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Feminine Might
by Anwar Shaikh
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Serialisation cf Anwar Shaikh's unpublished book:
Sexual Conflict
FEMININE MIGHT
| Sex is the supreme
pleasure of man. Since quest for pleasure is his greatest pursuit, woman
comes to rank as his first priority. This is what gives her natural
command over man.
Though woman's basic superiority over man is
confirmed by the fact that it is she who bears him and it is he who woos
her, I may explain it with reference to the biblical story of Samson and
Delilah. The reader should keep in mind that, acccrding to the Bible,
Samson was the strongest man who ever lived on earth. Since he was a
Jewish judge, he was obviously a wise and learned man. |
SAMSON AND DELILAH
A beautiful maid,
blessed with d sexy olive complexion, large intoxicating eyes and a fascinating
figure, wept pathetically outside the temple which stood at Gaza in the Judaean
foothills of Israel. So brilliant was its architectural excellence that its
roof, which could accommodate at least 3000 men and women, was supported by only
two massive pillars. The magnificence of its hall and annexes created an aura of
festivity compatible with the beneficent nature of Dagon, the grain-god of the
Philistines, who deterred the ravages of drought and famine with his bounties
for the happiness and long life of his worshippers.
The woman, holding silver pieces in her dainty hands,
cried louder as the temple fell in large chunks continuously. It looked as if
someone endowed with extraordinary might was pulling it down vengefully. The
Lords, Ladies and aristocrats had gathered there for a service of thanksgiving
to Dagon and to rejoice at the capture of Samson, the Jewish enemy of the
Philistines.
Who was Samson? And why was the woman crying her eyes
out ?
Samson was the mightiest man that ever lived on earth.
He was not just a muscle-man. Having the good fortune of judging his fellow-Jews
for twenty years, and without ever provoking anyone to protest against his sense
of justice, one can think or him as wise, learned and circumspect. Hov ever, his
extraordinary virtues of physical and mental strength proved no match for the
guile of a woman who smashed him with the force of her feminine charm.
The Bible tells us that Samson was the son of Manoah,
who belonged to the Danite family, which lived during the period when the
children of Israel trespassed against the Lord, who, as a punishment, subjected
them to the rule of the Philistines for forty years. His nnother was barren
until she met the angel of God who told her that she would conceive and bear a
son. He warned her that during her pregnancy she must refrain from products of
grape, especially wine, or any strong drinks including unclean things. Besides
these precautions, no razor should ever touch his head because he would be by
birth, a Nazarite (as described in Chapter Six of Numbers). A Nazarite is an
ascetic who is considered holy by the Bible for his devotion to God, the purpose
of his creation. The child was to be "a Nazarite unto God from the
womb" because he would "deliver Israel out of the hand of the
Philistine."
The would-be mother felt intoxicated with the ecstasy
of the heavenly tidings and ran excitedly to tell her husband of the event.
Manoah was overjoyed. He fell in prostration to the Lord and begged Him to send
the Angel once again to instruct them how to bring up this boy. 'And God
hearkened to the voice of Manoah, and the Angel came back when she sat in the
field: but Manoah, her husband, was not with her.' She ran honne to fetch him.
He hurried back with her, accosted the Angel joyfully and asked him about tne
particular method of bringing up the baby when it came. He received his
instructions for a Nazarite child. The happy couple made a meat offering on a
rock unto the Lord. As the fire was lit to make the sacrifice, 'the Angel of the
Lord ascended in the flame of the altar.' The couple watched him in divine
amazement and fell on their faces to praise the Lord.
The child did arrive in due course and was named
Samson. Though his virtues of physical and mental powers were well predicted,
nothing had been said about his copious virility which outweighed the combined
strength of his other traits, and made him vulnerable to the feminine charm. He
felt an urgent need of a woman during his early youth, but the woman had to be
of his own choice; any woman would not do. As he visited the locality of Timnath,
he came across a beautifui girl adorned with the qualities of chastity and
modesty. Possibly, the mighty Samson did try to engage her in conversation but
sense of decency sealed her lips and she failed to respond. Baulked emotions are
known to generate even greater thrust of passions and the lover finds it
extremely difficult to take 'no' for an answer. The infatuated young Samson
returned home and begged his parents to get her for his wife. They were upset by
this demand. Being pious Jews, they thought it an act of impiety to contemplate
marriage with a non-Jewish woman. But humans, being what they are, usually
interpret things to suit their interest, no matter what the spirit of reality
dictates. Samson, the only son, born late in life as the gift of God, could not
be frustrated. Since he was a Nazarite by birth, he obviously could do no wrong,
whatever he might do. He represented the wiil of God, and who can defy the will
of God? They must have thought on these lines. Though betrothing a Jewish boy to
a non-Jewish girl can be held as an abomination of the Lord, in this case it was
interpreted as a step in the right direction. The parents, irrespective of their
true feelings, undertook the journey to the abode of tlheir son's sweetheart. As
they reached the vineyards of Timnath, they heard the roar of a vicious lion.
Samson separated himself from his parents and strangled the beast with bare
hands as if it were a kid. However, he did not tell his parents of the event in
case it might cause them distress.
According to the old eastern custom, the parents of
Samson knocked at the door of the girl's parents' house. They succeeded in
securing the hand of the girl for their boy. Since it was customary for the
bridegroom to return to his parents' home without the bride, and then go back
after sometime to fetch her, Samson accompanied his parents sighing, seething
and slithering.
According to the Bible, this marriage had a divine
purpose. For its proper understanding, we ought to know the causes of animosity
between the Jews and the Philistines. To begin with, it was a political conflict
but as time marched on, it became a racial and religious struggle. The
Philistines are not Semitic, although in modern times they claim to be Arabs
under the influence of Islam. These Palestinians or Philistines originated from
the Aegean and settled on the southern coast of Palestine in the 12th Century
B.C. not long before the arrival of the Jews, led by Moses. The Jews are the
true Semites who escaped from the Egyptian bondage and returned to the Arabian
soil which they had left many years earlier. On the contrary, according to a
biblical tradition (Deut. 2: 23; Jer. 4147: 4), the Philistines came from Caphor,
usually thought to be Crete. As they emigrated from their homeland, they invaded
Egypt during the eighth year of Rameses III (C1190). The Egyptians, a powerful
nation of that time repulsed their attack and they settled down on the coastal
plain of Palestine from Joppa i.e. modern Yafo to the Gaza Strip. Their
settlement came to be known as Philistia. It was a Pentapolis, that is, the
confederacy of the five cities, narnely, Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Gath and Ekron.
The Philistines, as they sought expansion into the
neighbouring territories, ran into a conflict with the Israelites.
In the beginning, they were successful and became
masters of the Judaean hill country. The birth of Samson, the Naiarite, had the
divine purpose of expelling the Phllistines from the Jewish territory. This
story, which I shall narrate in my own words, is contained in Chapters 14-15 of
Judges. Samson was bound to his Philistinian bride in a nuptial knot in the
company of thirty male guests who were treated to a jolly feast. During the
merriment, he told the guests that he would give them thirty sheets and thirty
sets of garments if they could solve within seven days the riddle which he was
about to "put forth." The riddle was: "Out of the eater came
forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness." (Judges 14: 14).
Having pondered over it carefully for three days, they still could not find the
answer. Through sheer desperation, they contacted the bride secretly and
threatened her that unless she discovered the secret for them in time, they
would burn down her father's house and cremate her alive. In fact, it was a
psychological trick, seeking to use female power over man. By a convenient
mixture of weeping eyes and a nagging tongue, she proceeded to delve deep into
his heart where answers to the riddle lay safely.
As the bewitched husband looked upon the beautiful face
of his wife, brimming with bridal bliss, out gushed a stream of tears, and her
lips usually sealed as mark of reverence to her husband, opened with a choked
stutter:
"..Thou dost but hate me, and lovest me not: thou
hast put forth a riddle unto the children of my people, and has not told it
me.." (Judges 14: 16).
For seven long days, that is, the entire duration of
the wedding feast, she tactfully used the armoury of her tongue and tears. On
the last day when she lay on top of her husband in an attempt to give him extra
nuptial pleasures, all of a sudden, her eyes swelled like a stream, followed by
heart-rending sobs. This was an expression of the female might though wrapped in
beguiling meekness. Even Samson, the mightiest of all men could not resist it,
and surrendered. He told her the answer, and before dawn the Philistines knocked
at his door, repeating their answer and demanding payment of the water! He had
no doubt how they found the solution. Since it was a show of guile and not of
wisdom on their part, Samson thought of teaching them a lesson. In a maddening
fury, he went to Ashkelon where he slew thirty Philistines, took over their
belongings as spoils of the battle, and "gaae change of garments unto them
which expounded the riddle." Since he felt no abatement in anger, he found
no pleasure in staying with a wife who was so cunning, careless and cruel. He
deserted her and went back home to live with his parents.
Though sense of honour hurt him and he wanted to stay
away, the romantic memories of his pretty wife started exerting such a pull on
his powerful heart that he began to feel weaker every day. Bit by bit, his
willpower gave into the beast of his devouring passion and he reaiised that his
dalliance with the concept of honour was just a fool's play which was creating a
collision between his mind and body. Swallowing his pride, the virile husband
returned to his wife, who was no longer waiting for him. Her father, thinking
that Samson had left her for good, gave his wife to one of his friends. What an
insult it was for a man who dearly loved his consort! But this was not all, as
it seemed. Most probably his pass on to return had been filliped by the fact
that it was the time of wheat-harvest. This was an occasion or holding wild
festivities in honour of the grain god Dagon, the symbol of fertility. During
this period, strange men and women fell in love, lovers sought to heal quarrels
and sentiments of mutual friendship reached their pinnacle. Driven by great
expectations, Samson brought with him a kid as a token of love and goodwill. He
must have forgiven her treachery, but now discovering it piled up with perfidy
which sizzled with perversion, persecution and parvanimity, he found it
impossible to tolerate the situation even though his father-in-law oftered him
as a compensation, his younger daughter who was even prettier than Samson's
wife.
The enraged lover, feeling the pangs of virility and
vengeance, thought of a novel scheme to punish the Philistines; he caught three
hundred foxes, bound them tail to tail with a firebrand and set them alight. As
the frightened animals stampeded through the fields of ripe corn, vineyards ard
olive groves, up went infernal flames leaping higher and higher, fanned by the
wind. The festive mood of the natives changed into a pensive one, having all the
traits of mourning and misery. Finding out the truth, they burnt Samson's wife,
and her father alive, for being the cause of the mischief. Then the mob went
looking for him. The mighty man unleashed his powers of destruction and
slaughtered all of them mercilessly. Realising that he would be pursued,
"he went down and dwelt in the top of the rock Etam." He guessed
rightly because he was followed by the Philistines who pitched in Judah, and
surrounded the village of Lehi. The Israelites of the area were alarmed by the
development; they asked the Philistines the cause of the siege. When they heard
the explanalion, the Jews offered to do their job for them. No fewer than 3,000
of them marched to the rock Etam. Samson was disturbed by the fact that his own
people were hunting him. The leader said to him "Knowest thou not that the
Philistines rule over us? What is this thou hast done to us?" (Judges 15:
11).
Samson told them that it was a fair act of retaliation.
Though they were satisfied with his answers, they insisted on binding him and
delivering him to his enemies. Being God's appointee, he did not want to hurt
his fellow-Jews, and offered to be bound on their taking the solemn oath that
they would not attack him themselves. They did. Samson offered no resistance at
all when they tied him with two new cords. He was taken to Lehi where he was
insulted by the jeering mob. His indignation flared up; he freed his hands with
a tiny jerk as if it were just a play; he took up a position where it was
difficult to hit from behind. The mightiest of men picked up a new jawbone of an
ass and gave battle to the enemy single handed, using the bone as both spear and
shield. He lashed out right, left and centre; no man could survive his single
blow, yet the ululating Philistines swarmed towards him with extreme anger and
frustration. As each came within his reach, his head rolled down the rock Etam,
making room for the next victim; neither their spurting blood nor their cries of
anguish stopped their onslaught. It was like a big wild cat pinching the heads
of little mice. Yet they kept rushing at him until 1,000 bodies lay wallowing in
their own blood!
Since we are talking of woman's sexual hold over man,
and dependence of his happiness on the gratification of carnal desire, I ought
to mention that this nnighty man who was a born Nazarite, charged with a divine
mission, after winning a victory of supernatural proportion, did not go to the
nearby synagogue for a thanks-offering but found his way to Gaza, for cooling
his passions with a prostitute!
What I have said so far explains that a virile man can
hardly stand up to a determined woman. The greater his virility, the lower his
chances of resisting her.
Woman's sexual appeal has the same relationship with
man's virility as a magnet has with iron. Whether he likes it or not, he is
going to be dragged by her like a trailer coupled behind a mator car.
Samson, the virile man, provides a good example of this
fact. He ran into yet another Philistinian woman, Delilah, whose description I
have given at the beginning of this story. This beautiful woman lived in the
valley of Sorek. Her beauty was complimented by an agile mind motivated by
greed. Samson, who "judged Israel in the days of the Philistines twenty
years," fell in love with Delilah madly. His intellect, which must have
been cansiderable to be the judge of Israel, was grossly overshadowed by her
manipulative was that turn a man into a monkey. He was possibly a matured man by
now because this love-affair, which would lead to his death, was the last one.
Though age does affect man's sensual vigour, it does not reduce his carnal
desire. In fact, he pines more for it, and makes up the loss of his performance
with uxuriousness, bordering on servitude.
Samson's repute for strength, boldness and fighting
skill was matchless. Since there is no evidence of any complaints against his
judicial virtue, he was a man of probity inclined towards credulity rather than
curiosity Members of the fair- sex love brave men especially when they are not
difficult to handle because they form an easy target for feminine vanity, whose
satisfaction is woman's first priority. Samson was certainly such a man,
affable, lovable and desirable. He rnight have been driven into her trap of
sexual fascination by his own emotive nature but when he was caught by her, he
became like a fly, which once in the web, cannot find its way out.
It is not clear from the Biblical account whether he
married Delilah, cohabited with her or just visited her frequently as a
passionate lover. The Philistines who had been bashed, bruised and bewildered by
his might and mastery of martial skill, wanted to avenge themselves at all
costs. Since manly prowess was of no avail against Samson, the lords of the
Philistines, who knew of his relationship with her, soon realised that only
woman's tenderness could be turned into a soft silken noose to hang this man. To
their good fortune, Delilah turned out to be the woman, who is more attracted by
man's wallet than his heart. One day, several of these Philistinian lords called
on her, and each of them promised to pay her 1100 pieces af silver if she was
willing to render the required services. It would have multiplied into a fairly
large amount of bribe, hard to resist by a gold-digger. Probably first, they
aroused her national prejudices of vengeance because they openly stated:
"we may bind him to afflict him" (Judges 16: 5). Then they introduced
the element of bribe provided she could discover Samson's secret of strength and
the ways to "prevail against him."
Delilah fell for it. Here is the story to prove that
woman's tenderness is far more tenacious than man's toughness. Being sure of
herself she started asking him repeatedly about the source of his strength and
how a person could afflict him, if he so desired. Nothing weakens a person more
than the object of his infatuation. Having accepted her emotional captivity,
Samson behaved like a mouse towards his lady- love.
She asks him openly and daringly how he can be
destroyed, and this slayer of numerous foes, cannot find the courage to rebuke
or even say "no" to this woman. For fear of offending her, he keeps
telling lies to please her. Let me put this episode in the same order as the
Bible states it:
Delilah: What is the secret of your strength and
how can you be humbled?
Samson: Someone has to have "seven green
withes" (flexible twigs or willow) which have never been dried. If I am
bound with them, I shall be too weak to break them. I shall be just another man.
Delilah believes him: arranges to bind him with seven
green withes. She sends for the Philistines who have been lying in wait. No
sooner does she call then than he frees himself "as a thread of tow is
broken when it toucheth the fire."
Delilah: You made fun of me by lying about your
secret of strength. Please tell me once more about it but it must be the truth.
Samson: If someone binds me fast with new ropes
which have never been used before, I shall hecome just another man, unable to
break the hold. Delilah arranges to bind him as he suggested but just as the
Philistines come on the scene, he breaks them off as if they were no more than
ordinary threads.
Delilah: Hitherto you have mocked me with your
lies. I want to know the truth. How can you really be bound and afflicted?
Samson: If you weave seven locks of my head
together, my strength will desert me and I shall become an ordinary mortal.
Delilah does just that. But Samson walks out "with
the pin of the beam, and with the web." Being disappointed, she resorts to
using the feminine arts of manipulating man into submission: "How can you
say that you love me when your heart is not with me? You have made fun of me
thrice before. What kind of affection is this? Is it your idea of trust? Do you
call it being in love?" She kept on pressing him every day with greater
accusations of mistrust, misbehaviour and miscreance. The urgency of her demand
became so overbearing "that his soul was vexed into death." Declaring
him unworthy of her love, she told him that she was going to leave him. The
threat of desertion is always the last straw that breaks the back of a lover who
acts like a camel for having lost his will to exist without his love. His life
turns into a process of obeying her. The more domineering she becomes, the
better he enjoys the moments of life. It appears that Samson was madly in love
with Delilah and could not face life without her. It is stunning how the warm
tears of this delicate woman had served as the juice for stewing the might of
this most powerful man, blessed with courage and audacity. Now, the winner of
battles, the slayer of infidels and the hero of the Israelite, desperately
wanted to offer himself at the altar of Delilah to prove his love for her. So he
said:
"Since the moment my mother conceived me, I have
been a Nazarite, and therefore, razor has never touched my head. If my head is
shaven, my strength will depart and I shall be as weak as any other man."
This answer pleased Delilah who knew without any
further ado that he was divulging the most guarded secret. As an expression of
delight, she showered on him all the endearments which she used during the
intensity of passionate moments. She hugged and kissed him with exceptional
warmth of feelings. Then she pulled him over her lap with a tenderness he had
never experienced before. Immediately she brought a glass of wine close to his
lips, inviting him with twinkling eyes to gulp it down. It was the fatal step in
this most tragic saga. The wine had been drugged skilfully. As he drank it, he
fell into a coma. She shaved off his locks, bound him with sturdy ropes and
begged the Philistinian lords to "come up this once" because it was
real. They rushed towards her house, with the promised "nnoney in their
hands." Samson was no more a strong man who could jerk off the ligatures.
He was led to a prison in Gaza, where both his eyes were blinded; he was made to
wear brass fetters and put to really hard labour.
The bounteous nature of the grain-god Dagon brought the
season of wheat-harvest, once again. This was the time of honorific celebrations
to acknowledge the munificence of this deity. People believed that it was Dagon
who had celivered Samson into their hands to protect them from annihilation.
Therefore, no act of glorifying the god or celebration could be complete without
sacrificing Samson at his altar of celestial majesty. So he was escorted frorn
the Gaza prison to the temple of Dagon which was superb accomplishment of
architectural splendour. Being possibly the religious centre of Phiiistia, it
reflected the cultural greatness of a nation through bricks, stones, marble,
adornments and the refined skills of its designers, engineers and builders. Its
vastness can be estimated by its roof, which could hold no fewer than 3,000
people, who frequently used it to enjoy the cool evenings during summer. Though
a wealth of colonnades embellished its ravishing appearance, it was supported by
just twc, massive columns. The great hall and annexes of the temple held another
3,000 or more people, pursuing pleasure or worship. Since Samson was familiar
with Gaza, he must have known all about the construction of this temple.
All the Philistinian lords, ladies and members of the
aristocracy had gathered in and on the temple to show off their piety and
privileges of power in the form of the precious stones and the pretty clothes
they wore. There was an abundance of music and dancing whose effect was enhanced
by the holy gossip about the liberality of the god Dagon, and keen resuscitation
of the promises of fulfilment that the cute damsels had made to the impatient
lovers for brightening the wheat-harvest festival. Apparently it was a mark of
reverence to the god Dagon but in, fact, he was being manipulated by the crafty
lovers to gratify their lust with a divine sophistication!
As Samson appeared in chains, led by a little
guide-boy, the cries of thanksgiving reflecting the ecstatic mood of the crowd
went crescendo. Since persecuting him formed a symbol of respect to Dagon, who
had mercifully delivered him to his Followers, they started hurting him wirh
jeers, stones and small knives. To their utter misfortune, they did not realise
that the hair of the Nazarite, who had fallen prey to love, during the period of
captivity had grown once again. Praying for the return of his strength, he asked
the guide-boy to take him to the supporting pillars so that he could lean
against one of them to rest awhile. The boy obliged. He stood between the
columns pressing them away witn all his might. As they crumbled, the whole
edifice tumbled down, muffling the cries of the revellers who were to rest under
its rubble forever. Their numbers totalled many thousands, thus breaking the
grip of the Philistines over the Jews, to prove the prophecy associated with the
birth of Samson.
Outside stood Delilah whose delicacy impressed the
stamp of feminine power on man's destiny!
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