Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- INTRODUCTION: IN PRAISE OF VIRTUAL LETTERS
- 1 Sarah to Abraham
- 2 Isaac to Abraham
- 3 Sarah to Rebekah
- 4 Pharaoh Ramses to Moses
- 5 Aaron to Miriam
- 6 Jephthah's Daughter to her Father
- 7 Samson to Delilah
- 8 Shmuel ben Elkanah to Achish
- 9 Absalom to David
- 10 Salu Father of Zimri to Zur Father of Cozbi
- 11 Ahitophel to Absalom
- 12 Ahitophel to Eliam, his Son
- 13 King Ahab to his Steward Obadiah
- 14 King Ahab to the Writers of the Books of Kings
- 15 Athaliah to Elijah the Tishbite
- 16 The Big Fish to Jonah
- 17 Nineveh to Judah
- 18 Jeremiah to Ezekiel
- 19 Between Zedekiah and Jeremiah
- 20 Haggai to Zechariah
- 21 Zechariah to Haggai
- 22 Esther to her Mother
- 23 John the Baptizer to Jesus
- 24 Jesus to his Mother
- 25 Judas Iscariot to James; James to his Family
- 26 From a Greek Woman of Tyre to Jairus of Galilee
- 27 Pilate's Wife to her Husband
- 28 Publius Philostratus to an Author
- 29 Onesimus to Paul
- 30 ‘Jezebel’ of Thyatira to John of Patmos
- 31 Letter to Bible Authors [Draft]
- List of Authors
7 - Samson to Delilah
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- INTRODUCTION: IN PRAISE OF VIRTUAL LETTERS
- 1 Sarah to Abraham
- 2 Isaac to Abraham
- 3 Sarah to Rebekah
- 4 Pharaoh Ramses to Moses
- 5 Aaron to Miriam
- 6 Jephthah's Daughter to her Father
- 7 Samson to Delilah
- 8 Shmuel ben Elkanah to Achish
- 9 Absalom to David
- 10 Salu Father of Zimri to Zur Father of Cozbi
- 11 Ahitophel to Absalom
- 12 Ahitophel to Eliam, his Son
- 13 King Ahab to his Steward Obadiah
- 14 King Ahab to the Writers of the Books of Kings
- 15 Athaliah to Elijah the Tishbite
- 16 The Big Fish to Jonah
- 17 Nineveh to Judah
- 18 Jeremiah to Ezekiel
- 19 Between Zedekiah and Jeremiah
- 20 Haggai to Zechariah
- 21 Zechariah to Haggai
- 22 Esther to her Mother
- 23 John the Baptizer to Jesus
- 24 Jesus to his Mother
- 25 Judas Iscariot to James; James to his Family
- 26 From a Greek Woman of Tyre to Jairus of Galilee
- 27 Pilate's Wife to her Husband
- 28 Publius Philostratus to an Author
- 29 Onesimus to Paul
- 30 ‘Jezebel’ of Thyatira to John of Patmos
- 31 Letter to Bible Authors [Draft]
- List of Authors
Summary
Thus says my lord Samson to the bitch of Sorek:
May you be crushed beneath the wheels of retribution like the lord of Bezek and like Abimelech (Judg. 1.4–7; 9.50–57).
You cannot imagine my agony. My head aches all day long. I am kept awake every night by throbbing pain. Two aching holes are where my eyes once were. I feel so ugly. So dirty. My sockets bleed. My beard is matted with congealed blood and sweat. My world is a dark abyss.
Everyone has betrayed me to the Philistines. My wife told them the answer to my riddle. Her father gave her to another. The tribe of Judah tied me up and attempted to turn me in. The whore of Gaza told them where I was hiding. And you sold me for Philistine silver. You sold my eyes. You slag! You bitch! I have even been betrayed by Yahweh. I rot in this Gaza prison among the uncircumcised.
I spend all day on my knees. I kneel at this hand-mill like a woman. The boy throws grain on the lower stone. And I scrape the upper-stone on the grain. Backwards and forwards. I do the domestic work of a woman. Women only work at this for an hour or so. I am forced to do this task all day, every day. My knees bleed. My back aches. It's the same every day. Pain. Work. Darkness.
The boy is able to keep my words.
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- Yours FaithfullyVirtual Letters from the Bible, pp. 45 - 50Publisher: Acumen PublishingPrint publication year: 2004