In answer to Phil Brown's question:
Why Why Why Delilah?
In attempting to answer this problem I have felt it appropriate to consider the question from each of the three different sources before trying to reach one unified conclusion. It is my hope that this discussion will lead to some clarity over this profound issue.
The first and indeed last reference to Delilah appears in Judges 16:4-18, where it is made clear in verse 5 what she is going to do and where her motivation comes from:
5 The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, "See if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver."1
Money clearly appealed to Delilah, as is revealed in the next verse:
6 So Delilah said to Samson, "Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued."
This therefore seems to be on the surface the answer, however later on it is revealed that as Samson is not easily won over, Deliah becomes, or at least gives the appearance of being, very upset at Samson's rejection of her.
15 And she said to him, "How can you say, 'I love you,' when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and you have not told me where your great strength lies." 16 And when she pressed him hard with her words day after day, and urged him, his soul was vexed to death.3
It is probably not too much an assumption to say then, that while initially Delilah tried to sell out Samson for money, she probably grew attached to Samson and felt that his refusal to tell was a rejection of her as a person, therefore her struggle to find out what his secret was was probably influenced by her own personal quest to gain acknowledgement.
Though Delilah is given her own song in the Canon of Tom Jones, she is a character much less fleshed out than that of the book of Judges.
I saw the light on the night that I passed by her window
I saw the flickering shadows of love on her blind
She was my woman
As she deceived me I watched and went out of my mind4
As we see Delilah is a woman who was dating the singer of this song and has been unfaithful to him with another man. What she doesn't seem to realise is that the singer was watching her as he happened to walk past her window. He sees her in the act silhouetted on the blinds. Understandably frustrated he laments to the world with the cry of "why why why Delilah?"5. He turns up the next day and she is unrepentant.
I could see that girl was no good for me
But I was lost like a slave that no man could free
At break of day when that man drove away, I was waiting
I cross the street to her house and she opened the door
She stood there laughing
I felt the knife in my hand and she laughed no more6
The song then continues, with the singer holding some metaphorical knife over her.
My, my, my delilah
Why, why, why delilah
So before they come to break down the door
Forgive me delilah I just couldnt take any more7
Wait. Hang on a second. That's not metaphorical. What? Seriously? No-one told me he stabs his own girlfriend. What kind of sick and twisted song is this? This is horrific! And now he's asking for forgiveness from his girlfriends hacked up corpse? What? Good grief! Why did no-one tell me he stabs his own girlfriend?
5 ibid.
6 ibid.
7 ibid.
Isn't the song Why OH Why Delilah not Why WHY Why Delilah? Surely that changes everything?
Oi Walley,
You refer to 3 sources but only mention two...
Benjamin has a point
HE STABS HIS OWN GIRLFRIEND!!!
!
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Beth
Isn't the song Why OH Why Delilah not Why WHY Why Delilah? Surely that changes everything?