17. Bees, of course, have a highly developed sense of smell, and thus it is unlikely that they would settle in a rotting carcass, but would do so only later, after the stench had dissipated and only a skeleton remained. This observation supports the conjecture that a year had passed between Samson’s battle with the lion and his return to Timnah. See Haim Shmueli, Hidat Shimshon (‘Samson’s Riddle’ [Hebrew: Tel Aviv, 1964]), p. 58.
18. The Anglo-Jewish writer Linda Grant, in an article entitled ‘Jews behaving badly’, connects Samson with the Golem of Prague. The Golem, according to Jewish legend, was created by Rabbi Judah Loew of Prague, known as the Maharal, in the sixteenth century. The Maharal fashioned the Golem out of clay in order to fight off the enemies of the Jews. When the Maharal would shove into the creature’s mouth a slip of paper on which was written the ineffable name of God, the Golem would come to life and do the rabbi’s bidding. In keeping with this parallelism, one can read the paper with God’s name on it as a concrete expression of the ‘spirit of the Lord’ that animated Samson. See Linda Grant, ‘Jews behaving badly: Samson, Sharon, and other “tough Jews”’, Jewish Quarterly 49, 2 (Summer 2002): 48–52.
19. Genesis 2:24.
20. The idea of Samson’s compulsive need to be betrayed by women was raised and explored in depth by the Israeli psychiatrist Ilan Kutz in his article, ‘Samson’s complex’, in which he analyses the ‘behavioural disturbance’ – as he put it – of the biblical Samson. According to Kutz, the essence of this disturbance is ‘the compulsion to re-enact the experience of betrayal by women, followed by destructive acts of rage against others, and ultimately against their own tormented selves’. Kutz emphasises the problematic behaviour of the mother as the source of Samson’s psychological disorder: ‘Whether or not this nameless stranger is accepted as a messenger of God, it is possible to infer that there were rumours and whispers surrounding the circumstances of Samson’s birth. Perhaps … Samson’s childhood was enveloped by a deep sense of shame, related to his mother’s questionable behaviour or his father’s uncertain paternity.’ Ilan Kutz, ‘Samson’s complex: The compulsion to re-enact betrayal and rage’, British Journal of Medical Psychology, 62 (1989): 123–34.
21. Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet, translated by Stephen Mitchell (New York, 1986), p. 40.
22. See II Chronicles 11:6.
23. Though there is, in Gaza City itself, a hill known to this day as ‘Samson’s Grave’.
24. A comprehensive survey of the representations of Samson in world art and culture may be found in David Fishelov, Mahlafot Shimshon (‘Samson’s Locks’ [Hebrew: Jerusalem, 2000]).
25. See Kutz, ‘Samson’s complex’, n. 20.
26. Ilan Kutz, focusing on Samson’s death-wish, interprets this scene as an unspoken suicide pact: ‘Both Samson and Delila [sic] take part in this death dance. If Delila is leading Samson consciously on the deadly floor of betrayal, Samson is unconsciously manipulating Delila in the dance of his suicide. It may even be surmised that Samson meticulously and repeatedly auditioned his female partner before giving her the role of the loving-betraying executioner, and that the three early betrayals by Delila were but trial runs before she could be entrusted with the real thing.’ (Kutz, ‘Samson’s complex’, p. 130)
27. BT Sotah 9b.
28. Lea Goldberg, ‘Samson’s love’, in the collection Barak Ba-Boker (‘Lightning in the Morning’ [Hebrew: Merhavia, Israel, 1957]), p. 112. Goldberg (1911–1970) was an important Hebrew modernist poet.
29. BT Sotah 9b.
30. Job 31:10
31. BT Sotah 10a.
32. For one example, we have Potiphar’s wife accusing Joseph: ‘She called out to her servants and said to them, “Look, he had to bring us a Hebrew to dally with us!”’ – letzahek banu. ‘This one came to lie with me …’ (Genesis 39:14).
33. Rabbi Saadiah Gaon, the tenth-century leader of Babylonian Jewry, commented in his Book of Beliefs and Opinions on the damaging effect of the lust for revenge upon the soul of the avenger as well as his victims. Saadiah brings Samson’s final act as an example of an especially extreme and destructive case of revenge. In other rabbinic literature, we generally find no condemnation of Samson’s final revenge, although his aggressive behaviour is sometimes censured. Saadiah Gaon, The Book of Beliefs and Opinions, Treatise 10, Chapter 13. Translated by Samuel Rosenblatt (New Haven, 1948), pp. 390–2.
34. BT Sotah 9b.
About the Author
Myths are universal and timeless stories that reflect and shape our lives – they explore our desires, our fears, our longings, and provide narratives that remind us what it means to be human. The Myths series brings together some of the world’s finest writers, each of whom has retold a myth in a contemporary and memorable way. Authors in the series include: Chinua Achebe, Margaret Atwood, Karen Armstrong, AS Byatt, David Grossman, Milton Hatoum, Natsuo Kirino, Alexander McCall Smith, Tomás Eloy Martínez, Victor Pelevin, Ali Smith, Donna Tartt, Su Tong, Dubravka Ugresic, Salley Vickers and Jeanette Winterson.
Also by David Grossman
Death As a Way of Life: Dispatches from Jerusalem (2003)
The Body (untranslated, 2002)
Someone to Run With (2000)
Be My Knife (1998)
The Zigzag Kid (1994)
Sleeping on a Wire: Conversations with Israeli Palestinians (1992)
The Book of Intimate Grammar (1991)
The Yellow Wind (1987)
See Under: Love (1986)
The Smile of the Lamb (1983)
Duel (1982)
Copyright
First published in Great Britain in 2006 by
Canongate Books Ltd, 14 High Street,
Edinburgh, EH1 1TE
This digital edition first published in 2009
by Canongate Books
Copyright © David Grossman, 2005
Translation copyright © Stuart Schoffman, 2006
The right of David Grossman and Stuart Schoffman to be identified as respectively the author and translator of the work has been asserted
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available on
request from the British Library
ISBN 978 1 84767 687 0
LICENCE: In terms of the Letters Patent granted by Her late Majesty Queen Victoria to Her Printers for Scotland and of the Instructions issued by Her said Majesty in Council, dated Eleventh July Eighteen Hundred and Thirty nine, I hereby License and Authorise Canongate Books Limited, Fourteen High Street, Edinburgh, to Print and Publish, as by the Authority of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, but so far as regards the Text of the Authorised Version only, an Edition of the Book of Judges, Chapters 13–16 in Palatino Type as proposed in their Declaration dated the Eighth day of March Two Thousand and Six.
Dated at Edinburgh, the Twentieth day of March Two Thousand and Six.
BOYD, Lord Advocate
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