Biblical Samson: Trickster, Culture Hero, & Wild Man

Samson: A Wild Liminal Superhero of Ancient Times
Caleb Parker 4 February 2014 RLGN 212 The Mythical Trickster Professor Neulander
2 Children often marvel at the strength of superheroes like The Hulk or Superman; these characters can tear down walls, lift buildings, and stop trains. What makes these characters so interesting is that they are nearly human in most all features with the exception of those that make them super. Superman saves cities and is invulnerable to all things, that is, except kryptonite. It seems that most all heroes in culture have a kryptonite of sorts, but perhaps this is what makes them so interesting and so human. Victor Turner popularized the term liminal in the late 20th century to describe that which is between states; superheroes are neither human nor god, immortal, they are liminal, somewhere in between. Super strength is a common thread in many myths; Samson in Judges 13-16 is an especially interesting super strong hero of sort. Samson possesses characteristics of a wild man and selfish buffoon, but is refined and witty like that of a culture hero in other aspects. Samson is born of a man whose wife was barren and had no children. An angel of the Lord came to the woman and pronounced that she was to bear a child who was not to drink wine or strong drink, nor eat any unclean thingand no razor shall come upon his head (Judges 13:4-5). Samson was to be loyal to God from the womb to his death and begin to deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines (Judges 13:5). Samson grew up in accordance with these restrictions and would begin to relinquish the Philistines grasp on Israel. As Samsons hair grows longer and he grows older, so too does his strength and lust for women. Samsons lust for women and long hair begin to showcase his display of the wild man. In Judges 14, Samson sees a woman in Timnah and seeks to make her his wife. He journeys to Timnah to speak to the woman about potential marriage, while on the way a young lion attempts to attack him, but the Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson and Samson tears through the lion with ease. A later journey to Timnah he finds bees have made honey inside the carcass of the
3 lion and he scoops some of the honey to share and eat with his parents. Samsons victorious battle with the king of animals, a lion, and savage scraping of honey from the lion carcass showcases both a raucous and primitive nature that is seen in the medieval wild man (Mobley, 21). Samson as a wild man is furthered in his acts of sex, anger, violence, and foolishness. Samson kills thirty men and takes their clothes to give them to the solvers of his riddle; he burns the crops of the Philistines when his wife is given another man; he kills thousands of men with the jawbone he removes from a donkey (Judges 15). In addition to choosing his wife because of her looks, he has relations with a harlot, and intercourse with Delilah (Judges 16). Samson, despite his strength and blessing by God, eventually succumbs to the lust of Delilah and tells her that his strength lies in his hair. Following this incident she shaves his head in exchange for the bounty offered by the Philistines, and he is easily captured and later blinded. Samson is driven to Delilah by lust, but Delilahs taming of Samson and his eventual demise illustrate Samsons transition away from wild beast to earthly human (Niditch). Samson is not all wild; he possesses the ability to talk and does not live alone in the wild like the medieval wild man does (Mobley, 22). Furthermore, while the length of Samsons hair is quite wild, he keeps it in seven locks demonstrating the refinery of wild traits (Judges 16:19). Samson offers a riddle to his thirty companions, and sets foxes tails ablaze to burn the Philistines crops (Judges 14:14, 15:4). Perhaps Samsons most notable human characteristic is his relationship with God. Wild Men are not religious beings; they are not god-fearing as the refined man is (Berheimer). Samson is not only God-fearing as evidenced by his strict adherence to his living constraints, but in his praying to God and his reliance on God to accomplish certain feats showcase a relationship with a deity unlike that of the traditional wild man.
4 In Samsons final act he proves to be a most unique character. Samson, blinded and imprisoned, was called out to entertain the Philistine people one day. During this outing he asked to feel the pillars that were holding the house up, and he was obliged. Following this, Samson prayed for the Lords assistance one last time, bringing the pillars of the house down in vengeance, killing himself and the roughly 3,000 Philistines gathered there, shouting Let me die with the Philistines! (Judges 16:25-30) In Samsons death he was not just a wild man, or just a man. He was a wild man in his strength, vengeance and violence. He tricked those who held him captive to allow him to rest upon the pillars. He was a normal man in prayer, and a culture hero in beginning to return Israel from Philistine. Samson, in both character and story is liminal. As a man Samson wavered between wild man and clever human. The story of Samson captures both essences of the natural and social world (Niditch). Samsons strength is magical and raw, possessed due to his relationship with and devotion to a deity; a barren woman is able to give birth to Samson because of the power of the Lord. The magical and wild aspects of the story are illustrative of the natural world, unrefined by society. Samsons lust for women, the bribery of Delilah, and Samsons humanness leading to his downfall demonstrate humans ability to transform, refine, and manipulate nature to mans liking. Samson is the quintessential embodiment of Levi-Strauss raw to cooked metaphor, as his magical qualities vanquish and his wild behaviors are tamed he becomes a more socialized being. Samson is in many ways the super hero story of ancient times. Much like the Hulk he possesses strength far beyond that of a normal being and uses said strength in anger and violence. Samson lusts for women just as Superman desires Lois Lane. His kryptonite is in his hair, and he is ultimately a hero in beginning the returning of Israel from Philistine. Samson may
5 not be as easily glorified as a comic book super hero, but undeniably possesses many traits of a modern superhero.
6 References Cited Bernheimer, Richard, 1907-. "Wild Men In The Middle Ages: A Study In Art, Sentiment, And Demonology." Art Bulletin 35.(1953): 241-243. Art Index Retrospective (H.W. Wilson). Mobley, Gregory. Samson And The Liminal Hero In The Ancient Near East. New York: T & T Clark, n.d. ATLA Religion Database. Web. 1 Feb. 2014. Niditch, Susan. "Samson As Culture Hero, Trickster, And Bandit : The Empowerment Of The Weak." Catholic Biblical Quarterly 52.(1990): 608-624. ATLA Catholic Periodical and Literature Index. Web. 2 Feb. 2014.

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