Samson and Delilah
Samson was a Nazarite, blessed by God with unlimited muscle strength to protect God’s children, the Israelites, from their enemy, the Philistines. As a Nazarite, Samson had to follow by the rules of abstaining from alcohol, avoiding dead bodies, and refraining from cutting his hair. The third rule was the most essential of all, for it was what linked Samson to God and gave him his tremendous strength. If his hair was shaved off, then he would become as weak as any other man. He would never have been able to kill a thousand men with just the jawbone of a donkey. Samson never cut his hair and dedicated his whole life to serving God, leading Israel for twenty years and keeping it intact.
Unfortunately, Samson had many flaws. Out of the three rules of the Nazarenes, he only kept to the third. He was vain, short-tempered, and did as he pleased. His greatest flaw of all was his weakness for beautiful women.
Samson’s demise unraveled when he fell in love with a Philistine woman named Delilah. Upon learning of his infatuation, the Philistine rulers, seeking vengeance on Samson, each offered Delilah eleven hundred shekels of silver if she could find the secret to Samson’s strength and help them overpower him. Consumed with greed, Delilah agreed to take part in the plan and every night, she asked Samson what his secret was. She asked him three times, claiming that if he truly loved her, he would trust her with his secret. Even though Samson lied to her each time, waking up to find himself bound by the false attempts he gave her, Samson eventually gave in, blinded by his love for her, and told her his secret. When Samson had fallen asleep that night, Delilah shaved his head and called upon the Philistine rulers. Weak and helpless, Samson was seized by the Philistines, who gouged out his eyes and sentenced him to to be subjected to hard labor in a Gaza prison. As he worked in the prison, his hair began to grow back, however the Philistines paid no notice.
One day all the Philistines gathered in a temple to offer a great sacrifice to their god, Dagon, for delivering Samson into their hands.They called out Samson to serve as entertainment. With his hair growing back, Samson prayed to God to give him strength one last time to defeat the Philistines. He then pushed on the two central pillars on which the temple stood and the temple collapsed, killing everybody there, including himself.
Allusions to Samson and Delilah:
The destructiveness of love is a common theme in classic literature.
Unfortunately, Samson had many flaws. Out of the three rules of the Nazarenes, he only kept to the third. He was vain, short-tempered, and did as he pleased. His greatest flaw of all was his weakness for beautiful women.
Samson’s demise unraveled when he fell in love with a Philistine woman named Delilah. Upon learning of his infatuation, the Philistine rulers, seeking vengeance on Samson, each offered Delilah eleven hundred shekels of silver if she could find the secret to Samson’s strength and help them overpower him. Consumed with greed, Delilah agreed to take part in the plan and every night, she asked Samson what his secret was. She asked him three times, claiming that if he truly loved her, he would trust her with his secret. Even though Samson lied to her each time, waking up to find himself bound by the false attempts he gave her, Samson eventually gave in, blinded by his love for her, and told her his secret. When Samson had fallen asleep that night, Delilah shaved his head and called upon the Philistine rulers. Weak and helpless, Samson was seized by the Philistines, who gouged out his eyes and sentenced him to to be subjected to hard labor in a Gaza prison. As he worked in the prison, his hair began to grow back, however the Philistines paid no notice.
One day all the Philistines gathered in a temple to offer a great sacrifice to their god, Dagon, for delivering Samson into their hands.They called out Samson to serve as entertainment. With his hair growing back, Samson prayed to God to give him strength one last time to defeat the Philistines. He then pushed on the two central pillars on which the temple stood and the temple collapsed, killing everybody there, including himself.
Allusions to Samson and Delilah:
The destructiveness of love is a common theme in classic literature.
- In Macbeth, Macbeth’s strong love for his wife clouds his judgement. Despite his close relationship with the king, Macbeth allows his power hungry wife persuade him into killing the king so that they could have the throne. In the end, both suffer as a result of their bad choices made for love. In Romeo and Juliet, the love that the two have for each other prevents them from thinking straight. Their destructive love for each other leads them to make the foolish decision of committing suicide.
- In Antony and Cleopatra, Antony is seduced by Cleopatra’s sensual love and finds himself struggling to find a compromise between love and duty. His infatuation for Cleopatra leads him to neglect his duty as a warrior and later commit suicide.
- Classic literature often ties in this theme to illustrate the bad choices that people make when they’re blinded by love and the consequences that follow them.
Theme:
The story of Samson and Delilah centers around the idea that love is blinding and can cause someone to make bad decisions. Samson’s love for Delilah prevents him from truly seeing Delilah for who she is. Even though she had attempted to help the Philistines defeat him three times already, his love for her causes him to make a stupid decision: tell her his secret. And with that, he fails God’s mission and suffers the consequences. |
WORKS CITED:
Fairchild, Mary. "Samson and Delilah - Bible Story." About.com Christianity. About, n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2013. Judges. NIV Student Bible. Compact ed. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002. Print. Judges. The Edge Devotional Bible: NIV. Grand Rapids, MI: ZonderKidz, 2003. Print. Samson and Delilah." Artble: The Home of Passionate Art Lovers. Artble, n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2013. |