it. Samson himself was among the dead; but in his death he killed
more of the Philistines than he had killed during his life.

Then in the terror which came upon the Philistines the men of Samson's
tribe came down and found his dead body, and buried it in their own
land. After that it was years before the Philistines tried again to rule
over the Israelites.

Samson did much to set his people free; but he might have done much
more, if he had led his people, instead of trusting alone to his own
strength; and if he had lived more earnestly, and not done his deeds as
though he was playing pranks. There were deep faults in Samson, but at
the end he sought God's help, and found it, and God used Samson to set
his people free.

THE STORY OF RUTH, THE GLEANER

In the time of the Judges in Israel, a man named Elimelech was living in
the town of Bethlehem, in the tribe of Judah, about six miles south of
Jerusalem. His wife's name was Naomi, and his two sons were Mahlon and
Chilion. For some years the crops were poor, and food was scarce in
Judah; and Elimelech with his family went to live in the land of Moab,
which was on the east of the Dead Sea, as Judah was on the west.

There they stayed ten years, and in that time Elimelech died. His two
sons married women of the country of Moab, one named Orpah, the other
named Ruth. But the two young men also died in the land of Moab; so that
Naomi and her two daughters-in-law were all left widows.

Naomi heard that God had again given good harvests and bread to the land
of Judah, and she rose up to go from Moab back to her own land and her
own town of Bethlehem. The two daughters-in-law loved her, and both
would have gone with her, though the land of Judah was a strange land to
them, for they were of the Moabite people.

Naomi said to them: "Go back, my daughters, to your own mothers' homes.
May the Lord deal kindly with you, as you have been kind to your
husbands and to me. May the Lord grant that each of you may yet find
another husband and a happy home."

Then Naomi kissed them in farewell, and the three women all wept
together. The two young widows said to her:

"You have been a good mother to us, and we will go with you, and live
among your people."

"No, no," said Naomi. "You are young, and I am old. Go back and be happy
among your own people."

Then Orpah kissed Naomi, and went back to her people; but Ruth would not
leave her. She said:

"Do not ask me to leav