Of Shekels and Shackles: a Wadi Sorek Romance ( Judges

Of Shekels and Shackles: A Wadi Sorek Romance (Judges 16) Jack M. Sasson Abstract: This essay focuses on Samson in Delilah’s chamber (Judges 16). It explores the use of love charms in antiquity to clarify the bonds between the two major characters. It also offers an alterna- tive understanding for why Samson gave in to Delilah’s serial insistence that he reveals the secret of his strength. Keywords: Samson, Delilah, Judges 13–16 Amare et sapere vix deo conceditur (Publilius Syrus, first century BCE) o Norma Franklin, a good friend for a generation and a respected colleague for Ttwice as long, I offer frothy thoughts about Samson’s final moments as a free hu- man being. A first-rate archaeologist with scrupulous attachment to historical facts and realities, Norma is also a lover of good stories. On this occasion, therefore, I avoid com- menting on the origin(s), date(s), and permutations of traditions on which hard-core scholarship grooves.1 Rather, I will trust the Hebrew editor to have redacted a version that, however episodic, has proven its power to please through countless reformula- tions, in poetry, art, musical settings, and films. No one, Norma least of all, needs reminding of the essentials of the Samson stories that unfold from Judges 13 through 16. Having given up on raising a family, a childless couple from the tribe of Dan receives divine news that they are to have a son. Repeated threefold in the span of chapter 13 (at 3–5, 7, and 13–14), extraordinary instruction consistently assigns the wife (conspicuously unnamed) the burden of consecrating her body, perhaps for the duration of her pregnancy. She is to abstain from intoxicants and unclean food. The child is to be a Nazir, his hair remaining unshorn throughout his life, for “he will begin to rescue Israel from Philistine control” (13:5). 1. I explore these issues (and more) in my forthcoming Judges 13–21 (Anchor Yale Bible). Most any decent Judges commentary will review issues on these matters. 263 264 SASSON So much for how Samson’s story begins. The scene that will interest at chapter 16 features Samson, Delilah, the Philistines, and God. Here is a thumbnail review of their attributes. The Protagonists Samson When we first meet Samson, he is of uncertain age, but old enough to wish for marriage. He has a taste for forbidden fruit, intending to marry from among his people’s oppressors. From his rejection of parental advice, we surmise also that he is headstrong. From that incident, too, we learn that he is an instrument in games God periodically plays against his people’s adversaries as well as against their gods (14:1–5). When suf- fused with divine power, Samson can kill a (young) lion barehanded (14:5–7), savage a bunch of Philistines (14:17–19), and batter hundreds of their armed men (15:14–17). Even when left to his own mettle, he can unleash scarcely believable prowess to leave a fortified city defenseless (16:1–3). Samson can be devious in seeking to best his adversaries (14:12–18), righteous in seeking revenge (15:1–3), and inventive when do- ing so (15:4–8). Yet, he could be protective of his kin (15:9–15) and cognizant of the source of his strength (15:18–19). When we are about to feature him in a drama set in a bedroom, Samson had already displayed a carnal appetite by visiting a whore in Gaza (16:1–3). Delilah Delilah is unheralded when she comes on stage and, if we ignore the postbiblical en- hancements of her single appearance, she will fade into the twilight when she leaves it.2 She is, however, the unique woman in the Samson tales to have a name, albeit scarcely transparent in meaning.3 She lives in Wadi Sorek (nahal śōrēq), named for its vineyards, a porous demarcation between Hebrew and Philistine lands, so likely inhabited by 2. Delightful tidbits about Delilah’s portraits in literature and art are in Gunn 2005: 211–20. In the movies and elsewhere, she perishes with Samson’s destruction of the Gaza temple. More inventive is the late haggadic lore by the fabulist Eldad ha-Dani (ninth–tenth century). There, Samson and Delilah had children and lived in the land of Havilah (“Where the gold is,” Gen 2:11); see Neubauer 1889: 105; and note 4 below. Scholars needlessly attach her to the mother of Micah of chapter 17. 3. The name’s construction qa( tîl̆ , denoting a condition, with a feminine ending), certainly looks Semitic if not Hebraic. Several Hebraic words build on the root *dll, having to do with “poverty,” “scarcity,” but also with dangling (a baby?) hair. Akkadian offers several constructions based on dalālum, “to praise,” among them the name Dalal-Ishtar, a devotee of a (love) deity. The rabbis, however, gave us all a chance to derive moral lessons: “Rabbi says: ‘Even if her name had not been Delilah, she deserved to be called by such a name: She enfeebled (dîldelâ̆ ) his strength, she enfeebled his actions, she enfeebled his determination’” (Midrash Numbers Rabbah 9:24). OF SHEKELS AND SHACKLES 265 elements from both communities. Consequently, there is debate about her ethnicity. She is widely presumed to be Philistine because the adult Samson seems drawn to its women, for marriage or dalliance. She might be a Hebrew, but given her trade and her fondness for its income, her ethnicity may be irrelevant. Strikingly, Delilah is linked to no parents, husband, or sons, so is independent of male protection, a much more prevalent status for women than is realized in scholarly literature. In Rabbinic literature, however, she is Samson’s wife (MNazir 2), presumably to sharpen her betrayal as well as to warn of alliances with foreign women.4 In the Hebrew account, Delilah does not earn the label zônâ as did the whore of Gaza or, earlier in Judges, Jephthah’s mother (11:1). Nonetheless, Delilah is often cited as a prostitute, in ancient literature a label (Greek: πόρνη) attached to women who ply their trade in brothels, streets, or open space, as did Enkidu’s guide to civilization (Gil- gamesh Epic) or the pseudo-prostitute Tamar (Gen 38). However, Delilah connects with rulers and commands tons of cash. Her home is large enough to hide ambushers and to accommodate admirers for longer stretches than might the hovel of a hustling prostitute. Therefore, I rather consider her a courtesan (Greek: ἑταίρα). Greek culture teems with such personalities as Aspasia, Rhodopis, and Thais; but for me Delilah con- jures up the unforgettable Tabubu of Demotic tales regarding Prince Setne Khamwas, son of Ramses II.5 Setne falls in violent lust for Tabubu (“The moment Setne saw her, he did not know where on earth he was …”). Daughter of the prophet of Bastet though she may have been, the woman was actually for hire, but at the highest price and at her own staging. Tabubu (“She of Splendor”) does not easily surrender to Setne; but at suc- cessive inflammations of his desire, she cajoles from him his fortune, his property, and his own children’s death. Unlike in the romances and the movies, however, profession- als like Tabubu hardly return a customer’s love, a point we might keep in mind when we get back to our story. The Philistines Aside from (incongruent) mention in Genesis (21 and 26) where, grudgingly or other- wise, they assist the patriarchs, the Philistines are not yet the formidable military force that thwarted Israel’s incipient monarchy. Earlier in Judges (3:31, 10:6–7), the Philis- tines are a menace to Israel and an instrument for God’s punishment of a stiff-necked people. In the Samson story, they are settled folks who tend vineyards, olive groves, and wheat fields. Their citizens dress fashionably enough to embolden bandits into raiding them. Sophisticated and urbane, they do not shun intercourse with Hebrews and do not object to their daughters marrying one of their (barbarically) circumcised male 4. Cited from Danby 1933: 281. The same for Pseudo-Philo (LAB 44.1, where she is Dedila; cited from Harrington 1985) and Milton (Samson Agonistes). 5. Translation in Lichtheim 1980: 127–51. Citations are from pages 133 and 134. A fine study that brings out the humor of the tale is Jasnow 2001; see especially 73–81. 266 SASSON neighbors. In all, hardly the material for an uncouth “philistine” as enshrined in our dictionaries.6 Still, the image we have of them in our pages reminds most of the Roman legions in the Gaul of Asterix and Obelix, the famous French-language cartoon characters. Domineering and ferocious though they were, the Philistine fighters would receive repeated drubbings from Samson, who bludgeons them with delight and abandon. God In this scene, the Hebrew God is not a conspicuous character until its final moments, when he begins to take charge of the ensuing staging. Until then, God had dominated Judges, from its opening giving it pulse and trajectory. As the Hebrew historiographers have it, God was testing how best to transit a people from slavery to dominance over nations not willing to be dispossessed. He would remain their God and King, sole pro- prietor of the conquered land he wishes to distribute among Hebrew tribes.7 Subse- quently, he would rely on an unpredictable series of selected leaders (šōfēt, traditionally “judge”), from diverse tribes (mostly northern), from both sexes, and different in character or temper. Each would rescue penitent Israel from its harassers, giving it stability and dominance that was expected to endure when the judge leaves the stage a generation or so later.

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