Megan Wray

Intro to “Sweetest Downfall” We all love dichotomies. We love being able to classify things into one category or another. Black or white. Heaven or hell. Good or evil. It makes the world easier for us to digest. It simplifies very complicated ideas. But life isn’t always as plain as these divides make it seem. I like to believe that people are good at heart, that everyone has a reason for why they are the way they are. People have stories that deserve to be heard -- even if they are complicated. The Bible tells us the story of Samson and Delilah in the Book of Judges. Samson was a powerful Nazarite warrior with superhuman strength which he used to aid in his people’s war against the Philistines. With his great power, he used his bare hands to slay a lion and used a donkey’s jawbone to kill an entire Philistinian army. To fight for his nation, he reigned terror over the Philistines, massacring them for their garments and setting fires to their crops. They could not identify the source of his great strength and had no chance of defeating him to protect themselves. The battle seems unfair. Despite Samson’s supernatural abilities, he had a worldy weakness: his adoration for Delilah, a Sorek woman. While Delilah did not love Samson back, Philistinian lords saw her position as an opportunity. They bribed her with silver coins to discover the source of Samson’s strength. Delilah accepted this offer and failed three times before getting Samson to reveal that his power stems from his hair. One night, as he slept vulnerably in her lap, Delilah ordered his hair to be cut off, rendering his strength obsolete and allowing him to be turned over to the Philistines.  The act of cutting one’s hair is laden with symbolism. Scissors themselves are seen as a violent tool used to castrate or wound, but are also represented as something that can free one thing from another. I think both Samson and Delilah’s experiences can be seen through these opposing perspectives. Historically -- though it should be reognized as a non-consensual act in and of itself -- non-consensual cutting of hair has been compared to rape. Having a lock of another’s hair was an indicator that the two individuals had slept together.  Since Delilah is often also portrayed as a seductress prostitute (though the Bible does not explicitly state that a sexual relationship occured between them), some see Samson’s sinful lust for her as his own pitfall: a slippery slope that got him to where he ended up. However, I think this idea seems to perpetuate questionable notions of victim blaming and sexual women being  inherently reckless. On top of that, their story typically paints Samson as a hero and Delilah as a treacherous, dangerous woman -- a femme fatale even. I am also wary of an explanation as simplified as this.  I don’t know that Delilah’s actions are as evil as they’re thought to be. What if Delilah saw that the Philistines had no chance to defend themselves against the terrorizing acts of Samson and simply wanted to even the playing field? Maybe she saw the hundreds of people dying at Samson’s hands and wanted to protect the innocent civilians. Maybe Delilah didn’t want to hurt Samson, but felt she couldn’t just be a bystander. Even though Delilah didn’t love Samson the way he loved her, it doesn’t mean she relished in his suffering.  I don’t think this story is quite as objective as it seems. I think perspective matters here.  Ultimately, I think a big lesson we can take from Samson and Delilah is that we aren’t always either good or bad. Perhaps we shouldn’t be so quick to write people off as one or the other. Good people can do bad things and bad people can do good things. Delilah exploited Samson’s love, but Samson was waging war on civilians. Are either justified? Would she have been more villainous to sit back and be complicit? If she wasn’t a villain to Israelites, would she have been a villain to Philistines for refusing to use her position to help them?  Samson was doing what he thought was right while Delilah was protecting the people. But what if both were trying to fight danger? What if both were brave? Love was what drove Samson, but what if compassion is what drove Delilah? What if she didn’t do it for the money, but because she wanted to help those who were hurting? Perhaps Delilah had to weigh her choices: exploiting Samson or letting Samson exploit others. Maybe empathy can make us act irrationally. Maybe their true downfalls were their love for others. Maybe the two were more alike than they were different. Maybe love fills us with courage and honour and empowerment. And maybe it’s not a downfall after all.  Maybe love is the true source of our strength. Originally published in Willow Press’s Wild: Vol. 5