A. He made a rash vow to sacrifice to God the first thing that came to meet him after his victory, and that happened to be his daughter and only child. Judg. xi. 30, 31, 34.

Note. It is a matter of doubt and controversy among the learned whether Jephthah, being a soldier, in those days of ignorance, did not really offer his daughter for a sacrifice, according to his vow, as the Scripture seems to express it; or whether he only restrained her from marriage and bearing children, which in those days was accounted like a sacrifice, and as a sentence of death passed on them.

59 Q. Who was Samson?

A. The son of Manoah, and he delivered Israel from the hands of the Philistines. Judg. xiii. and xiv. &c. 60 Q. What was his character?

A. He was the strongest of men, but he does not seem to have been the wisest or the best.

61 Q. Wherein did his strength lie?

A. He was a Nazarite, devoted to God from his birth, and so was bound to let his hair grow, and then God was with him; but when his hair was cut, God left him. Judg. xiii. 7, and xvi. 17.

62 Q. What instances did he give of his great strength?

A. He tore a lion asunder, he broke all the cords with which he was bound, he slew a thousand Philistines with the jaw-bone of an ass: and when he fell in love with a harlot in Gaza, and the Philistines beset the city gates, he carried away the gates and gate-posts of the city with him, when he made his way out and escaped. Judg. xiv. 5, 6, and xv. 15, 14, and xvi. 3, 11, 13.

63 Q. What befel him afterward ?

A. He fell in love with Delilah, another of the Philistine women, who cut off his hair, and then she betrayed him to the Philistines, who put out his eyes, and made him grind in a mill. Judg. xvi. 4—21.

64 Q. What was Samson's end?

A. Thousands of the Philistines were gathered together to make sport with Samson; and, in order to revenge himself of the Philistines, and to destroy the ene

mies of Israel, he pulled the house down upon their heads and his own. Judg. xvi. 30.

65 Q. Who judged Israel after Samson?

A. Eli the high priest is said to judge Israel forty years; but he is not supposed to be one of the extraordinary judges who delivered them, but rather that he was made an ordinary magistrate, perhaps, over some part of the land. 1 Sam. iv. 18.

66 Q. Who was the last of these extraordinary judges?

A. Samuel the prophet, the son of Hannah, a pious woman, who had no child before, and requested of God to give her one. 1 Sam. i. 20.

67 Q. What is written in honour of Hannah?

When she was greatly provoked and grieved in spirit, she prayed to God at the tabernacle, and she went away cheerful. 1 Sam. i. 15-18.

68 Q. Where was Samuel brought up?

A. As he was requested of the Lord, so he was given to the Lord, and was brought up at the tabernacle in Shiloh under the care of Eli the high priest. 1 Sam. j. 22, 28.

69 Q. What was Samuel's office?

A. He waited on the service of the tabernacle as a Levite, being the first-born, and being given to God. Sam. ii. 18.

70 Q Was he not also a prophet?

A. Yes; God called him three times in one night when he was a child, and made a prophet of him, and told him what calamities should befall the house of Eli the high priest. 1 Sam. iii. 4-14.

71 Q. What was the great crime of Eli?

A. Though he loved and honoured God himself, yet he did not restrain his sons from wickedness. 1 Sam. iii. 13.

72 Q. In what manner did God shew his displeasure against the house of Eli?

A. His two sons were slain by the Philistines in battle, and the high priesthood went into another branch of Aaron's family. 1 Sam. ii. 27-36. 1 Kings ii. 27.

73 Q. What became of Eli himself?

A. When he heard that the ark of God was taken by the Philistines he fainted for grief, and falling down backward he brake his neck. 1 Sam. iv. 17, 18.

74 Q. What did the Philistines do with the ark of God?

4. They brought it into the house of their idol, Dagon, and the idol fell down and broke off his head and his hands upon the threshold. 1 Sam. v. 2-5.

75 Q What punishment did the Philistines suffer for keeping the ark?

A. In several cities where they placed it, God destroyed many of the inhabitants, and smote the rest with sore diseases. 1 Sam. v. 6—12.

76 Q. What became of the ark then?

A.

The Philistines put it into a new cart drawn by two milch kine, whose calves were shut up at home, and yet they carried it directly into the land of Israel to Bethshemesh. 1 Sam. vi. 12.

77 Q. What did the men of Bethshemesh do?

A. They looked into the ark, which was utterly forbidden, and God smote many of them with a great slaughter, and they sent the ark away to Kirjath-jearim. 1 Sam. vi. 19-21.

78 Q. How did Samuel deliver Israel from the Philistines when they made a new war upon them?

A. He offered a burnt-offering, and prayed to the Lord, and God fought against the Philistines with thunder from heaven, and scattered and destroyed them. 1 Sam. vii. 9, 10, 13.

79 Q. How did Samuel govern the people?

A. He travelled through the land every year, he judged Israel with great honour and justice for many years; but in his old age he made his sons judges, and they oppressed and abused the people. 1 Sam. vii. 15-17, and viii. 1-4, and xii. 1-5.

80 Q. What was the request of the people on this occasion?

A. That they might have a king like the rest of the nations. 1 Sam. viii. 5.

81 Q. What did Samuel do in this case?

A. He would have advised them against it, because God was their king, but they still persisted in desiring a man for a king. 1 Sam. viii. 6, 7, 19, 20.

82 Q. Did Samuel gratify them in this desire?

A. Being admonished of God he complied with their desire, and appointed a king over them. 1 Sam. viii. 22.

CHAP. IX.

Of the Government of Israel under their Kings; and first of Saul and David.

1 Q. WHO was the first King of Israel?

A. Saul, a very tall young man, the son of Kish a Benjamite. 1 Sam. ix. I, 2.

2 Q. How did Samuel first meet with him?

A. Saul was sent by his father to seek some asses that he had lost, and asking Samuel about them, Samuel took him aside privately, and anointed him king of Israel. 1 Sam. ix. 15-27, and x. 1—8.

S Q. But how was he made king publicly?

A. God chose and determined Saul to be king by casting lots among the tribes and families of Israel. 1 Sam. x. 19-25.

4 Q. How did Saul behave himself in his kingdom? A. He governed well at first for a little time, but afterward he disobeyed the word of God in several instances, and God rejected him. 1 Sam. xiii. 13, and

xv. 23.

5 Q. Whom did God choose in his room?

A. David, of the tribe of Judah, who is called the man after God's own heart. 1 Sam. xvi. 1, and xiii. 14. Acts xiii. 22.

6 Q. Who were the forefathers of David ?

A. He was the youngest son of Jesse, who was the son of Obed, who was the son of Boaz by Ruth his wife. Ruth iv. 17-22.

7 Q.

What was this Ruth?

A. She was a woman of Moab, and she married Mahlon a Jew, the son of Naomi, when they came to sojourn in Moab, because of a famine in Israel. Ruth i. 1-4.

8. Q.

Did Ruth leave the country of Moab?

A. Yes; after her husband died in the land of Moab, she followed her mother-in-law Naomi into the land of Israel, and took the God of Israel for her God.

16, 17.

Ruth i.

9 Q. What kind providence attended her in the land of Israel?

A. Boaz, a rich man, who was near of kin to her former husband, married her, and so she became the great-grandmother of David. Ruth iv. 16, 17.

10 Q. What was David's employment?

A. Being the youngest son of a large family, he was bred up to keep his father's sheep. 1 Sam. xvi. 11.

11 Q. What considerable actions did he do while he was a shepherd?

A. He killed a lion and a bear who came to rob his father's flock. 1 Sam. xvii. 34.

12 Q. How did God anoint him to be king?

A. He sent Samuel secretly to anoint him with oil at Bethlehem, in the midst of his brethren. 1 Sam. xvi. 13.

13 Q. How did David make his first appearance at court?

A. David understood music, and when the evil spirit of melancholy came upon Saul, hearing of David's skill in music, he sent for him to play on the harp to refresh him. 1 Sam. xvi. 16—23.

14 Q. What remarkable action made him more publicly known?

A. When Goliath the giant challenged the men of Israel, David undertook the combat, and slew him with a sling and stone. 1 Sam. xvii. 19-54.

15 Q. How did Saul employ him afterwards?

A. He sent him out against the Philistines, and he slew many thousands of them. 1 Sam. xix. 8.