The story of Samson and Delilah is well known. It has been set to music as
an opera, made into a film, and the redoubtable statesman Jabotinsky wrote a
book Philistines Over You. However appealing, such treatment of the fateful
encounter between Samson and Delilah does not penetrate to the core of this
story.
The alienation of Samson from his calling and from God, already discernable in the episode of the harlot of Gaza, is now exacerbated in his fateful liaison with Delilah.After repeated urgings on the part of Delilah, Samson reveals his "secret": 'No razor has ever touched my head, for I have been a nazir to God . . . . If my hair were cut, my strength would leave me . . (16:17).
Two questions should be raised. Did Samson ever understand the true significance of being a nazir? Did he believe that it was his hair he had arranged in seven locks, that gave him his supernatural strength? Scripture sets the record straight by informing us that Samson, overcome by weakness after his hair was cut, did not know that the Lord has departed from him (16:20).
The alienation of Samson from his calling and from God, already discernable in the episode of the harlot of Gaza, is now exacerbated in his fateful liaison with Delilah.After repeated urgings on the part of Delilah, Samson reveals his "secret": 'No razor has ever touched my head, for I have been a nazir to God . . . . If my hair were cut, my strength would leave me . . (16:17).
Two questions should be raised. Did Samson ever understand the true significance of being a nazir? Did he believe that it was his hair he had arranged in seven locks, that gave him his supernatural strength? Scripture sets the record straight by informing us that Samson, overcome by weakness after his hair was cut, did not know that the Lord has departed from him (16:20).
No comments:
Post a Comment