Manoah's Child: A Meditation on Judges 13-16

Part I—Arrogance of Vision

SAMSON’S EYES

I know what I want, and I want what I see:
A consumer world of Timnah for me;
Towers of Babel, confusion and scree;
A life of great pleasure; a life that is free
Of Philistine extortion; and great dignity.
I’ll bet sixty garments on the strength of a bee;
Shake the bones of the lion to justify me;
And then, with my honey, I’ll live and let be.
When the voting was done, and the riddle deciphered
Through guile and deceit, mounting bass prejudice
(A foundational disregard) and conscienceless malice,
The rights of the people were compromised, pilfered—
Truth became meaningless, alternative, filtered.
Yet, God’s Word strengthens all, when with ears they have heard.

Part II—Consequence and Exile Among the Philistines

HELL

Of course, we want you to share in our liberty,

But you are not quite like us—you sully our purity,
Raising questions in us of social security.
Yet, needing your service and abject class poverty,
Let us make space for you, call it space-parity—
A separate, chain-linked, palace vulgarity
Reminding all of our magnanimous, cruel charity
And our place in the world marked with great clarity.
Then, from prison tombs, sentenced-dead reply,
“Whatever became of the scales of blind justice,
Verdicts without rancor or prejudice?
We beg you, in the balance of Samson’s blind eyes,
Life’s about living, not learning to die,
And resurrection hope that crosses Death’s lie.”

Part III—Self-Worth and Dependence

THE DAMNED

Like bladeless knife without a handle,

Dust of the street and broken thonged sandal,
Journey in darkness without match or candle,
Absent comforting knee on which we would dandle,
We, on the margin of unruly quires
Listing the dead thrown onto pyres,
The dregs and dross casually cast into fires,
The broken, chipped vessels tossed in the mire,
We know our unworthiness, yet cry out with daring,
“Give us an edge to sever chains of injustice
And a handle to wield it in work of Your service.
Then, in Your strength, with Samson’s eyes staring,
We’ll break the pillars of shameful uncaring,
Walking in faith, our resurrection cross bearing.”

Part IV—Self-Awareness and Individuation

LET’S TURN THIS WORLD UPSIDE-DOWN
Now defeated, disgraced, with eyes put out—
Shamed, de-spirited, windless, walking ‘round about—
Reduced to grinding granules of terrifying doubt—
“What then will our circumstances be for all,
When, in wrestling with both foes and God, we fall
And eat the mealy meal of torture, ridiculing jeering shout,
To become the entertainment of the world, an abject stumbling clown,
Laughed at, scorned—in valley, hill, and town—
Ragged-walking, back bent, and head bowed down?”
Humbled in God, with sightless-seeing tears flow down,
Pray begin to know and hear the pain-filled sound
Of those who suffer loss of name, of Rachael’s children never found.
Then, stand firm in faith, between temple pillars strain for holy ground—
False Dagon’s power break. Let God’s reconciling love abound.

by Peter T. Heide, 2018