3. The man or angel or God, whichever it was (for he is called by each name), that appeared to Mrs. Manoah, advised her to abstain from strong drink, and to eat no unclean thing. Very good advice to be observed at any time; but it seems to imply that she was in the habit of using such pernicious articles.
4. And, when her child was born, he was called Samson, and was remarkable for his great strength, which is said to lie in his hair. The mighty denizens of the forest interposed no obstacle to his march; and houses were but playthings, to be tossed in the air like balls. He is reported to have seized a lion and slain him when yet a boy, without a weapon of any kind. It would have been well if this mighty hero had been present when Jehovah had a battle with the Canaanites (Judg. i. 19), as he would not probably have been defeated so easily because they had chariots of iron. Those vehicles of iron would have been mere straws for Samson. If their respective histories be true, he excelled Jehovah, both with regard to strength and courage, in a severe contest.
5. It is stated that, a short time after this young bachelor-hero had slain the king of the forest, as he was returning home from a visit to his lady-love, he observed that a swarm of bees had taken possession of the carcass, and filled it with honey.
Those bees must have been very much less fastidious in their tastes and habits than the bees of modern times; for the latter shun a carcass as instinctively as death.
6. Another remarkable circumstance connected with this case is, that the long-haired bachelor thrust his hands through the bees, and tore out the honey, regardless of their stinging mode of defending their rights. His skin must have been as remarkable for toughness as his muscles for strength.
7. One of the most cruel, ungodly, and fiendish acts of this young hero was that of murdering thirty men to get their garments, as a recompense to those thirty persons who solved his riddle; thus massacring thirty innocent persons in order to strip them of their garments,—an unprovoked and wanton murder. And yet it is declared, "the spirit of God was with him." What shocking ideas of Deity!
8. Samson was evidently a "free-lover," as he had intercourse with a number of women of doubtful character.
9. His next great feat consisted in chasing and catching three hundred foxes, and tying their tails together, and making a firebrand of them. It must have been a good time to raise poultry after so many foxes had disappeared, but certainly not before that event, if foxes were so numerous.
10. It seems strange that these "tail-bearers" of fire did not take to the woods, instead of running through all the fields in the country, and setting them on fire.
11. The next feat was the breaking of two strong cords, with which his arms had been bound by three thousand men. (See Judg. xv. 4). It is difficult to conceive how three thousand men could get to him to tie them, as it is intimated they did. His mode of being revenged after he had snapped the cords was to seize the jaw-bone of an ass, and slay a thousand men; and, after he had killed these thousand men with the bone, there was enough of it left to contain a considerable amount of water. It is related that the Lord clave a hollow in it, and there came out of it water to quench Samson's thirst.