Oldal:W24.1935 Samson 4.djvu/7 forrásának megtekintése

<noinclude><pagequality level="1" user="" /></noinclude>December 15, 1935
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upon thee, Samson. And he brake the withs, as a thread
of tow is broken when it toucheth the fire; so his
strength was not known.”—Judg. 16: 9.
22 When everything seemed to be in readiness and
the withes were on Samson, she cried out: “The
Philistines be upon thee, Samson.” Doubtless she did
it in an affectedly horrified manner to appear that she
was the friend of Samson and giving him the warning.
The Philistines were there ready, and rushed in upon
Samson, but they did not get him, because the withes
that bound his arms he broke as tow is broken when
it touches the fire; and the presumption is that he gave
those Philistines a good walloping before they got out
of the way. What he did after that is not recorded,
but this presumption is based on what he had done on
former occasions. Samson was not reproved by the
Lord for his relationship with Delilah and his sub¬
mitting to his being bound; which shows that Samson
was proceeding in harmony with the will of God, per¬
forming his part of the great prophetic drama.
23 It might be said that Samson should have known
from the experience just related that Delilah was be¬
traying him, and therefore he should have avoided her
rather than permit her to put a test upon him. No
doubt he knew that she was conniving with the Philis¬
tines, but he knew that he had the ability to defend
himself. Since he loved Delilah he might have thought
to further prove to her his superiority over the Philis¬
tines, thus do her some good. Likewise during 1917 the
faithful Samson class knew that their erstwhile breth¬
ren were offended and were becoming bitter, and they
had reason to believe that they were consorting with
the enemy, but their love for their erstwhile brethren
induced them to believe that they might recover them,
even though in doing so they would expose themselves
to further ridicule. The indisputable facts are that
those faithfully representing the Lord’s cause did put
forth many efforts looking to the recovery of their
brethren that they might engage in the Lord’s service.
The main point here is that the test was upon Samson,
affording him an opportunity to prove his integrity,
and upon Delilah, to afford her an opportunity to show
her treachery; and these things foreshadowed what
would come to pass at the end of the world, and the
parts that would be performed by the faithful Samson
class, and the parts performed by the treacherous
Delilah class.
24 “And Delilah said unto Samson, Behold, thou
hast mocked me, and told me lies; now tell me, I pray
thee, wherewith thou mightest be bound.” (Judg.
16:10) The Philistines were holding Delilah to her
contract, and she wanted the money, and this was evi¬
dence that she had no love whatever for Samson. Like¬
wise the modern Philistines were holding the Delilah
class, in 1917 and 1918, to their bargain, and the
faithless Delilah class wanted personal gain, even if
that should result in great loss to their brethren. This
further proves that the Delilah class exhibited no love
for Jehovah and his faithful witnesses.
25 The drama proceeds, and again Samson yielded
to the request of Delilah: ‘ ‘ And he said unto her, If
they bind me fast with new ropes that never were oc¬
cupied, then shall I be weak, and be as another man.”
(Judg. 16:11) That was practically the same answer
given to Delilah previously, except that on this latter
occasion Samson designated “new ropes” to be used
in binding him, the new ropes meaning bands or cords
made of thick boughs of branches of trees, according to
the custom of that time. Samson was speaking pro¬
phetically, and there is no reason why it should be
said that there he was making false statements. The
Samson class, during the Elijah period, and particu¬
larly in 1917, did not know how they would be bound,
and yet some of them ventured a guess. These at¬
tempted to interpret Revelation, the thirteenth chap¬
ter, and there expressed the thought that the Roman
Catholic church was the ‘sea beast’ and the Anglican
church was the ‘beast of the earth’, and the Federa¬
tion of churches the “image of the beast”, and that
these would combine and bind them so that “no man
might buy or sell”. The fact is that the church com¬
bination here mentioned did attempt to bind the Sam¬
son class secretly to prevent their work, and in this
they failed.
26 The Philistines furnished the ropes, and Delilah
got busy to tie up Samson: “Delilah therefore took
new ropes, and bound him therewith, and said unto
him, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And there
were liers in wait abiding in the chamber. And he
brake them from off his arms like a thread.”—Judg.
16:12.
2T When she thought Samson was securely bound
again she gave the alarm to the “liers in wait” and
“waiting liars”, who rushed in upon Samson, and
again he disappointed them by breaking the ropes like
thread. That at least taught the Philistines, or should
have taught them, that Jehovah God is superior to
their god Dagon. When the combined church element,
twisted together in a conspiracy, failed, in 1917, to
stop the work of the faithful Samson class, and the
Samson class continued to receive God’s blessing, that
should have convinced the modern Philistines that
Jehovah God was supporting his faithful people and
they wrere being moved by his spirit and that the
worldly modern Philistines were being moved by the
spirit of their father the Devil in their continued
efforts to get the Samson class.
28 Delilah was now growing desperate, because it
appeared there was small chance for her to reap the
coveted bag of silver, and so again she denounced
Samson as a liar: “And Delilah said unto Samson,
Hitherto thou hast mocked me, and told me lies: tell
me wherewith thou mightest be bound. And he said
unto her, If thou weavest the seven locks of my head
with the web.” (Judg. 16:13) During the year 1917
the faithless Delilah class was becoming desperate and
began to openly denounce the Samson class as liars
and worse than liars. They went up and down the<noinclude><references/></noinclude>