The Garden of Eden 13

 The Garden of Eden 13

XXII

 

THE SECRET OF STRENGTH

 

 

Samson was not the captain of an army, like Joshua and Barak and Gideon.

He fought the Philistines alone. He used to go out by himself, when they

were not looking for him, and surprise them. The favorite stories of the

Israelites were the adventures of Samson, as the favorite stories of the

Greeks were the adventures of Hercules.

 

One time, they said, he caught three hundred foxes and tied their tails

together, and in each knot he put a lighted torch, and away went the

foxes with the firebrands into the standing corn, and burned it down.

 

Another time, the Philistines were after him, and he let his neighbors

tie him with ropes and leave him on a rock. And three thousand

Philistines were in pursuit, and when they saw him they gave a great

shout and rushed upon him; and he burst the ropes, and picked up a dry

bone, the jawbone of an ass, and fought the Philistines with it so that

they fled like frightened sheep.

 

Once he was in the town of Gaza, which had stout walls around it. And

they thought that they had him fast. But in the night, he took the great

gates of the city, and picked them up, and the posts with them, and

carried them off. And when the Philistines awoke in the morning, Samson

was gone, and there were the gates away up on the side of a hill.

 

But at last, after Samson’s wife was dead, he fell in love with another

Philistine woman, whose name was Delilah. And she was a false friend.

For the Philistines said to Delilah, “Come now, get Samson to tell you

the secret of his strength, that we may have the mastery of him, and we

will give you eleven hundred pieces of silver.” And she promised to do

it.

 

So Delilah said, “Tell me, Samson, what is the secret of your strength?

What is the way to bind you so that you cannot get loose?”

 

And Samson answered, “If I were bound with seven new bowstrings I should

be as weak as any other man.”

 

And Delilah said, “Oh, Samson, let me try; let me see if I can tie you

so that you cannot get free.”

 

And Samson held out his arms, and she tied seven new bowstrings tight

about him with hard knots. And the lords of the Philistines were in the

next room, waiting.

 

And Delilah cried, “The Philistines be upon thee, Samson!” And he

started up, and broke the bowstrings as if they were strings which had

been scorched in the fire. So the secret of his strength was not known.

 

But the next day, Delilah teased Samson again to tell the secret. “You

mocked me, yesterday,” she said, “and told me lies. Now, truly, Samson,

how may you be bound so that you must stay bound?”

 

And Samson said, “If I were to be tied with new ropes which have never

been used, then I should be as weak as any other man.”

 

So Delilah took new ropes and tied him fast. And the lords of the

Philistines were in the next room, waiting.

 

And Delilah cried, “The Philistines be upon thee, Samson!” And he broke

the ropes as if they had been thread.

 

Again, the next day, she asked him the same question. And Samson said,

“If the seven locks of my hair were woven into a web, I could not get

away.” And Delilah was weaving cloth upon a loom, and while Samson was

asleep she wove his long hair into the web and cried again, “The

Philistines be upon thee, Samson!” And straight he waked, and stood up,

and pulled away the web and the loom together.

 

Then Delilah said, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when every day you

mock me and lie to me! Tell me true, what is the secret of your mighty

strength?”

 

And Samson told her true. “If they cut off my hair,” he said, “then I

shall have no strength at all.”

 

And Delilah knew that this time he had told the truth, and she called

for the lords of the Philistines. “Come only this once,” she said, “and

you shall have him.” And they came, and brought the silver pieces with

them.

 

And Samson slept, in the heat of the day, with his head upon Delilah’s

knees. And the men came in softly and cut off the seven locks of his

hair. Then Delilah cried, “The Philistines be upon thee, Samson!” And he

awoke, and saw the Philistines coming, and he stretched forth his great

arms, and they were like the arms of any other man. And the Philistines

laid hold upon him, and put out both his eyes.

 

So the Philistines brought Samson down to Gaza, and bound him with brass

fetters, and put him in prison, and made him grind their corn. But his

hair began to grow again. And at last, one day, the Philistines made a

great feast in the temple of Dagon, their god. And there were crowds and

crowds of people, and all the lords of the Philistines; there were

people even on the roof. And they brought Samson from the prison that

they might look at him, and laugh at him. And a lad led him by the

hand. And by and by Samson said to the lad, “Lead me to a pillar.” Now

the temple roof rested on two huge pillars, quite near together. And

Samson cried to God and said, “O Lord God, remember me, I pray thee, and

strengthen me, only this once, O God, that I may be avenged upon the

Philistines for one of my two eyes.” And he thrust out his great arms

where he stood between the pillars, and pushed them hard with all his

might, and they fell, and the roof fell with them upon the Philistines,

and upon their lords, and upon Samson. So the dead which he slew at his

death were more than they which he slew in his life.

 

 

 

 

XXIII

 

THE BRAMBLE AND THE FIRE

 

 

Abimelech was a king’s son. His father was the brave Gideon who fought

the battle of the Lamps and Pitchers. But he had seventy brothers. So

when Gideon died the question at once arose, “Which of all the princes

shall be the king?” This question was promptly answered by Abimelech. He

went to the men of a town called Shechem, and said, “No nation can have

seventy kings. The right number is one. Now make me king, and I will be

your friend.” And that pleased the men of Shechem. They gave Abimelech

seventy pieces of silver, and he hired seventy bad men, and one black

night they set out from Shechem, every man with a piece of silver in one

pocket and a sharp knife in the other, and when they came back in the

early morning all of Abimelech’s seventy brothers had been killed but

one. One brother, Jotham, the youngest of them all, escaped.

 

Now the town of Shechem lay amidst the mountains. On one side was a

mountain called Ebal, and on the other side was a mountain called

Gerizim. And that day, the men of Shechem heard the voice of some one

calling, and here they looked and there they looked to find where the

voice came from, and at last on Mount Gerizim they saw a boy. And there

was Abimelech’s youngest brother, Jotham. And Jotham lifted up his voice

and cried to the men of Shechem, and they came out of their houses and

stood in the street to hear him.

 

“Hearken unto me,” he said, “ye men of Shechem, that God may hearken

unto you. One time the trees resolved to choose a king, and they said to

the olive tree, ‘Come thou and reign over us.’ But the olive tree said

unto them, ‘Shall I leave my oil which honors God and man, and go to be

king over the trees?’ Then they said to the fig tree, ‘Come thou and

reign over us,’ But the fig tree said, ‘Shall I leave my sweetness and

my good fruit and go to be king over the trees?’ Then they said to the

vine, ‘Come thou and reign over us,’ But the vine said, ‘Shall I leave

my wine which gladdens God and man and go to be king over the trees?’

Thus the olive and the fig and the vine refused. Then said all the trees

unto the bramble, ‘Come thou and reign over us,’ And the bramble

consented. ‘Come,’ said the bramble, ‘and get under my shadow. But if

you play me false, out of me shall fire come till even the cedars of

Lebanon are burned.’”

 

Thus did Jotham speak, and lest anybody should fail to understand his

fable, he told the men of Shechem what it meant.

 

“My brother Abimelech,” he said, “is good for nothing. He is like a

bramble in the field. And you have made him your king. Now look out for

fire.” So saying, he climbed down from the rock on which he stood, and

disappeared in the woods and ran away.

 

And by and by the fire came. For after three years there was a quarrel

between Abimelech and the men of Shechem. The men of Shechem began to

rob the caravans as they went to and fro over the great roads through

Abimelech’s land. And in the autumn, when the grapes were ripe, and the

men of Shechem were all in the vineyards making wine and drinking it,

they defied Abimelech. They said that they were not afraid of him. And

they had for leader a man named Gaal, who wished to be king in

Abimelech’s place. “Who is Abimelech?” he said; “why should we serve

him? Make me your captain, and I will look after Abimelech.” And this

they agreed to do. But Zebul, the mayor of the city, sent word and told

Abimelech.

 

And Abimelech rose up, and all the people that were with him, by night,

and marched toward Shechem. Now early in the morning Gaal the rebel and

Zebul the mayor stood together in the gate of the city and looked out.

 

And Gaal said, “See, there are people coming down from the top of the

mountains.”

 

But Zebul laughed and said, “Oh, you see the shadows of the passing

clouds.”

 

And Gaal spoke again and said, “See! see! there are people coming over

Midland Hill, and there are others gathering under the Magician’s Tree.”

 

And Zebul said, “Where is your mouth with which you said, ‘Who is

Abimelech?’ These are the people whom you have despised. Go out now and

fight.”

 

So Gaal went out and fought, and Abimelech beat him and chased him and

all his followers into the town. And the men of Shechem fled into their

strong tower. And Abimelech and his men took axes in their hands and

went off into the woods; and Abimelech said, “Watch me, and do as you

see me do, quickly.” And he cut off a big branch of a tree and put it

over his shoulder, and all the soldiers did the same. And down they came