Lion's Honey: The Myth of SamsonA new literary take on the biblical story of Samson, by the prize-winning author of A Horse Walks into a Bar: “Original and very clever” (The Times, London). From one of Israel’s most lauded contemporary writers, this book retells the myth of Samson—one of the most tempestuous, charismatic, and colorful characters in the Hebrew Bible. Few other Bible stories feature as much drama and action, narrative fireworks and raw emotion: the battle with the lion; the three hundred burning foxes; the women he bedded and the one woman that he loved; his betrayal by all the women in his life, from his mother to Delilah; and, in the end, his murderous suicide, when he brought the house down on himself and three thousand Philistines. This is a remarkable portrait of, in the words of the author, a “lonely and turbulent soul who never found, anywhere, a true home in the world, whose very body was a harsh place of exile.” “A nice deconstruction of one of the juiciest stories in a work full of racy stuff: the Bible.” —The San Diego Union-Tribune |
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Page xviii
... fire : have ye called us to take that we have ? is it not so ? 16 And Samson's wife wept before him , and said , Thou dost but hate me , and lovest me not : thou hast put forth a riddle unto the children of my people , and hast not told ...
... fire : have ye called us to take that we have ? is it not so ? 16 And Samson's wife wept before him , and said , Thou dost but hate me , and lovest me not : thou hast put forth a riddle unto the children of my people , and hast not told ...
Page xx
... had set the brands on fire , he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines , and burnt up both the shocks , and also the stand- ing corn , with the vineyards and olives . 6 ¶ Then the Philistines said , Who hath done - XX -
... had set the brands on fire , he let them go into the standing corn of the Philistines , and burnt up both the shocks , and also the stand- ing corn , with the vineyards and olives . 6 ¶ Then the Philistines said , Who hath done - XX -
Page xxi
... fire . 7 ¶ And Samson said unto them , Though ye have done this , yet will I be avenged of you , and after that I will cease . 8 And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter : and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock ...
... fire . 7 ¶ And Samson said unto them , Though ye have done this , yet will I be avenged of you , and after that I will cease . 8 And he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter : and he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock ...
Page xxii
... fire , and his bands loosed from off his hands . 15 And he found a new jawbone of an ass , and put forth his hand , and took it , and slew a thou- sand men therewith . 16 And Samson said , With the jawbone of an ass , heaps upon heaps ...
... fire , and his bands loosed from off his hands . 15 And he found a new jawbone of an ass , and put forth his hand , and took it , and slew a thou- sand men therewith . 16 And Samson said , With the jawbone of an ass , heaps upon heaps ...
Page xxv
... fire . So his strength was not known . 10 And Delilah said unto Samson , Behold , thou hast mocked me , and told me lies : now tell me , I pray thee , wherewith thou mightest be bound . 11 And he said unto her , If they bind me fast ...
... fire . So his strength was not known . 10 And Delilah said unto Samson , Behold , thou hast mocked me , and told me lies : now tell me , I pray thee , wherewith thou mightest be bound . 11 And he said unto her , If they bind me fast ...
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Common terms and phrases
ambusher angel answer appear arouse Ashkelon barren betrayal Bible biblical biblical storyteller Book of Judges born BT Sotah child companions cord course David Grossman deep Delilah dying day eyes fate father and mother feast feel foxes gates Gaza Gersonides hair hands hast heart Hebrew hidden honey human humiliation husband inside intimacy intimate Israeli Israelites jawbone Jerusalem Talmud Jewish Josephus Flavius Judah Judean lowlands Kutz Lehi lion look LORD Manoah mystery Nazirite never parents perhaps person Philistine woman pillars possible pray thee Rabbi Rainer Maria Rilke reveal revenge riddle ropes Saadiah Gaon Samson goes Samson said unto Samson's complex Samson's mother Sar'a says secret sense seven locks someone soul story strange stranger strength suddenly surely Talmud tell thing thirty thou tion told tribe tribe of Dan turns whore wife womb women wonder words Yigael Yadin Zorah and Eshtaol
Popular passages
Page xxii - And they bound him with two new cords, and brought him up from the rock. And when he came unto Lehi, the Philistines shouted against him : and the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon him, and the cords that were upon his arms became as flax that was burnt with fire, and his bands loosed from off his hands.
Page xviii - And Samson said unto them, I will now put forth a riddle unto you: if ye can certainly declare it me within the seven days of the feast, and find it out, then I will give you thirty sheets and thirty change of garments: but if ye cannot declare it me, then shall ye give me thirty sheets and thirty change of garments.
Page xi - And the Angel of the Lord appeared unto the woman, and said unto her, "Behold now, thou art barren, and bearest not: but thou shalt conceive, and bear a son.
Page xi - And the children of Israel did evil again in the sight of the Lord, and served Baalim, and Ashtaroth, and the gods of Syria, and the gods of Zidon, and the gods of Moab, and the gods of the children of Ammon, and the gods of the Philistines, and forsook the Lord, and served not him.
Page xxv - Entice him, and see wherein his great strength lieth, and by what means we may prevail against him, that we may bind him to afflict him : and we will give thee every one of us eleven hundred pieces of silver. And Delilah said to Samson, Tell me, I pray thee, wherein thy great strength lieth, and wherewith thou mightest be bound to afflict thee.
Page xi - Then the woman came and told her husband, saying, A man of God came unto me, and his countenance was like the countenance of an angel of God, very terrible...
Page xviii - Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness.
Page xxvi - And she said unto him, How canst thou say, I love thee, when thine heart is not with me? thou hast mocked me these three times, and hast not told me wherein thy great strength lieth.
Page xxix - And Samson said, Let me die with the Philistines. And he bowed himself with all his might; and the house fell upon the lords, and upon all the people that were therein. So the dead which he slew at his death were more than they which he slew in his life.
Page xvi - And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand: but he told not his father or his mother what he had done.