We've spent all week trying to find something redeeming, some relevant contemporary meaning, in the bloodsoaked story of Samson. Failed to. But this week's LRB offers something useful, in the shape of Jenny Diski's review of a David Grossman book about Samson, which describes the blinded battler's ancient image as Samson the hero, and his modern interpretation as the tough Jew.
Grossman situates [Samson the hero/tough Jew] in modern Israel. Those who would see Samson as a tough Jew, Grossman explains, 'esteemed his ability to apply force without any restraints or moral inhibitions, an ability which history withheld from the trod-upon Jews for millennia, until the establishment of the state of Israel'. 'Samson's Foxes' fought in the 1948 War of Independence; a 'Samson' unit was created during the first Palestinian intifada in the 1980s; Israel's nuclear weapon programme was once known as the 'Samson Option'.
I've been on train journeys to Sheffield and back today, musing on these things in the face of the latest terror. And listening repeatedly to Take a Bow, the relentlessly angry opener of the new album by Muse:
Death, you bring death And destruction to all that you touch Pay, you must pay You must pay for your crimes against the earth Hate, feed the hate Feed the hate of the country you love And beg, you will beg You will beg for the lives and their souls And burn, you will burn You will burn in hell Yeah you'll burn in hell You'll burn in hell Yeah you'll burn in hell Burn in hell Yeah you'll burn in hell For your sins
john davies
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