546 THE WIFE OF MANOAH, THE MOTHER OF SAMSON Magdel le Roux University of South Africa P O Box 392, UNISA 0003 E-mail:
[email protected] (Received 21/04/2016; accepted 06/07/2016) ABSTRACT The last account of the judges is that of Samson (Judges 13–16). This account has all the elements of a blockbuster. All the indications are that Samson would be an extraordinary person. And yet, even though Samson may be regarded as some sort of hero, the story suggests that Samson was also the weakest or most ineffective of the judges. Tension is created through the juxtaposition of “ideal” and “non-ideal” bodies. An alternative ideology, as a hidden polemic, is concealed in the account. As in the case of Achsah (Judges 1:11–15) and Deborah (Judges 4–5), the nameless wife of Manoah (the mother of Samson) serves as an illustration of “countercultural rhetoric” as a hidden polemic. INTRODUCTION In the dominant cultural ideology of the Israelite tribes, ideal, whole bodies were those of male Israelite soldiers without any defects. This is the image that comes to mind when one first reads about the strong man, Samson, although in time one becomes more aware of his weaknesses than his strengths. These accounts (Judges 14–16) are full of violence and of Samson’s personal revenge, but they also describe his weakness for women. In the case of Samson, an ideal male body develops into an “unwhole body” in that an aesthetic element is added to the story: God favours Samson despite his disobedience (Chs 14–16).