The power of desire (Judg 16:4-14)

Kipling in one of his Just So Stories (‘The Cat that Walked by Himself’) describes how the Cat manages step by step to wheedle his way into the cave where the Woman lives with her Man and her Baby. The Cat is audacious and deliciously cat-like as it patiently charms the Woman until she finds the Cat first entering the cave, then settling by the fire and finally drinking the warm white milk. The way the Cat pushes boundaries always taking just one step further towards his goal reminds me of the nature of temptation that can seem innocent and delightful until it takes hold in our heart and becomes our master (apologies to any cat-lovers out there who are offended by the parallel!).

Playing on the borderline

Samson’s experience with temptation is similar and, as before, he is skirting the doubtful edges of what is acceptable. Neither explicitly Israelite nor Philistine, his choice of a woman is an enigma. Is she married, a widow, or another prostitute? No family or male relations are mentioned. She lives in the Valley of Sorek that runs from the hills of Judah towards the Mediterranean in an east-west direction on the border between Israelite territory and Philistia. She is geographically between allegiances and Samson’s relationship with her is also borderline: not full marriage commitment but not a one-night-stand either. There is nothing borderline about Samson’s attraction, however. Delilah is the only named woman in the story highlighting her significance and we are explicitly told that Samson loved her. He may have loved his wife earlier, but she did not have the same priority (note how Samson placed his parents above her – Judg 14:16). Samson is especially vulnerable with Delilah, and we wonder what he will give up for her.

Delilah bought

There is no question about Delilah, however. Whoever she is, the enormous sum offered by the Philistine lords is much more agreeable than the relationship with Samson (Judg 16:5). Since Philistia had five major cities, it is assumed that Delilah received 5,500 shekels in total. By comparison, the priest employed in the next chapter is offered 10 shekels a year as wage (plus maintenance and a suit of clothing; Judg 17:10), Abraham pays 400 shekels for a field and cave as burial ground (Gen 23:16-17), David gives 50 shekels for Araunah’s threshing floor and the oxen on it (2 Sam 24:24), and the compensation for a slave who is gored to death is 30 shekels (Exod 21:33). Enticement worked on Samson once before and it is urged again with a deadly aim in view (Judg 14:15; 16:5).

Deeper and deeper in

We may wonder, though, how Delilah’s tactic could ever work when she is so blatantly transparent in her pursuit, even repeating some of the wording that the Philistines used in their approach to her about binding and afflicting Samson (Judg 16:5-6). Indeed, he is labelled by many as naïve in the extreme and blinded by love. For Samson, however, playing with danger in a lovers’ tease may seem like a game he can control. He can invent endless options and enjoy the triumph of getting free every time. He does not know the deal Delilah has struck or that the Philistines are lying in wait in the inner room (Judg 16:9, 12). Yet, as with all temptation, the deeper in the harder it becomes to stop, so that Samson’s third explanation, this time involving his hair, comes perilously close to revealing the truth (Judg 16:13).

Temptation’s lure

It is easy to dismiss Samson as stupid, but it is worth reflecting on how temptation works on us. Like him, we often start on the edges of what is acceptable and explain the borderline as essentially harmless. It is not that we do not know the dangers or the potential destruction on the other side of desire. Rather, the craving for that momentary pleasure outweighs the consequences that look diminished and of no importance in that heated moment of want. At first, we think we can stop any time and each advance that temptation makes seems harmless until we are well and truly caught. It is no wonder that Scripture exhorts us to flee temptation (e.g. 1 Cor 6:18; 10:14; 1 Tim 6:10-11).

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