66 JEREMY SCHIPPER III. What was Samson’s thought process in 16,20? At first glance, Samson seems to think that he still has his strength when he wakes up in 16,20. He thinks that he will shake himself free despite the fact that he told Delilah the truth in v. 17 and could have anticipated the haircut before going to sleep on her knees in v. 19. Yet, we should ask what exactly he would need to shake himself free from after his haircut. In v. 20, he compares his situation to the “other times”, but, on these three other occasions, it seems clearer which restraints he would need to free himself from. Even if he did not perceive a Philistine ambush on these other occasions, he was still bound with cords or ropes (vv. 8.12) or had his hair pinned to the wall (v. 14 Vaticanus). On each of these occasions, he would require extraordinary strength just to free himself of these restraints regardless of whether the Philistines confront him. When he breaks the cords in v. 9, the narrator compares this breaking to how “a strand of fiber snaps when it touches the fire”. The fire imagery recalls what happens when the spirit of the Lord rushes upon him before he slaughters 1,000 Philistines in Lehi. In 15,14, the narrator states, “The spirit of the Lord rushed on him, and the ropes that were on his arms became like flax that has caught fire”. This allusion in 16,9 to the strength that he has when the spirit disturbs him in 15,14 reinforces his need for incredible strength to free himself when Delilah restrains him once again. In 16,14, he does not just untangle his hair, but rips himself from the wall, presumably destroying the weaving machine in the process 12. Samson would need to retain his incredible strength for this third occasion if he anticipated that she would restrain him by weaving his hair, once he told her that such an action would weaken him. The fourth time, however, Samson reveals that a haircut rather than restraints would weaken him. Delilah does not restrain him in any way while she cuts his hair 13. Thus, if Samson does not expect to encounter G. MOBLEY, The Empty Man. The Heroic Tradition of Ancient Israel 12 (New York 2005) 200-204, interprets the destruction of the machine as an example of Samson’s tendency to undo culture. Elsewhere, he takes people’s finest garments (14,19), burns their fields (15,4-5), uses only crude weapons (15,15), and destroys the doors of a city and columns of a temple (16,3.29-30). The witnesses differ on exactly who cut Samson’s hair, Delilah (MT) or a 13 male barber (LXX, Vg), in v. 19. See J. SASSON, “Who Cut Samson’s Hair? (And Other Trifling Issues Raised by Judges 16)”, Proof 8 (1988) 333-339. Samson is unclear as to who he thinks will cut his hair since he uses a passive verbal form when he says, “If I were shaved” (a pual form of jlg; v. 17). Nevertheless, since Delilah “causes him to sleep in her lap” (a piel form of –çy) before the haircut and he appears to comply, he probably assumed that she was