After
Samson’s stunt with murdering people to pay off a wager, and being thoroughly
ticked at his wife, he’s MIA for a while. When he comes back, his wife has been
given to someone else, but dear old dad-in-law tries to placate Samson with a
younger, prettier daughter. But Samson is still ticked off, and decides to get
revenge in his own particular idiom.
He catches
300 foxes (I don’t know, from Fox City, I guess), and then ties a pair of them
together by the tails, and turns them loose on the countryside. Oh, did I
forget to mention he also tied a burning torch to them, too? Right, so 150
pairs of panicked foxes go tearing through the crops of the Philistines.
First, his
method of revenge on the Philistines is a bit excessive. He disappeared, but
still has to take his anger out on them, but this is nowhere near equitable.
It’s like setting off a nuclear weapon for stealing a bike. It’s also aimed at
the wrong people. While the wealthy Philistines will feel a little bit of sting
to their pocketbooks, it’s the peasants that will suffer. They won’t have any
food. Lastly, this will not convince any of the Philistines to withdraw from
Israel.
Secondly, this
is just one more example of Samson’s cruelty. The guy has no conscience
whatsoever. Even though foxes were seen as a nuisance, the cruelty is apparent.
Samson is not a good person by any stretch of the imagination.
Why is this
guy considered a hero, again?