{"id":56131,"date":"2019-05-25T22:31:39","date_gmt":"2019-05-25T19:31:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=56131"},"modified":"2022-12-16T14:33:11","modified_gmt":"2022-12-16T12:33:11","slug":"samson-a-life-squandered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/samson-a-life-squandered\/","title":{"rendered":"Samson: A Life Squandered"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[697,402,634,878],"acf":{"old_id":"56131","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":38322,"related_cahpter":"226","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"His metaphorical blindness to the common good leads to real blindness and a bitter end","content":"

Throughout Samson\u2019s repeated surges of extraordinary strength, he remains oblivious to what he is capable of achieving beyond his own self-interest. Politically his Israelite compatriots are subservient to foreign rule. They desperately need \u00a0a leader who will galvanize them to revolt. Samson of course would be the logical candidate yet what motivates every one of his explosive eruptions of brute force are personal vendettas. There is also a striking moment of lost opportunity on a national scale that exposes a communal consciousness just as politically oblivious as Samson\u2019s.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Philistines prepare to launch a military assault at Lehi against the Israelite tribes, issuing an ultimatum for the surrender of Samson (15:9-10). The Israelites capitulate immediately, confronting Samson with an abject acceptance of enemy sovereignty, \u201cDon\u2019t you know that the Philistines rule over us? Why have you done this to us?\u201d (11) The Bible reports that <\/span>three thousand Judean men<\/span><\/em> voice this j<\/em><\/span>\u2019accuse<\/span><\/em> against Samson. In other words, there on the front facing the Philistines is a formidable force who fail to see the invincible weapon standing before them in the person of Samson. He has proven himself capable of killing scores of enemy soldiers in one fell swoop as he in fact goes on to do. Rather than meek submission to the enemy demands, they could have turned to Samson for leadership to overthrow the Philistines.<\/span><\/p>\n

Samson, too, failed to see the \u2018army\u2019 he could have led to national liberation staring him in the face. Instead he responds once again with the far pettier goals of revenge that consume him. His concern is solely for what was done to <\/span>him<\/span><\/i>, \u201cas they have done to me so I did to them.\u201d (11) What is particularly insidious about Samson\u2019s indifference to his people\u2019s plight is that his response precisely echoes the stated Philistine aim for Samson\u2019s capture, \u201cwe have come to take Samson prisoner and <\/span>to do to him as he has done to us<\/span><\/em>.\u201d (10) The literary assonance of the two pronouncements is telling. \u00a0Consistent with his initial abandonment of his own family and people to marry and live in the very heart of the enemy\u2019s territory, Samson has assimilated their ideology as well!<\/span><\/p>\n

Samson continually reacts against personal harm without any concern for the greater good. Even with his dying breath, he expresses his yearning for the strength to bring down the pagan temple as \u201c<\/span>revenge<\/span><\/em> against the Philistines, <\/span>if only for one of my two eyes<\/span><\/em>.\u201d (16:28) The record of <\/span>three thousand men and women<\/span><\/em> Philistines savoring Samson\u2019s tortuous humiliation conjures the opportunity he missed when faced with the possibilities raised by a gathering of three thousand of his own people.<\/span><\/p>\n

Samson is memorialized by the dismal epitaph \u201cthose who were killed by him when he died outnumbered those he killed when he lived.\u201d (16:30) Unbridled fury, driven by no greater concerns than the self, lacks the focus and aim necessary to achieve any lasting strategic outcomes. It culminates in the purposeless statistics of random death.<\/span><\/p>\n

Continuing to parrot the Philistine mantra of vengeance, Samson\u2019s final words \u201cLet me die with the Philistines,\u201d (30) resonate more with his affinity for the Philistine corrupt culture than what many interpret as some noble sentiment of self-sacrifice. Samson\u2019s metaphorical blindness to his potential for the betterment of his people unfortunately carries through to his literal blindness at his end.<\/span><\/p>\n

Image: Lovis Corinth, The Blinded Samson<\/em>, 1912 \/ Google Art Project<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":56132,"id":56132,"title":"jud15-blind samson-Lovis_Corinth","filename":"jud15-blind-samson-Lovis_Corinth.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud15-blind-samson-Lovis_Corinth.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/samson-a-life-squandered\/jud15-blind-samson-lovis_corinth\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jud15-blind-samson-lovis_corinth","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":56131,"date":"2019-05-25 19:31:15","modified":"2021-03-13 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A Life Squandered","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"His metaphorical blindness to the common good leads to real blindness and a bitter end","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":56132,"id":56132,"title":"jud15-blind samson-Lovis_Corinth","filename":"jud15-blind-samson-Lovis_Corinth.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/jud15-blind-samson-Lovis_Corinth.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/samson-a-life-squandered\/jud15-blind-samson-lovis_corinth\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"jud15-blind-samson-lovis_corinth","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":56131,"date":"2019-05-25 19:31:15","modified":"2021-03-13 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