"Balak the king of Moab hath brought me

From Aram, out of the mountains of the East,
Saying, 'Come, curse me Jacob,

And come, defy Israel.'

How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed?

And how shall I defy, whom the Lord hath not defied?
For from the top of the rocks I see him,

And from the hills I behold him:

Lo, it is a people that dwelleth alone,

And shall not be reckoned among the nations.

Who can count the dust of Jacob,

Or number the fourth part of Israel?

Let me die the death of the righteous,

And let my last end be like his!"

And Balak said to Balaam, "What hast thou done to me? I took thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast blessed them altogether."

But he answered and said, "Must I not take heed to speak that which the Lord hath put in my mouth?"

BALAAM AGAIN BLESSES ISRAEL

And he said to Balak, "Stand here by thy burnt offering, while I meet the Lord yonder." And the Lord met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth. And he came to Balak, and, lo, he was standing by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him.

And he took up his parable and said:

"God is not a man that he should lie,

Neither the son of man that he should repent.

Hath he said, and will he not do it?

Or hath he spoken, and will he not make it good?
Behold, I have received commandment to bless:
And he hath blessed, and I cannot reverse it.
He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob,

Neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel:
The Lord his God is with him,

And the shout of a king is among them.

Surely there is no enchantment with Jacob,
Neither is there any divination with Israel:
Now shall it be said of Jacob and of Israel,
'What hath God wrought!'

And Balak said to Balaam, "Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all." But Balaam answered and said to Balak, “Told I not thee, saying, ‘All that the Lord speaketh, that must I do'?"

BALAAM BLESSES ISRAEL THE THIRD TIME

And Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, that looketh down upon the desert. And Balaam lifted up his eyes, and he saw Israel dwelling according to their tribes.

And the spirit of God came upon him, and he took up his parable and said:

"How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob,

And thy dwellings, O Israel!

As the valleys are they spread forth,
As gardens by the river's side,
As oaks that the Lord hath planted,
As cedar trees beside the waters.
Water shall flow from his buckets,
And his seed shall be in many waters,
And his king shall be higher than Agag,10
And his kingdom shall be exalted.

God bringeth him forth out of Egypt;

He hath as it were the strength of the wild ox:
He shall eat up the nations his enemies,
And shall break their bones in pieces,
And pierce them through with his arrows.

He couched, he lay down as a lion,
And as a lioness; who shall rouse him up?
Blessed be he that blesseth thee,

And cursed be he that curseth thee."

ONCE MORE THE WORD IS BLESSING

Then Balak's anger was kindled against Balaam, and he smote his hands together: and Balak said to Balaam: "I called thee to curse mine enemies, and, behold, thou hast altogether blessed them these three times. Therefore now flee thou to thy place. I thought to promote thee to great honor; but, lo, the Lord hath kept thee back from honor."

But Balaam said to Balak: "Spoke I not also to thy messengers whom thou sentest to me, saying, 'If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the commandment of the Lord, to do either good or bad of my own mind; what the Lord speaketh that will I speak'? And now, behold, I go to my people: come, therefore, I will tell thee beforehand what this people shall do to thy people in the days to come."

And he took up his parable, and said:

66

"I see him, but not now;

I behold him, but not near:

A Star shall come forth out of Jacob,
And a Scepter shall rise out of Israel,
And shall smite the temples of Moab,
And destroy all the children of tumult.

And Edom shall become a possession;

Seir, his enemies, shall also be a possession,

While Israel doeth valiantly."

And Balaam rose up, and went and returned to his place; and Balak also went his way.

SAMSON

The Weak Strong Man

To us this famous story teaches how fatal may be the weakness of a strong man. To the Hebrews it also gave a feeling of pride, as they thought how this champion played tricks upon their enemies, left them powerless, and at last gave his life in bringing upon them a great ruin. PERSONS OF THE NARRATIVE

Manoah, of the tribe of Dan

Manoah's wife

The angel of the Lord

Samson, son of Manoah, consecrated to be a Nazirite

A young Philistine woman of Timnath, wife of Samson

Thirty young Philistine men, wedding companions to Samson
The father of Samson's wife

Delilah, a Philistine woman, wife of Samson

Philistines, men of Judah, men of Gaza, Samson's kinsmen

T

PLACES

Zorah and Eshtaol, neighboring villages in the Valley
of Sorek, home of the tribe of Dan; Timnath, a
village just over the Philistine border;

Lehi, of the tribe of Judah;

Gaza, a chief city of

the Philistines

TIME

The days of the Judges

THE BIRTH AND YOUTH OF SAMSON

A SON IS PROMISED TO CHILDLESS PARENTS

HERE was a certain man of Zorah, of the family of

the Danites, whose name was Manoah; and his wife had no child. And the angel of the Lord appeared to the woman, and said to her: "Behold now, thou hast no child, but thou shalt have a son. Now therefore beware, I