon may palliate the sexual crim es so
with the char.ns of a woman of the
P hilistines. Shortly after, Samson on fire, he let them so into the after “ sm iting them with great frequently com m itted by the cler
gymen of today. But, like them ,
an d his father and m other again standing corn of the Philistines, slaughter.”
W hen Samson went up into the he kept a t it u n til he got into
visited T im nath. W hile on his way and burnt up both shocks and also
down “ a young lion roared against the standing corn, with the vine rock, the P hilistines followed him trouble.
Again he loved a woman nam ed
h im ” . T he spirit of the Lord came yards and olives.” (Judges xv. with an arm y. The children of Ju-
dab saw them com ing and asked, Delilah and took her to be his wife.
upon him and “ he ren t him as he 4-5).
W hat a task! Foxes are th eslv - the reason. When told w hat Sam He was not alw ays p articu lar about
would have rent a kid, and he had
n o thing in his h a n d ” . T h erein a ' est, most cunning anim als known, son had done, 3,000 men of Ju d ah m arriage, as his trouble a t Gaza
great difference ol opinion concern- It iR alm ost impossible to catch went up into the rock to get him. was brought on by a visit to a “ h a r
ing th is event.
Biblical illu strat- them , as th e y avoid anything hut Even with this force, Samson was lot.” (Judges xvi. 1-3). D elilah
ors picture him with one of the the most deceitfully laid trap, able to dictate term s of surrender attem pted to learn the source of his
lion’s jaw s in each hand, engaged They have been known to spring before he .perm itted him self to he strength, was told three u n tru e
in tearin g them ap art. W ith his traps by schemes th a t would do bound. T hink of 3,000 arm ed men stories about it and each tim e she
perm itting one man to dictate term s attem pted to betray him to th eP hil-
jaw s a lion can crack a large bone credit to a hum an being,
istines. Not regarding his experi
as easily as we can crack a peanut
An old recipe for cooking a hare to them!
He finally perm itted them to ences, he finally told her how his
eh ell; the strength necessary to ac- reads: “ F irst, catch your hare.”
com plish this feat can th en b ein iag - Sam son’s first job would be to catch bind him and take him down to strength m ight be cut off. It all
ined.
One blow from a lion’s 300 foxes, and as dead foxes could the Philistines. And when he reach- lay in his hair. She was so u n fa ith
paw will kill the strongest m an. not run, he m ust catch them a liv e .'
them , “ the sp irit of the Lord ’ ful a wife th a t she cut off his h air,
W hat was this lion doing with his They are very ferocious and bite again came upon him , he broke the called in th e P hilistines and they
two front paws while this interest- fiercely; im agine the time he m ust bands that bound him and took bound him , put him in prison, put
ing conflict was going on? A sSam - have had, after catching them , to “ the jaw bone of an ass and killed out his eyes, and finally bound him
son “ told not his fath er or m other care for them and tie their tails to- 1,000 men with it!” (Ju d g es xv. with fetters of brass.
w hat he had done” (Judges 14:6), gether. Then to fasten a firebrand 15-16).
After a tim e they held a feast to
he m ust have fought his battle between each two tails, and after
W hat were these fighting men, th an k their god, Dagon, for deliv
w ithout tearing his clothes or fiesh getting the entire lot fastened, t h e i who were num erous enough to ering their enemy into th eir hands.
or getting any hl«»od on himself. If difficulty of setting them afire! Re- scare 3,000 nien of Ju d a h , doing W hile celebrating, in the exuber-
his clothes had been lorn or bloody member th a t all this time he was all the time Samson was killing ance of spirit, they called for Sam
o r if he had been wounded, they in an enem y’s country; he had to 11,000 of th eir num ber? I f he kill son to be brought in to m ake sport
would n atu ra lly have asked the ' care for the foxes, keep them quiet ed one a m inute, it would have ta for them .
He was accordingly
cause.
It would be most unreas- while he was tying them together, ken him 16 hours, 40 m inutes to brought in and set between two
en ab le to suppose th a t he could and prevent the Philistines learn- complete the job. But if he killed pillars.
kill a lion with his bare hands ing his object and taking steps to one m an every five m iuutes, he
C n the roof of the house were
prevent its consum m ation. The would have beaten the records of 3,000 men and women wbo watch-
b’^t^rm issitw "f^thc * 'a u th o r ,
was
equal to the conun- warfare. To kill 1,000 men at this ed while Samson m ade sport. Sam -
B ach, Lily Dale, N. Y.
t drum th at presented itself to Noah rate would have taken 3 days, 11 son asked the “ lad who was with
The Story of Sam son.*
o
w ithout Getting a scratch on them, when he attem pted to p u t all the
In fact it would not he reasonable anim als into the ark.
to suppose a man could kill a lion
But what would two anim als do
with his bare hands.
if f-stened together tn th .s way?
After a time he returned and The person who thinks they would
- carcass 1 run is verv m uch m istaken. In-
turned aside to look at the
w hen be reached the stead of ru n n in g they would turn
of the lion
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