A Web of Responsibilty

Judges Chapter 15, the Strange and the Spectacular

Verses: 20.

Is It Read At Synagogue?: No.

Famous Quotes/Phrases: Samson’s sense of justice is consistent with much of the rest of the Bible, as he tells the men of Judah: “As they did to me, so I did to them.”

Basic Plot: In spite of the events at the end of the previous chapter, Samson returns to his wife, but is stopped by her father, who tells Samson that she is now married to one of his friends. Enraged, Samson attaches flaming torches to 150 pairs of foxes and sets them free, causing Philistine fields to catch fire. The Philistines blame Samson’s wife and his father as payback; Samson then kills the assassins.

Tired of the constant violence, 3,000 Judean men find Samson in his hiding place. Samson allows them to take him prisoner and hand him over to the Philistines, but once this happens, God gives him the power to destroy the ropes that bind his arms. Samson finds a jawbone of a recently-deceased donkey and uses it to kill 1,000 more Philistines.

We learn that Samson leads the Israelites for 20 years.

What’s Strange: Samson may have longevity as a judge, but that doesn’t mean that he’s good at it. In Judges and Ruth, a book she co-wrote with Stephen E. Fowl, Laura A. Smit notes that “nothing Samson has done up to this point in the narrative has been of any benefit to the people of Israel. He has pursued nothing but personal vengeance as retaliation for being disrespected, and although he has created a good bit of mayhem, he has not yet begun the work of delivering the people of Israel from the Philistines.” In other words, Samson’s feats of strength are a whirlwind that doesn’t improve the lives of the people he supposedly leads.

What’s Spectacular: There’s not a lot to like about Samson’s brutish behavior up to this point. This is compounded by the fact that he is pre-ordained to be a Nazirite, to take on additional religious obligations. Samson’s selfishness sticks out even more given the higher standards he’s born with.

But that last fact might allow us to feel a sliver of sympathy. He never asks to be a Nazirite; according to the Book of Numbers, when the concept of being a Nazirite is introduced, the extra obligations are supposed to be voluntary. Samson, meanwhile, is born with them.

Last week, I talked about ways that Samson might compare to modern stories of superheroes. The question of obligations is reminiscent to the story of a different character: Spider-Man. Perhaps the most famous quote from Spider-Man stories are from Peter Parker’s uncle Ben, who tells Peter that “with great power comes great responsibility.” Spider-Man finds ways to use his powers for the betterment of society. Will Samson learn to do the same?

Shabbat Shalom and Happy Hanukkah!