2015년 8월 16일 일요일

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

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