One last note on Goliath »
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The wife of Manoah
Posted by Jay at 9:35 pm
In my post Samson and Goliath, I said:
Goliath himself understood (sort of) that the God of Israel was treating him as a joke. “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” (see 1 Samuel 17:43 [show]<div class="esv"><h2>1 Samuel 17:43 <object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://www.esvapi.org/assets/play.swf?myUrl=hw%2F09017043" width="40" height="12" class="audio"><param name="movie" value="http://www.esvapi.org/assets/play.swf?myUrl=hw%2F09017043" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /></object></h2>
<div class="esv-text"><p id="p09017043.01-1"><span class="verse-num" id="v09017043-1">43 </span>And the Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. (<a href="http://www.esv.org" class="copyright">ESV</a>)</p>
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) he asks rhetorically… only it turns out it wasn’t merely rhetorical, it was actually worth pondering, because the answer was a resounding “Yes!” This too parallels Samson, when the 30 companions answer his riddle with rhetorical uestions that were actually the heart of the matter (see Judges 14 [show]<div class="esv"><h2>Judges 14 <object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://www.esvapi.org/assets/play.swf?myUrl=hw%2F07014001-07014020" width="40" height="12" class="audio"><param name="movie" value="http://www.esvapi.org/assets/play.swf?myUrl=hw%2F07014001-07014020" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /></object></h2>
<div class="esv-text"><h3 id="p07014001.01-1">Samson's Marriage</h3>
<p id="p07014001.03-1"><span class="chapter-num" id="v07014001-1">14:1 </span>Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw one of the daughters of the Philistines. <span class="verse-num" id="v07014002-1">2 </span>Then he came up and told his father and mother, “I saw one of the daughters of the Philistines at Timnah. Now get her for me as my wife.” <span class="verse-num" id="v07014003-1">3 </span>But his father and mother said to him, “Is there not a woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes.”</p>
<p id="p07014004.01-1"><span class="verse-num" id="v07014004-1">4 </span>His father and mother did not know that it was from the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span>, for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines ruled over Israel.</p>
<p id="p07014005.01-1"><span class="verse-num" id="v07014005-1">5 </span>Then Samson went down with his father and mother to Timnah, and they came to the vineyards of Timnah. And behold, a young lion came toward him roaring. <span class="verse-num" id="v07014006-1">6 </span>Then the Spirit of the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span> rushed upon him, and although he had nothing in his hand, he tore the lion in pieces as one tears a young goat. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done. <span class="verse-num" id="v07014007-1">7 </span>Then he went down and talked with the woman, and she was right in Samson's eyes.</p>
<p id="p07014008.01-1"><span class="verse-num" id="v07014008-1">8 </span>After some days he returned to take her. And he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion, and behold, there was a swarm of bees in the body of the lion, and honey. <span class="verse-num" id="v07014009-1">9 </span>He scraped it out into his hands and went on, eating as he went. And he came to his father and mother and gave some to them, and they ate. But he did not tell them that he had scraped the honey from the carcass of the lion.</p>
<p id="p07014010.01-1"><span class="verse-num" id="v07014010-1">10 </span>His father went down to the woman, and Samson prepared a feast there, for so the young men used to do. <span class="verse-num" id="v07014011-1">11 </span>As soon as the people saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him. <span class="verse-num" id="v07014012-1">12 </span>And Samson said to them, “Let me now put a riddle to you. If you can tell me what it is, within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes, <span class="verse-num" id="v07014013-1">13 </span>but if you cannot tell me what it is, then you shall give me thirty linen garments and thirty changes of clothes.” And they said to him, “Put your riddle, that we may hear it.” <span class="verse-num" id="v07014014-1">14 </span>And he said to them,</p>
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<p class="line-group" id="p07014014.06-1">“Out of the eater came something to eat.<br />
Out of the strong came something sweet.”</p>
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<p class="same-paragraph" id="p07014014.21-1">And in three days they could not solve the riddle.</p>
<p id="p07014015.01-1"><span class="verse-num" id="v07014015-1">15 </span>On the fourth<span class="footnote"> <a href="#f1" id="b1" title="Septuagint, Syriac; Hebrew 'seventh'">[1]</a></span> day they said to Samson's wife, “Entice your husband to tell us what the riddle is, lest we burn you and your father's house with fire. Have you invited us here to impoverish us?” <span class="verse-num" id="v07014016-1">16 </span>And Samson's wife wept over him and said, “You only hate me; you do not love me. You have put a riddle to my people, and you have not told me what it is.” And he said to her, “Behold, I have not told my father nor my mother, and shall I tell you?” <span class="verse-num" id="v07014017-1">17 </span>She wept before him the seven days that their feast lasted, and on the seventh day he told her, because she pressed him hard. Then she told the riddle to her people. <span class="verse-num" id="v07014018-1">18 </span>And the men of the city said to him on the seventh day before the sun went down,</p>
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<p class="line-group" id="p07014018.19-1">“What is sweeter than honey?<br />
What is stronger than a lion?”</p>
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<p class="same-paragraph" id="p07014018.30-1">And he said to them,</p>
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<p class="line-group" id="p07014018.35-1">“If you had not plowed with my heifer,<br />
you would not have found out my riddle.”</p>
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<p class="same-paragraph" id="p07014019.01-1"><span class="verse-num" id="v07014019-1">19 </span>And the Spirit of the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span> rushed upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon and struck down thirty men of the town and took their spoil and gave the garments to those who had told the riddle. In hot anger he went back to his father's house. <span class="verse-num" id="v07014020-1">20 </span>And Samson's wife was given to his companion, who had been his best man. (<a href="http://www.esv.org" class="copyright">ESV</a>)</p>
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<h3>Footnotes</h3>
<p><span class="footnote"><a href="#b1" id="f1">[1]</a></span> <span class="footnote-ref">14:15</span> Septuagint, Syriac; Hebrew <em>seventh</em>
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). “What is stronger than a lion?” they ask. Well, duh! Samson is… he just ripped one limb from limb.
I’ve been thinking about this interesting aspect of Philistine questions (that they seem to have a knack to ask profound questions that cut to the heart of the matter without realizing it and thinking they are merely making some rhetorical flourish), and I suddenly realized there as an another dimension to Goliath’s question.
Turning to Matthew 15:21-28 [show]<div class="esv"><h2>Matthew 15:21-28 <object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://www.esvapi.org/assets/play.swf?myUrl=hw%2F40015021-40015028" width="40" height="12" class="audio"><param name="movie" value="http://www.esvapi.org/assets/play.swf?myUrl=hw%2F40015021-40015028" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /></object></h2>
<div class="esv-text"><h3 id="p40015021.01-1">The Faith of a Canaanite Woman</h3>
<p id="p40015021.07-1"><span class="verse-num" id="v40015021-1">21 </span>And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. <span class="verse-num" id="v40015022-1">22 </span>And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” <span class="verse-num" id="v40015023-1">23 </span>But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.” <span class="verse-num" id="v40015024-1">24 </span>He answered, <span class="woc">“I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”</span> <span class="verse-num" id="v40015025-1">25 </span>But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” <span class="verse-num" id="v40015026-1">26 </span>And he answered, <span class="woc">“It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.”</span> <span class="verse-num" id="v40015027-1">27 </span>She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table.” <span class="verse-num" id="v40015028-1">28 </span>Then Jesus answered her, <span class="woc">“O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.”</span> And her daughter was healed instantly.<span class="footnote"> <a href="#f1" id="b1" title="Greek 'from that hour'">[1]</a></span> (<a href="http://www.esv.org" class="copyright">ESV</a>)</p>
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<div class="footnotes">
<h3>Footnotes</h3>
<p><span class="footnote"><a href="#b1" id="f1">[1]</a></span> <span class="footnote-ref">15:28</span> Greek <em>from that hour</em>
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, we have the following story:
And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away, for she is crying out after us.” He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” And he answered, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, great is your faith! Be it done for you as you desire.” And her daughter was healed instantly.
In Jesus’ interaction with the Canaanite woman, the Canaanites were dogs, and it turns out there is a kind of dog that shames the sheep with her faith and pleases the master! The Philistines were not true Canaanites, but had settled in Canaan and seem to substitute for the Canaanites in opposition to Israel at the time of Goliath. By asking whether he was a dog, Goliath was not only hinting that he was the punch line in God’s joke on the Philistines, he was also hinting at the path of humility and faith open to the Canaanites (and the Philistines). The table laid out for God’s people had plenty of scraps if they would simply hunger for true food.
