Jacob Chanikuzhy

“I don’t think there’s anything like love at first sight. What happens is actually lust at first sight.” There may be some truth in this statement of Hindi film star AbhayDeol. Lust has caused the downfall of many. The biblical figure of Samson is sometimes considered as one who spoiled his life addicted to lust. His affair with Delilah is a well-known biblical story (Judges 13-16).

In the traditional Christian tradition, Samson is compared to Jesus, and Delilah whom Samson loved is compared to Judas Iscariot. Church tradition has highlighted several similarities between Samson and Jesus. For example, just as Jesus’ birth was announced to his mother by an angel, so too the birth of Samson was foretold by an angel directly to the mother of Samson. Both the births were miraculous since Samson’s mother was barren, and Mary was a virgin. Delilah, Samson’s lover betrayed Samson for silver coins just as Jesus was betrayed by Judas, his friend. As Samson’s eyes were pulled out after he was captured, Jesus too was blindfolded. Samson stretched both his hands to shake the pillars on his right and left forming the shape of the cross prefiguring the death of Jesus on the cross. As Samson died while inflicting a death blow to his enemies so too Jesus died in his fight against Satan. Although both Jesus and Samson died fighting against the most powerful of the society, both of them received an honourable burial.

Samson is a man of paradoxes. Although one can find several similarities between Samson and Jesus, the dissimilarities between the two seem to outweigh the similarities. Samson was a hero of the Jews and their deliverer from the Philistines. Still he fell in love with a Philistine woman and wanted to marry her. God himself had prohibited the Israelites from marrying pagans. However, Samson was adamant in his decision to marry a gentile woman even after the objection of his parents. Such a move is quite unexpected from a Jewish ruler who was specially blessed with the spirit of the Lord.

Though a Nazirite, Samson was not fully faithful to his Nazirite vows. He was not supposed to shave his head. But, in the end Delilah managed to get his head shaved because of his imprudent disclosure to Delilah about the source of his strength. He violated the Jewish dietary laws by eating “unclean” honey from the corpse of a dead lion (Jud 14,9). Samson also gave a banquet to the guests in connection with his marriage celebration which implies that Samson also drank wine, another violation of his obligations as a Nazirite. When he broke his vows, he lost his power. Another scandalous act of Samson was his fornication with a prostitute (Jud 16,1), an unimaginable sin from the part of a man born from special divine intervention. Many a time his bouts of anger was acts of his personal revenge rather than for the cause of his nation. Finally, his relation and dealings with Delilah show how emotionally immature and morally weak this man was. In fact, nowhere is it stated in the Bible that Samson and Delilah were married. They might have been living in sinful relationship. Although he knew from repeated experiences of deception that Delilah could not be trusted, his crush on Delilah made him reveal the source of his extraordinary physical power. He did not realize that his inordinate love for Delilah would be perilous to him. Finally he died a victim of his lust.

Nevertheless, there are a few very important points to be noted in the story of Samson. His marrying a Philistine woman was part of God’s plan (Jud 14,4), although it was against the law God Himself has given to Israel. Here we see a God who moves people to act against his own law! It unambiguously teaches that no law is absolute and God allows exceptions for the greater good of his people. Again, Samson’s reckless love for Delilah somehow portrays divine romance with humanity. In spite of the repeated disbelief, disobedience, disrespect, deception, and rejection from the part of humanity, God finds himself in an irrevocable relationship to the humanity. We have a God who deliberately accepts hurts, wounds and death on account of his love for us!