One of the most intriguing stories in the bible is the story of Samson and Delilah.The narrative of Samson and Delilah is documented in Chapter sixteen of the book of Judges. The story has not only inspired Christians, but it has also inspired poets, artists, and composers, even to the contemporary world. When Samson met Delilah in the valley of Sorek in Philistines, he never knew that his love story would inspire contemporary philosophers and feminists to depict the power of women in the society. Moreover, Samson was not aware that their love story would be a reference point for millions of years to come to show the trickery of women, and how powerful men have fallen to such traps. Lastly, the story has also inspired some big screen movies that have been earned millions of dollars.
Brief Overview of the story
The story begins when the angel of God announces the birth of Samson to his parents (Judges 13: 1). Samson is among the few personalities in the bible whose birth was preannounced to the parented before his birth (Judges 13:3). In the Bible, Isaac son of Abraham, John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth share such honors. Samson is a Hebrew name meaning sunshine. Most biblical students argue that Samson means ‘sunshine’ because he was born at a time when Israel was undergoing a dark period; when Israel had turned against God (chronologically, this was the seventh time Israelites had turned against God) and God had allowed them to suffer under the oppressive rule of Philistines. Therefore, as the name suggests, Samson was supposed to be the sunshine of the Israelites.
Being born a Nazarite meant that he would be set aside for God, in other words, he would be a vessel that God would use to manifest his powers. It also meant that Samson could not do certain things that an ordinary could do. First, he could not get closer or touch a dead body, be it animals or humans, he was not allowed to drink wine or a strong drink, nor could he shave his hair (Smith 45). The book of Judges (13: 5) stated that Samson was supposed to be used directly by God, however, he chose to ignore the ways of God and relied on his own abilities and never sought the Nazarite way of life (Sutton 395). Despite his reckless life, God continued to sustain Samson's strength to outwit his foes and deliver, the people of Israel from the Philistines. Judges (14; 1-3), states that Samson had a weakness for Philistine women and this ultimately proved to be the cause of his downfall. His passion for Philistine women was more significant to him than the will of God and his purpose on earth.
In one instance, Samson was deceived and humiliated by his bride and guest at his wedding; such an act angered Samson to a point where he killed thirty men; this was just an instance when Samson used his powers for his selfish gains and killed people because of a woman. In the end, he meets Delilah, whom he fell in love with to a point of revealing his source of strength. As much as he lied thrice to Delilah, he finally gave in and told her the truth about his source of strength. His words lead Delilah to cut his locks, rendering Samson powerless and eventually at the mercies of the Philistines (Boardman 89). As punishment for his actions against the Philistines, they blinded him and forced him to grind their grain. While in prison, Samson remembered his God and prayed for another chance to regain his strength. God grants this wish, and in a philistine festival, he tricked them to a play, which eventually gave him a chance to destroy the temple, killing himself and thousands of Philistines (Judges 16: 1-31). Analysis
With the favor of God on Samson, he was a powerful person with a lot of mystical strength. The story also reveals that Samson was an intelligent person with a high sense of humor. As much as, he had the capability of delivering Israelites from the bondage of the Philistines, the story ends in a tragedy, due to his lust for women. He not only failed to achieve his mission in life, which is saving the Israelites, but he also killed himself in the process (Galpaz-Feller 27). Despite his strength and humor, Samson is depicted to have other qualities of an average person, such as lust for women, disgrace, and destruction. His sexual desires controlled his decisions; as much as, he had the physical strength to fight off his enemies, no matter how many they were, Samson lacked the capacity to resist the temptation of one woman (Greenstein 237).
There are various lessons that one can learn from this story. One major lesson that one can learn is that no matter how perfect an individual might look, they would always have a weakness that they cannot resist, no wonder the English came up with the proverb, ‘everyman has a price.' For Samson, his price was to have Delilah and was ready to give up anything just to have her, to a point of forfeiting his objective in life (Segert 455). The Philistines promised Delilah thousands of ‘shekels,’ consequently, she sold whatever feelings she had for Samson for these shekels. In the present world, everyone has a weakness and can give up everything just to pursue these weaknesses (Piggott 325).
Comparison with Other Legendary Stories
Such legendary stories are common in almost every part of the world, and surprisingly, these stories share many similarities. For example, the story of Samson bares a great resembles with the Greek narratives of Hercules. In all these cases, these Heroes are born out of unordinary circumstances. Samson was born to a barren mother and was dedicated to God that he would not take any strong drink, or cut his beard or hair. The birth of Samson involved divined intervention from God and was announced by an angel. Similarly, Hercules was born by Alcmene (one of the mistresses of Zeus), this meant that Hercules was to be special, because he was fathered by the greatest Greek god. As an infant, Hercules was able to strangle two snakes (Piggott 330). From these stories, it is clear that both men draw their strengths from divine interventions in conception. From their chronicles, both of these men are born in violence; Samson was born at a time when Israel was under siege by the Philistines, while Hercules was born in a hostile surrounding, with Hera always trying to kill him (Knowles 14). Throughout the existence of these men, they faced various obstacles that tested their strength. After discovering that his wife was married off to another man, Samson killed thirty Philistines, and set burned 300 foxes, when captured, he broke out and killed one thousand Philistines a jawbone of a donkey (Smith 50). Conversely, Hercules had to complete 12 challenging tasks, rescued the Greek princess of Troy from an unmanned sea monster, and helped his father (Zeus) to defeat the Giants who wanted to take over Olympus (Scott 1858). Another similarity is that both Samson and Hercules killed a lion by themselves. Samson killed a lion in Timnah, while Hercules defeated a lion at the hills of Nemea.
Both Hercules and Samson had unsuccessful marriages. Samson’s first wife was married off to another man, which made Samson reject the institution of marriage. Similarly, Hercules was cursed to temporary madness by Hera, which led him to kill his wife and two children. Both Samson and Hercules are purported as men who loved their wives, but their marriage failed terribly. After failing in their marriages, both of these men undertook dramatic reactions because of their grief. Samson reacted by burning 300 foxes in the fields of philistines (Greenstein 241). On the other hand, Hercules reacted out of depression and guilt and personally went to Apollo for punishment.
Both of these men faced death at the hands of women. For Samson, his death was from the hands of Delilah, who handed him over to the Philistines. In the case of Hercules, his second wife Deianira unintentionally poisoned him causing Hercules to choose whether to live or die (Knowles 17). Lastly, both men chose death over life; Samson gathered his last strength to kill as many Philistines as possible because he could not bear the shame and mockery he experienced from the Philistines (Boardman 91). Samson had the option of choosing to grind the grains of Philistines and not die, but he otherwise chose death. For Hercules, he could not bear the pain he experienced because of being poisoned and instructed his allies to burn him alive rather than to continue suffering.
Conclusion
In most civilizations, there is always an icon that represents mighty strength to liberate their people. Just as the Greeks look up to Hercules, the Hebrews look up to Samson, other civilizations such as the Saxons look up to people like Beowulf, while the old Viking civilization symbolizes icons such as Ragnar Lothbrok. In most cases, such stories do not have enough evidence to back up the existence of such icons, however, these legends have inspired various civilizations, and people have drawn many inspirations from them. One familiar thing with most of these stories is that these legends are never successful in their marriages and end up living in broken or dysfunctional families. Most of these legendary stories end up with tragic death and most of these deaths are always caused by their weakness. For example, the Saxons belief that Beowulf died because he wanted to pursue more glory and fame for himself and similarly had a weakness for women. The same traits appear in the story of Ragnar in the, who died trying to pursue more land for himself and his people. Legendary stories would always be passed from one generation to the other and be used to teach the society various lesson, even though the existence of such beings may remain in question.
Work cited
Boardman, George Dana. "The Story of Samson." The Old Testament Student
8.3 (1888): 88-96.
Galpaz-Feller, Pnina. Samson: The Hero and the Man: the Story of Samson (Judges 13-16). Vol. 7. Peter Lang, 2006.
Greenstein, Edward L. "The riddle of Samson." Prooftexts (1981): 237-260.
Judges Chapter 13: 1-16 (New American Version)
Knowles, Richard. "Myth and Type in As You Like It." ELH 33.1 (1966): 1-22.
Piggott, Stuart. "The Hercules Myth—beginnings and ends." Antiquity
12.47 (1938): 323-331.
Scott, William Anderson. The giant judge: or, The story of Samson, the Hebrew Hercules. Whitton, Towne " Co., 1858.
Segert, Stanislav. "Paronomasia in the Samson Narrative in Judges XIII-XVI." Vetus Testamentum 34.Fasc. 4 (1984): 454-461.
Smith, Carol. "Samson and Delilah: A parable of power?." Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 22.76 (1997): 45-57.
Sutton, Dana. "The Greek origins of the Caucus myth." The Classical Quarterly 27.2 (1977): 391-393.
