5 ways Samson is Hercules - Naso - Mythic Torah

Welcome back to Mythic Torah, my regular article investigating monsters, heroes and gods in the weekly Torah reading. This week's reading is Naso, the 2nd reading from the book of Numbers, that explains the jobs of the different priestly families in carrying the Tabernacle, before explaining the laws of the Nazirite, the priestly blessing and the Sotah ritual for a woman suspected of adultery.

My favourite Bible character as a child was Samson, the Nazirite judge from the book of Judges, whose birth story in Judges 13 is taken for the Haftarah for this week's torah portion of Naso.

I loved Samson, primarily because of his resemblance to He-Man (of Masters of the Universe fame).

After all, like He-Man, Samson had super strength, fought bad guys, and even had long hair (I have yet to hear a better explanation for He-Man's haircut than this).

But looking back, Samson is actually a deeply strange character, who sticks out like a sore thumb in the Biblical narrative.

He has super strength, that seems to come from having long hair. While the Bible repeatedly tells us that Samson also served as a Judge for the people of Israel, we never see him serving the people in any of the narratives that are told. Instead of helping people, Samson is motivated by desire, seeing beautiful women and feeling that he 'has' to have them. He spends all his time with Philistines and yet is considered to be a leader of Israel. He is selfish, stupid and violent, massacring Philistines in increasingly bizarre ways.

How can we make sense of this?

From the Deep - God Fights! - Psalm 74

John Singer Sargent, 'Hercules', 1921

Psalm 74:11-15
11] Why do you withdraw Your hand, Your right hand? Take it out of your bosom! 12] For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.
13] You parted the sea (Yam) by Your strength; You broke the heads of the sea monsters (Taninim) on the water. 14] You crushed the heads of Leviathan, and gave him for food to the people inhabiting the wilderness (or: to sea-faring people). 15] You cleaved open springs and torrents; You dried up ever-flowing streams.

יא לָ֤מָּה תָשִׁ֣יב יָ֭דְךָ וִֽימִינֶ֑ךָ מִקֶּ֖רֶב חוקך [חֵֽיקְךָ֣] כַלֵּֽה: יב וֵ֭אלֹקים מַלְכִּ֣י מִקֶּ֑דֶם פֹּ֘עֵ֥ל יְ֝שׁוּע֗וֹת בְּקֶ֣רֶב הָאָֽרֶץ: יג אַתָּ֤ה פוֹרַ֣רְתָּ בְעָזְּךָ֣ יָ֑ם שִׁבַּ֖רְתָּ רָאשֵׁ֥י תַ֝נִּינִ֗ים עַל־הַמָּֽיִם: יד אַתָּ֣ה רִ֭צַּצְתָּ רָאשֵׁ֣י לִוְיָתָ֑ן תִּתְּנֶ֥נּוּ מַֽ֝אֲכָ֗ל לְעַ֣ם לְצִיִּֽים: טו אַתָּ֣ה בָ֭קַעְתָּ מַעְיָ֣ן וָנָ֑חַל אַתָּ֥ה ה֝וֹבַ֗שְׁתָּ נַֽ֘הֲר֥וֹת אֵיתָֽן:

I've already looked at Psalm 74 here, in which I compared it to Psalm 104 for two different perspectives on the nature of Leviathan, and by extension chaos itself, in the universe. But for today's From the Deep I wanted to take a deeper look at the psalm itself.

In it we shall have our first vision of ancient combat between God and the primordial forces of chaos, the primary biblical motif of the relationship between the divine and the monstrous.

What does it mean for us that Judaism's most central texts portray God with such a violent image?