Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

DELILAH

(Heb. dĕlîlâ)

The woman who defeats Samson. The meaning of her name is uncertain; proposals include “devotee,” “coquette,” “falling curl,” and “small.” Given the association of the name Samson with Heb. šemeš (“sun”), it seems to involve a wordplay with laylâ (“night”). The story does not specify Delilah’s ethnic identity; she is most likely Philistine, like Samson’s other paramours.

The Samson stories pivot upon Samson’s dangerous liaisons with three women. Samson’s love for Delilah (Judg. 16:2-22) is the third and most lethal of these. Offered a large bribe by Philistine lords, Delilah agrees to discover the secret of Samson’s strength. Three times she asks Samson how he may be overpowered; and is teased with a false answer. The fourth time Samson divulges his secret: his strength lies in his unshorn hair. While Samson sleeps, Delilah shaves his head, binds him, and hands him over to his enemies.

Delilah illustrates a common biblical and folkloric motif: the “strange” woman who ensnares men. Traditional interpretation portrays Delilah as the quintessential deceptive seductress. In contrast, recent feminist interpretations suggest that Delilah, like the Timnite woman who betrays Samson to save her life (Judg. 14:1-20), is a woman who does what she must in order to survive. Others note that from a Philistine perspective Delilah is like Jael, a heroine celebrated for seducing and then killing Israel’s enemy, Sisera (Judg. 4:17-22; 5:24-27).

Bibliography. J. L. Crenshaw, Samson (Atlanta, 1978); J. C. Exum, “Aspects of Symmetry and Balance in the Samson Cycle,” JSOT 19 (1981): 3-29; D. N. Fewell, “Judges,” in The Women’s Bible Commentary, ed. C. A. Newsom and S. H. Ringe (Louisville, 1992), 67-77.

Carolyn J. Pressler

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

DELILAH

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)