the honey, but without telling them that he had taken it from the mouth of the lion. His father and mother, as was the custom, made a feast for the marriage of their son, and invited the citizens of the place to the number of about thirty, who were all Philistines. During the feast Sampson said, 'I propose to you a riddle, which if you can declare to me within the seven days of the feast, I will give you thirty tunics and as many coats; but if you shall not be able to declare it, you shall give me thirty tunics and the same number of coats.' They answered him, 'Put forth the riddle, that we may hear it.' Sampson said to them, 'Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness.' When the seventh day came and they could not discover the riddle, they said to the wife of Sampson, 'Soothe thy husband, and persuade him to tell thee what the riddle meaneth. But if thou wilt not do it, we will burn thee and thy father's house. Have you called us to the wedding on purpose to strip us? So she wept before Sampson and complained, saying, Thou hatest me, and dost not love me: therefore thou wilt not expound to me the riddle which thou hast proposed to the sons of my people.' But he answered, 'I would not tell it to my father and mother, and how can I tell it to thee?' At length, as she was troublesome to him, he expounded it. And she immediately told her countrymen. And they on the seventh day before the sun went down said to him, 'What is sweeter than honey? and what is stronger than a lion? And he said to them, 'If you had not ploughed with my heifer, you had not found riddle.' out my Sampson's riddle has a reference to Jesus Christ, under the figure of the Lion of the tribe of Juda, who before His Incarnation was known as the Lion of his own tribe, for the severity of His judgments, but who, now that He has become the food of His people in the Holy Eucharist, is known for His spirit of sweetness and meekness in the new covenant of the Gospel. § 45. Sampson slays more in his death than in his lifetime. Sampson now judged Israel for twenty years, and on one occasion he went down to Gaza, a town of the Philistines. It was noised abroad that Sampson was in the city, and the people surrounded him, intending to kill him in the morning. But in the night Sampson rose, and taking the doors of the gate with the posts thereof, he carried them to the top of the hill that looketh towards Hebron. After this, Sampson loved a woman of the Philistines named Delila. The lords of the Philistines, seeing this, came to Delila, and said to her, 'Deceive him, and learn from him wherein lieth his great strength, and whereby we may overcome him and bind him; the which if thou wilt do, we will each give thee one thousand one hundred pieces of silver.' Delila now said to Sampson, 'Tell me, I pray thee, wherein lieth thy great strength, and wherewith thou canst be bound that thou canst not break forth? Sampson answered, 'If I be bound with seven new cords that have never been in use, I shall be weak like to other men.' Delila bound him with these cords and said, 'The Philistines be upon thee, Sampson! But he brake the cords as though they had been threads. At last, wea ried with her prayers, he betrayed his secret to her, and said, 'The razor hath never come upon my head, for I men.' This was prison. Soon af SAMPSON BURSTS THE CORDS BY WHICH HE HAD BEEN BOUND. ter this, the princes of the Philistines assembled to offer great sacrifices to their god Dagon; and they praised him, saying, 'Our god hath delivered our enemy Sampson into our hands.' The people also praised Dagon in the same way. In the midst of their rejoicings there was a call for Sampson to be brought out before them. He was accordingly brought out of prison, and played before them, and they made him stand between two pillars. And he said to the lad that guided his steps, 'Suffer me to touch the pillars which support the whole house, and let me lean upon them, and rest a little.' Now the house was full of men and women, and all the princes of the Philistines were there. Moreover, about three thousand persons of both sexes, from the roof and the higher part of the house, were beholding Sampson's play. But he called upon the Lord, saying, 'O Lord God, remember me; and restore to me now my former strength, O my God, that I may revenge myself on my enemies, and for the loss of my two eyes I may take one revenge.' And laying hold on both the pillars on which the house rested, and holding the one with his right hand, and the other with his left, he said, 'Let me die with the Philistines.' And when he had strongly shook the pillars, the house fell upon all the princes, and the rest of the multitude that was there; and he killed many more at his death than he had killed before in his life. Sampson bursting the bands with which the Philistines had bound him is a figure of Jesus Christ bursting the bonds of death and rising from the dead. His slaying more by his death than in his lifetime is a figure of Jesus converting more souls by His death upon the Cross than by His miracles and discourses during His life. 46. The history of Ruth. In the days of one of the judges of Israel, a certain man of Bethlehem Juda went to sojourn in the land of Moab with his wife and two sons. The name of the man was Elimelech, and that of his wife Noemi. Elimelech died, and his two sons, so that Noemi was left alone with her two daughters-in-law, Ruth and Orpha. Word now reached her that God had given rest to Israel, and this news induced her to make up her mind to return back to Bethlehem. She therefore called her two daughters-in-law, and spoke to them that they should return to their own families, and seek for other husbands. Ruth, however, would not leave her, saying, 'Be not against me to desire that I should depart and leave thee: whithersoever thou wilt go, I will go; where thou shalt dwell, I will dwell also. Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.' Noemi and Ruth came safely to Bethlehem, about the beginning of the barley-harvest, and Ruth said to her mother-in-law, 'If thou wilt, I will go into the field and glean the ears of corn that escape the hands of the reapers, wheresoever I shall find grace with a householder, that will be favourable to me.' Noemi said, 'Go, my daughter.' She went therefore into the field to glean; and it happened that the owner of that field was Booz, who was of the kindred of Elimelech. Booz himself came into the field from the city, and said to the reapers, 'The Lord be with you;' and they answered, 'The Lord bless thee.' Booz said to the young man who was set over the reapers, 'Whose maid is this? And he answered, 'This is the Moabitess who came with Noemi from the land of Moab. She hath desired leave to glean the ears of corn that remain, following the steps of the reapers; and she hath been in the field from morning till now, and hath not gone home for one moment.' Booz now came and spoke to Ruth, and said to her, 'Hear me, daughter; do not go to glean in any other field, and do not depart from this place, but keep with my maids, and follow where they reap; for I have charged my young men not to molest thee.' Ruth, in surprise, said, 'Whence cometh this to me, that I should find grace before thine eyes, who am a woman of another country? Booz answered, 'All hath been told me; the Lord render unto thee for thy work, and mayest thou receive a full reward of the Lord God of Israel to whom thou art come, and under whose wings thou art fled.' Booz thus showed particular kindness to Ruth, and said to his reapers, 'Let fall some of your handfuls on purpose, that she may gather them without shame; and let no man rebuke her when she gathereth them.' Ruth thus was enabled to take home to her mother-in-law gleanings which, when beaten out, made three bushels. Ruth now went out daily to glean in the fields of Booz with his maidens, and when the harvest was over, Booz said to her, 'Blessed art thou of the Lord, my daughter; for thy good demeanour surpasses thy love to thy mother-in-law. All the people within the gates of my city know that thou art a virtuous woman. I do not deny myself to be near of kin, but there is another nearer than I; if he will take thee to wife by the right of kindred, all is well; but if he will not, I will, as the Lord liveth, undoubtedly take thee.' The elder of kin yielded his right, and as all the elders of the city bore witness that he took to wife Ruth the Moabitess, they said, 'The Lord make this woman that cometh to thy house like Rachel and Lia who built up the house of Israel, that she may be an example of virtue in Ephrata, and may have a famous name in Bethlehem.' Thus Noemi was comforted in her old age; and when a son was born to Booz, who was Obed, the grandfather of David, Noemi took the child in her bosom and carried it, and became a nurse to it. § 47. The history of Samuel. The prayer of his mother Anna. The impiety of the two priests Ophni and Phineas. The Ark of Israel falls into the hands of the Philistines. At the time when the High-Priest Heli was judge in Israel, there lived in Mount Ephraim one Elkana by name, who had two wives, Anna and Phenenna. Anna was without children, and on one occasion of her going up with her husband to the Tabernacle in Silo, full of grief, she prayed before the Lord, shedding many tears and making a vow, saying, O Lord of hosts, if Thou wilt look on the affliction of Thy servant, and wilt be mindful of me and not forget thine handmaid, and wilt give Thy servant a man-child, I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head.' God heard Anna's pious prayer and gave her a son, and in due time Anna appeared before Heli, saying, 'For this child did I pray, and the Lord hath granted me my petition which I asked of Him; therefore also have I lent him to the Lord; all the days of his life shall he be lent to the Lord.' And they adored the Lord there and returned home, Anna leaving the child Samuel in the care of Heli. The two sons of Heli, Ophni and Phineas, the priests, were bad men, and their father had neglected to correct them in time, being too easy and quiet a man to be willing to punish them as they deserved. He had satisfied himself with saying, 'Do not so, my sons; for it is no good report that I hear; you make the people of the Lord to transgress.' As the sin of the young men was great before the Lord, God made the child Samuel the bearer of a message to Heli. Samuel slept in the temple of the Lord, and the Lord called Samuel. And he answered, 'Here am I.' And he ran to Heli and said, 'Here am I; for thou didst call me.' He said, 'I did not ANNA'S PRAYER. call; go back and sleep.' And he went and slept. And the Lord called Samuel again. And Samuel arose and went to Heli, and said, 'Here am I; for thou calledst me.' He answered, 'I did not call thee, my son; return and sleep.' Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, neither had the word of the Lord been revealed to him. And the Lord called Samuel again the third time. And he arose up and went to Heli; and said, 'Here am I; for thou didst call me.' Then Heli understood that the Lord called the child, and he said to Samuel, 'Go and sleep; and if He shall call thee any more, thou shalt say, "Speak, Lord; for Thy servant heareth." So Samuel went and slept in his place. And the Lord came and stood; and He called, as He had called the other times, 'Samuel, Samuel.' And Samuel said, 'Speak, Lord; for Thy servant heareth.' And the Lord said to Samuel, 'I will begin and make an end. I have foretold unto Heli, that I will judge his house for ever for their iniquity, because he knew that his sons did wickedly, and did not chastise them. And Samuel slept till morning, and opened the doors of the house of the Lord. And Samuel feared to tell the vision to Heli; but when Heli said, May God do so to thee, and more also, if thou hide from me one word of all that was said to thee!' Samuel told him all the words, and did not hide them from him. And he answered, 'It is the Lord; let him do what is good in His sight.' The Philistines now gathered their armies, and went to war with |