The story of Samson and Delilah seems pretty clear cut: the archetypal temptress seduces
the hero. But what if the violence was all part of their kinky game?
And is the whole thing just a stand-in for another famous biblical duo? Keep watching to find out.
The story of Samson and Delilah starts at a time when the Philistines are conquering the
Israelites. In The Book of Judges, Samson's mother and father try to have a child without success.
Then, an angel appears and tells Samson's mother:
"Drink not wine nor strong drink, and eat not any unclean thing. For, lo, thou shalt conceive,
and bear a son; and no razor shall come on his head: for the child shall be a Nazarite unto God
from the womb: and he shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines."
So what is a Nazarite? As described by Britannica, Nazarites were those who gave
special service to God. This was marked by abstinence from wine and cutting their hair.
The Nazarites were holy men who were imbued by the "Spirit of the Lord" to do miraculous things. In
Samson's case, he was granted superhuman strength. For example, in the Book of Judges, Samson kills a
lion with his bare hands, and kills a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey.
Despite Samson’s status as a Nazarite, he had a sort of screwy moral compass — at least judging
by ancient Israelite standards. His commitment wasn’t always as strong as his appetite.
"Chosen by the living God to be his hand of vengeance. It’s his will."
"But it is not mine."
According to the essay The Failure of the Family in Judges, Samson broke
one of the cardinal ethics of the time by demanding to marry a Philistine from Timnah.
Samson’s father, Manoah, objected, saying:
"Is there never a woman among the daughters of thy brethren,
or among all my people, that thou goest to take a wife of the uncircumcised Philistines?
And Samson said unto his father, Get her for me; for she pleaseth me well."
This act has been heavily debated. Some Rabbis say that Samson sinned when marrying the Philistine
woman, while others believe that it was part of Yahweh’s plan to smite the Philistines using
Samson's superhuman strength. This decision sets off a course of increasingly bloody episodes,
leading to the killing of Samson’s Philistine wife and father-in-law,
as well as the slaughter of thousands of Philistines at their temple.
On the whole, Samson comes across as a short-term thinker, guided purely by his appetites. Scholars
have argued that his failures are reflective of the sins of the Israelites at the time.
While there may be debate as to whether his marriage to the woman of Timnah
is sinful or not, it is clear that Samson was not exactly mindful of his Nazaritic lifestyle.
As the Book of Judges relates, Samson traveled to Gaza before meeting Delilah.
In Gaza, he, quote, "saw there [a] harlot, and went in unto her."
The Jewish Women's Archive suggests that from this point, Samson's sins were sexual in nature. Later
in the narrative, when Samson is imprisoned by the Philistines, he is held as a tohen,
or mill slave, which has been interpreted by Rabbis as a reference to sexual sins.
It is implied that Delilah's betrayal was a punishment for Samson's womanizing ways.
The actual text of the Book of Judges describes Delilah as a woman of the valley of Sorek,
with whom Samson had fallen in love. The text neither gives her occupation nor her ethnicity,
but it has long been assumed that Delilah is a Philistine sex worker.
The Valley of Sorek is located right on the cusp of Israelite territory.
So — geographically — Delilah could be either Philistine or Israelite. Delilah as a name is
constructed in a fashion common to Semitic languages. The problem is one of assumption.
The reader assumes that Delilah is a Philistine because Samson had only been interested in foreign
women. She is also assumed to be a harlot, because she is mentioned alongside "other" harlots.
Samson genuinely loves Delilah in the text,
far different from the carnal lust he shows for the other women in his life. Delilah is also the
only named woman in the Samson narrative. Not even Samson's mother is given a name.
The Book of Judges relates how Delilah was bribed by the Philistines to find out the source of
Samson's strength. When Samson first replies to Delilah, he says that if he was bound with seven
cords that were never dried, he would be weakened. The Philistines provide Delilah with the cords,
and Delilah binds Samson with a group of Philistine men waiting in the next chamber. She
then tests Samson by shouting that the Philistines are there, but he breaks the bonds easily. Delilah
taunts that Samson does not truly love her, since he lies to her about his weakness. Samson finally
relents and tells her that if his hair was shorn, he would lose his power. The next time
Samson falls asleep on Delilah’s lap, she calls for a man to shave seven locks from his head.
So, whodunnit? Jack Sasson, author of Who Cut Samson's Hair?, points out that it couldn't be
a Philistine, since they were lying in wait in the next chamber, and too fearful of the
Nazarite to come close. However, it is possible, even probable, that Delilah called to a man,
not for a man. The man in question was Samson: she wanted to check if he was awake.
Assured that he was blissfully slumbering, she seized the opportunity to cut his hair herself.
"I've taken away your strength, Samson. Your little Danite sparrow will nest alone."
Samson is revered as a great hero of the Old Testament, often compared to the Greek hero
Heracles. There are a number of similar tales between Samson and Heracles. They both slay
lions with their bare hands, they break bonds by flexing their muscles, and wield clubs.
Both heroes also fall victim to scheming temptresses: Samson to Delilah and Heracles
to Queen Omphale, to whom he was enslaved. It’s possible that the Israelites’ tales
were influenced by Greek legends that they would have learned through the Philistines.
Archaeological findings indicate that Samson and Delilah may even have been ancient Greeks.
According to Haaretz, findings at the site of Tell el-Qadi have raised some eyebrows. This site
has been identified as the city of Dan, which was controlled by the Israelite tribe of Dan.
Artifacts found here include Aegean pottery, figurines, and other cultural items. Notably,
the Book of Judges states that Samson was a part of the Israelite tribe of Dan.
While the findings are not conclusive by any measure,
there has been speculation that the Danites originated from
Greece ⁠— possibly even being mercenary warriors hired by Egyptian overlords.
Because the Samson and Delilah story has so many elements of Greek mythology,
it may be that the original writers of the Hebrew Bible didn't want it there in the first place.
In the Book of Judges, more narrative space is given to Samson than any of
the other Judges from that period in ancient Israel's history. There are also scandals,
and sexual acts and implications that are not typical for other parts of the Hebrew Bible.
"Tie me up with fresh ropes, ones that have never been used, and I will be like any other man."
There is even speculation that the story may have been Philistine in origin, told from the
perspective of Delilah, who conquered the foreign hero. The tale, being very popular during the time
of the narrator's life, could not be excluded from the scripture. However, the narrator
adjusted the text, ultimately trying to conform a polytheistic myth to monotheistic sensibilities.
In the Book of Judges, Samson says to Delilah:
"There hath not come a razor upon mine head;
for I have been a Nazarite unto God from my mother's womb: if I be shaven,
then my strength will go from me, and I shall become weak, and be like any other man."
We are told that Samson's strength was because of his hair, and that when Delilah cut it,
his power was destroyed. But the truth is more subtle. Samson's strength resided not in his hair,
but in his Nazarite vows: the hair was just an outward symbol. Samson had a record of immoral
behavior. Not only did he dally with women, but he surely handled the corpses of those he slew.
Plus, it seems improbable that there was no strong drink at his wedding.
The cutting of his hair may have been the last straw for Yaweh.
And, perhaps Samson was asking to be disempowered. In the essay What Was Samson Thinking in Judges
16,17 and 16,20?, author Jeremy Schipper posits that Samson was suffering under severe emotional
fatigue and restlessness caused by his incredible powers. He wanted rest, and was able to get it
through Delilah, who had his hair cut off. Samson thought that he'd be able to survive without it.
In many ways, the story of Samson and Delilah is the biblical narrators'
criticism of the chaotic time before the monarchy in ancient Israel.
The story is unusual for the Hebrew Bible, since it has a large amount of
sexuality and gender reversal in the context of a foreign-occupation. So what is going on here?
This section of the text was likely written during the period of Babylonian captivity,
when the Israelites were held by the Persian Empire. Moral themes concerning the wickedness
of foreign influences, particularly women, pervade throughout. Samson's fall to Delilah
shows how immoral Israelites will fall to foreigners if they do not follow Yaweh.
The Samson and Delilah story is a unique story for the Hebrew Bible. The author of
A Feminist Companion to Judges posits that Delilah may be history's first sex symbol.
The name is now synonymous with "a temptress; an alluring object."
She is a strong character who, unlike most other female characters in the biblical tradition,
has her own agency. While Eve was fooled by the serpent in the Garden of Eden,
Delilah made a free choice and, using her own intelligence and capabilities,
brought down a man who was thought to be unstoppable.
She is the archetype of the seductress, presumed to be an evil force. But she is
not narratively dealt with as we might expect. Delilah simply disappears from the narrative
after she hands Samson over to the Philistines. Whether or not Yahweh smote her is never told.
All of these factors have made Delilah a figure of fascination,
breaking the mold of the typical female biblical character.
Another factor that makes the story of Samson and Delilah so unique is the layers of sexual
innuendo, particularly the taboo. Women's Bible Commentary argues that under analysis, Samson
is a person who deliberately seeks out and enjoys violence and sex. His obsessive love for Delilah
is in line with this characterization: Delilah provides the sexual violence that Samson craves.
In this role, Delilah is a dominatrix. Over and over again, she ties Samson up with ropes,
which he breaks only when it becomes too much for him.
When Samson finally gives away his secret about his hair, we may interpret that Samson
desired to escalate their dangerous sex game to the point where his own life is in jeopardy.
“I don’t believe you could kill me. Try. You’re afraid to kill me.”
Such an interpretation puts Samson’s status as
the ultimate heterosexual male hero into question — he is totally subdued by her.
Some biblical scholars look beyond the straight up narrative of Samson and Delilah
for metaphors that reflect conflicts in the history of ancient Israel. Essay
Saul and the Samson Narrative contends that Samson and Delilah are stand-ins for Saul
and David, with the narrative being written by a supporter of King Saul.
Simplified, David essentially usurped the throne of the Kingdom of Israel from Saul.
Both Saul and Samson are liberators, empowered by the divine spirit.
David is similar to Delilah in that both characters orchestrate the downfall of the hero.
The author of Saul and the Samson Narrative points out:
"The pro-Saul writer of the Samson story was so enraged with David as to portray him as a
Philistine woman and a seducer who pretended to be on the hero's side yet was really a Philistine
agent. It was Delilah who cut off Samson's hair and handed him over to the Philistines.
In the same way David revealed the secret of Saul's military disadvantage to the Philistines."
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