The Foxes in the Corn

BY J. JAMES TISSOT. REPRODUCED BY COURTESY OF

THE AMERICAN TISSOT SOCIETY OF NEW YORK.

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And when he had set the brands on fire, he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines."―Jud., 15, 5.

T

HE revenge of Samson for the loss of his wife was

immediate and startling. He went forth into the

woods and captured, perhaps with the aid of friends, three hundred foxes. These he tied together in pairs by their tails, fastening blazing firebrands behind them. Then he turned the foxes loose in the fields of the Philistines, so that the scorched and frightened beasts trampled all the harvest, set it afire, and destroyed it. The vineyards of the city of Timnath were also burned, and the olive orchards.

When the ruined Philistines learned who was the author of all this irreparable mischief, they were furious as Samson had been. Him they could not reach, so in blind rage they turned upon his deserted wife "and burnt her and her father with fire." Thus the very fate, the threat of which had terrified the unhappy woman into betraying her husband, now actually befell her.

FIRST SAMUEL VIII- SAMUEL FORSEES MISERY

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12 And he will appoint him captains over thousands, and captains over fifties; and will set them to ear his ground, and to reap his harvest, and to make his instruments of war, and instruments of his chariots. 13 And he will take your daughters to be confectionaries, and to be cooks, and to be bakers.

14 And he will take your fields, and your vineyards, and your olive-yards, even the best of them, and give them to his servants.

15 And he will take the tenth of your seed, and of your vineyards, and give to his officers, and to his servants.

16 And he will take your men-servants, and your maid-servants, and your goodliest young men, and your asses, and put them to his work. 17 He will take the tenth of your sheep: and ye shall be his servants. 18 And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king which ye shall have chosen you; and the LORD will not hear you in that day. 19¶ Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us;

20 That we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles.

21 And Samuel heard all the words of the people, and he rehearsed them in the ears of the LORD.

22 And the LORD said to Samuel, Hearken unto their voice, and make them a king. And Samuel said unto the men of Israel, Go ye every man unto his city.

Chapter 9

1 Saul despairing to find his father's asses, 6 by the counsel of his servant, 11 and direction of young maidens, 15 according to God's revelation, 18 cometh to Samuel. 19 Samuel entertaineth Saul at the feast. 25 Samuel, after secret communication, bringeth Saul on his way.

OW there was a man of Benjamin, whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Bechorath, the son of Aphiah, a Benjamite, a mighty man of power.

2 And he had a son, whose name was Saul, a choice young man, and a goodly: and there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he: from his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people.

3 And the asses of Kish, Saul's father, were lost. And Kish said to Saul his son, Take now one of the servants with thee, and arise, go seek the asses.

4 And he passed through mount Ephraim, and passed through the land of Shalisha, but they, found them not: then they passed through the land of Shalim, and there they were not: and he passed through the land of the Benjamites, but they found them not.

5 And when they were come to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant that was with him, Come, and let us return; lest my father leave caring for the asses, and take thought for us.

6 And he said unto him, Behold now, there is in this city a man of