Editorial
Front Page - Friday, June 05, 2009
Life as a puzzle: Part 1
Vic Fleming
“Out of the eater, something to eat.
Out of the strong, something sweet.”
I must have been 9 or 10 when I first saw “Samson and Delilah.” I was taken by this film before I entered the theater.
The lead role was played by Victor Mature. There were not many actors named Victor. There were not many little boys in my town named Victor. So I went in thinking that I would identify with the protagonist. That thought was short- lived.
I did not come away from this movie with any aspirations to be like Samson. It is irony, pure and simple, that Samson was a judge and a word game enthusiast.
All I could remember about Samson for the longest period was that he killed lots of Philistines. Having studied what the Bible says about his life, on the whole, I’d say he lived in a puzzle that he never solved.
Samson’s is one weird biography!
An angel appears to one Manoah and his wife, who is said to be barren and whose name is never given. Angel says that Manoah and wife will have a kid who will deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines. He will be a Nazirite, meaning that he is not to cut his hair, drink alcohol or spend time near corpses.
A rebellious teenaged Samson demands that his dad and mom get him a certain Philistine woman to be his wife. The three of them go to her town. Samson goes alone to a nearby vineyard. A lion roars at him. He kills the lion. He meets his bride-to-be and, apparently, a date is set.
When he is returning to marry her, he finds the lion’s carcass inhabited by bees. He eats their honey. When he gets to the wedding site, he makes a feast, “as the young men were accustomed to do.” The bride’s family assigns 30 companions to be with him.
For whatever reason, he poses a riddle—“Out of the eater, something to eat. Out of the strong, something sweet”—and bets them 30 suits of clothing that they cannot answer it within seven days.
Why would Samson challenged a bunch of strange guys to a word game? Was he really that smart? We’re talking about a young guy here, who might well benefit from having these other 30 as friends, no?
These 30 boys go to the bride and say, “You get the answer from Samson or we burn down your house!” She then nags Samson something awful. He tells her the answer, and she immediately betrays him. A foreshadowing of his luck with women.
When the men surprise Samson by giving the correct answer, his response indicates that he might be a candidate for an anger management course. He goes to another town, kills 30 men, takes their clothing back to his companions and then storms home. Meanwhile, unknown to him, the bride’s father gives the bride to another man. (To be continued.)
© 2009 Vic Fleming
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