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| Delilah
(c. 12th cent. BC) Biographical After his encounter at Gaza, Samson 'fell in love with a woman who lived in the valley of Sorek, and her name was Delilah' (also known as 'Dalila'). The village of Sorek was known to Eusebius and St. Jerome and was correctly placed to the north of Eleutheropolis, near Saraa, the home of Samson. The valley mentioned in the text was likely a smaller side valley of the larger Wadi Serar, or possibly the Wadi Serar itself. This region lay on the border between the territories of the Israelites and those of their main enemies at the time, the Philistines. Sorek may have been inhabited by the Philistines, and although the text does not specify Delilah’s background, the story in Judges chapter 16, detailing her dealings with the Philistine rulers, suggests it is highly unlikely that she was an Israelite. It is also improbable that she became Samson’s wife. The way the Scripture introduces her relationship with him, along with the ease with which the Philistine rulers were able to enter her house, not to mention her willingness to betray the Israelite hero, suggests that she may have been a prostitute—a view now more commonly held among scholars. The Philistines, believing that Samson’s strength must be due to some magical charm, sought to uncover the source of his power. The Philistine rulers, possibly the five mentioned in Judges 3:3 and elsewhere, went to Delilah, to whose house Samson often came—whether he lived there or not—and said to her, 'Trick him, and find out where his great strength lies, and how we might be able to overpower him, bind him, and subdue him. If you do this, we will each give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.' This sum would have seemed immense to Delilah. She agreed to discover the secret of Samson’s strength and how to weaken it. Four times she asked him to reveal the source of his strength, each time having Philistines ready to seize him if she could persuade him to tell her. Initially, Samson humourously provided answers that allowed him to mock her attempts to bind him, but eventually, her persistent questioning wore him down, and he revealed to her that his strength was due to his vow as a Nazarite, and that his long hair was the key to that vow. Delilah then had his hair cut while Samson slept, and handed him over to his enemies, who took him as a prisoner to Gaza. |
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