{"id":71218,"date":"2020-03-04T16:10:57","date_gmt":"2020-03-04T14:10:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=71218"},"modified":"2022-12-14T07:53:05","modified_gmt":"2022-12-14T05:53:05","slug":"samsons-annunciation-scene","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/samsons-annunciation-scene\/","title":{"rendered":"Samson’s Annunciation Scene"},"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":[452,373,878],"acf":{"old_id":"71218","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":69185,"related_cahpter":"224","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Demonstrating biting irony and a bad paternal role model\r\n\r\n","content":"

Samson\u2019s introduction in Judges 13 presents an example of an annunciation scene, made famous by the birth of Jesus in the New Testament and its hundreds of medieval and Renaissance depictions. A messenger of the Lord (\u201cangel\u201d and \u201cmessenger\u201d are the same word in Hebrew) appears to a barren woman, identified as the wife of Manoah, to inform her that she will have a son. He instructs her to be meticulous with her son\u2019s food and not give him any alcohol to drink, nor cut his hair, for he will be a nazirite (compare Num. 6:1-21). Manoah pleads to God that the messenger return; he does so and repeats his message. Manoah then tries to feed his guest, \u201cfor he did not know that he was an angel of the Lord,\u201d but the angel refuses to eat the food and to tell his name. Subsequently, Manoah makes a burnt offering to God; he and his wife see the angel ascend upon the flames.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is hard to understand why, of all the biblical heroes, Samson merits such an entrance. As we shall see, the Bible scarcely depicts him as praiseworthy; he is far from the paradigm of a hero. Rather, Samson\u2019s annunciation in Judges 13 appears to establish a pattern of irony through the striking contrast between the exterior features of the narrative and the interior qualities of the character. The more elaborate the annunciation scene, the less worthy Samson proves to be.<\/span><\/p>\n

The relationship between his parents is particularly telling with regard to Samson\u2019s future, highly troubled liaisons with the opposite sex. His mother, the unnamed \u201cwife of Manoah,\u201d is repeatedly shown to be more perceptive than her cloddish husband, Manoah. Both times the angel delivers his message, he comes to her, not to Manoah. Even though Manoah pleads for the angel to speak to him, even as he tries to detain him, feed him, find out his name as if the angel were human, the angel will not address him. For all that Manoah hears his wife\u2019s account and speaks at last with the angel, he still \u201cdid not know that he was an angel of the Lord.\u201d Finally, even after Manoah witnesses the angel ascend the flame of the offering, he believes that he and his wife will be punished with death for an illicit glimpse.<\/span><\/p>\n

His wife, the level-headed, clear-sighted member of the family, points out the multiple reasons why her husband\u2019s reasoning is fallacious: \u201cHad the Lord meant to take our lives, He would not have accepted a burnt offering and meal offering from us, nor let us see all these things; and He would not have made such an announcement to us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Far from serving as mere comic relief and a foil for his wife, Manoah sets the stage for his son\u2019s own poor judgment and defeat by smarter, cleverer women. He provides a bad model that Samson will utterly and unwittingly follow.<\/span><\/p>\n

Adapted from <\/span>The Biblical Hero: Portraits in Nobility and Fallibility<\/span><\/em> by Elliott Rabin by permission of the Jewish Publication Society. \u00a92020 by Elliott Rabin.<\/span><\/p>\n

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