The Samson Story

Love, Seduction, Betrayal, Violence, Riddles, Myth

Bar

• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781532646515
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Studies

Love, seduction, betrayal, violence, riddles, and myth all find their place in the biblical story of Samson. Samson is the last of the judges, with 20 percent of the book devoted to him--more than any other judge. From the beginning, Samson is unlike any other judge, which the author suggests when narrating Samson's birth. Samson is destined, even before his birth, to deliver Israel. He doesn't lead his people into battle, he acts alone; his battles are personal vendettas. Samson fights with a lion, defeats the Philistines with the jawbone of an ass, captures foxes, sets Philistine fields on fire, and carries the Gates of Gaza on his shoulders. So what stands behind these stories? Was Samson a mythological hero like Hercules and Gilgamesh? Like other men in the Hebrew Bible, Samson can't resist foreign women. Time after time, he follows Philistine women who eventually betray him. Samson is defeated not by physical strength, but by the powers of seduction, making this story a tragedy. Who were these women and how did they defeat Samson? Readers of this volume will rediscover Samson and better understand his achievements and failures. This study will afford a provocative and useful insight into the character of Samson.

1

The Birth of Samson

This story starts with the birth announcement of Samson, which is a glaring contrast to other stories in the Book of Judges, where the judges first appear as adults. Accordingly, the angel appeared to Samson’s mother and informed her that she would conceive a son and he would be the first one to deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines. In other words, Samson is destined, even before his birth, to deliver Israel. Examination of the stories in the Book of Judges reveals that these stories follow a pattern; the Israelites are oppressed, they cry to the Lord, and He sends a judge to deliver them. Customarily, the narrator gives the reader a reason for the elections of the Judge. Therefore, Othniel the Kenizzite was a younger kinsman of Caleb (Judg 3:9); Ehud son of Gera appears as a brave man; Deborah the Prophetess chooses Barak by a command from God (4:6); Gideon worried about the people of Israel (6:12); Jephthah the Gileadite was an able warrior (11:1). In this story, Samson is chosen to deliver Israel without any apparent explanation. In all previous episodes, the appeal to Yahweh is mentioned, but it is missing from the Samson story. Hence, why is this story so vastly different from other stories in the Book of Judges? Webb suggested that the story came to demonstrate that the power of God, barrenness and fertility, and life and death are all in the hands of Yahweh.1 While this is the case in many other biblical stories, it does not explain the uniqueness of the birth of Samson.2 Some other scholars suggested that the story came to compare Manoah to his wife, as well as portraying him as inferior to his wife.3 This might be true in some parts of the story. Still, the bigger question left unanswered is the placement of Samson’s birth story in the biblical narrative. In other words, is there any connection between the birth narrative and the rest of Samson’s story? What kind of message is the narrator trying to convey by recounting the birth of Samson and for what purpose? We believe that answering these questions will help us understand the reason for the inclusion of the birth narrative in the Samson cycle. More so, this will help us understand the placement of the Samson story in the Book of Judges.

Samson’s Parents

The story of the birth of Samson is one of the ancient stories in the Hebrew Bible. The story is similar to Genesis 18 and to Judges 6:11–24. These stories describe the appearance of God or his angels during the day disguised as humans. In addition, a meal is mentioned. In Genesis, the meal is eaten, whereas in Judges 6 it is only served. And, in our story, it is only offered. In Judges 6, the purpose of the theophany is to send Gideon on a mission to save his people. Not so in Genesis 18 and the Samson story, where the theophany serves as an announcement to a barren woman that she would conceive a son. There is bewilderment, so questions are raised about the validity of the messages that were given. Hence, Sarah is laughing after hearing that she will become pregnant. Gideon is asking for proof or a sign and so does Manoah.

Like other stories in the Book of Judges, the story of Samson’s birth starts with an editorial note: “The Israelites again did what was offensive to the Lord, and the Lord delivered them into the hands of the Philistines for forty years” (Judg13:1). The Israelites were to be blamed for their situation. The formula “did what was offensive to the Lord,” opens the description of the Judges period (2:11) and appears here for the last time. This is a Deutronomistic formula that is mentioned in the Book of Deuteronomy (9:18; 17:2 31: 29), and in the Book of Judges, and over 40 times in the Book of Kings. The nature of the Israelite offence is not revealed. The Israelites were oppressed by the Philistines for 40 years. Evidently, this continued after Samson’s death. For the first time the Israelites were not liberated during the life span of their judge. The period of 40 years is repeated in the Book of Judges. Three times: “the land had peace for 40 years” (Judg 3:11; 5:31; 8:28). The number is a round number mentioned many times in the Hebrew Bible, therefore, it does not contribute to the chronological validity of the story.4 In previous stories, we find a cry for help (3; 9, 15; 4:3; 6:6; 10:15), but this element is missing from our story. Thus, it was suggested that the Israelites did not cry for help since they accepted the Philistines as their overlords.5

Following the editorial note, the narrator introduces Manoah and his wife. This kind of introduction is similar to other biblical stories such as the Samuel story (1Sam 1:1–2) and Saul’s story (9:1). What is interesting here is that the hero is not mentioned, only his parents. Manoah is from Zorah, a town situated 18 miles west of Jerusalem in the low hill country where the Philistines had settled.6 The town will be mentioned again after the birth of Samson (Judg. 13:25) and in the final chapter of his life (16:31). Manoah is from a family משפחת (mišpaḥat) of the Danites. The narrator’s description did not use the word tribe. This is probably because not all of Dan’s tribesman lived in the vicinity of Zorah. Another explanation might be that the tribe consisted of one family (Num 26:42). It is also noteworthy that the terms for family and tribe are used interchangeably (18:19). Possibly by using the word family, it was a way for the narrator to point out that Manoah came from a weak marginal group. The Samson cycle is set in the southern part of the land of Israel prior to the migration of the tribe to the north.7 Manoah is identified by town and tribe. He is the only male in the Books of Judges and 1Samuel who is not mentioned with paternal connection as Ehud (Judg. 3:15), Barak (4:6), Gideon (6:11), Abimelech (9:1), Jotham (9:5), Gaal (9:26), Jephthah (11:1), Samuel’s father Elkanah (1Sam1:1), and Saul’s father Kish (9:1).8

The name Manoah means “rest.” The name of his wife, on the other hand, is not mentioned at all and she remained nameless. This is similar to other stories in the Book of Judges such as Micah’s mother, the daughter of Jephthah, and the concubine in Gibeah. Reinhartz pointed out that the angel also remains nameless in the story. This fact led her to believe that there is a link between the two. According to her, the fact that Samson’s mother remains unnamed points to her central role in the story.9 The sages, on the other hand, gave her the name Hatzlallponie, and she is from the tribe of Judah (1Chr 4:3).10 We should point out that in the other biblical stories of barren women like Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and S...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Acknowledgment
• Abbreviations
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: The Birth of Samson
• Chapter 2: Nazirite
• Chapter 3: Literary Structure
• Chapter 4: Women in the Samson Story
• Chapter 5: Samson’s Riddle
• Chapter 6: Mythical Elements in the Samson Story
• Chapter 7: Philistines
• Chapter 8: The Death of Samson
• Conclusion
• Bibliography