68 JEREMY SCHIPPER find rest through her actions. Assuming his awareness that Delilah had acted on his confession when he awoke (v. 20), he would not require any extraordinary strength to brush himself off. Without restraints or a Philistine threat, he figured that he could handle the circumstances in v. 20 as easily as he had on the previous occasions. This thinking is constant at both of the points when readers are granted access into his inner thoughts during the Samson and Delilah episode. Nevertheless, while his thought process is not contradictory, it is misguided. He miscalculates both the Philistine threat and Delilah’s loyalty, and, more importantly, he underestimates the impact of the divine involvement in his present circumstances. Right before the haircut, Delilah calls out to a man (v. 19). J. Sasson has argued that the man whom Delilah calls out to is Samson. He writes, “Delilah, in sum, shouts at Samson; and reassured by how deeply he sleeps, she wields the razor” 14. If Sasson is correct, then the narrative indicates that Samson finally achieves a deep sleep in the same scene in which the Lord leaves him (v. 20b). Yet, having his hair cut will mean not just that the spirit that had troubled his sleep will finally leave him, but that the Lord will leave him completely. Some scholars have wondered if, by 16,20, Samson considers his strength as his own rather than divinely inspired. They note how, after the spirit of the Lord enables his slaughter of the Philistines at Lehi, he sings about this victory as his own accomplishment (15,16) before crediting it to the Lord (15,18) 15. It seems better to conclude that he does not consider the strength his own in 16,20. Rather, he decides that he can get along just as easily without it. Of course, this decision is severely misguided, as Samson discovers when the Philistines show up in 16,2116. Temple University Jeremy SCHIPPER 613 Anderson Hall 1114 W. Berks Street Philadelphia, PA 19122-6090 SASSON, “Who Cut Samson’s Hair?”, 338. 14 J.A. WHARTON, “The Secret of Yahweh: Story and Affirmation in Judges 15 13–16 ”, Int (1973) 61, suggests that Samson’s recorded thoughts in 16,20 show that he “had come to regard his strength as his own possession”. J.C. EXUM, “ The Theological Dimension of the Samson Saga”, 43 n. 29, builds on this point by noting that in 15,16, Samson first attributes his victory over the Philistines to himself, but ultimately both episodes “show that the strong man cannot deliver himself, everything depends on YHWH”. I would like to thank J. Blake Couey, Nyasha Junior, and Tod Linafelt for 16 helping me to refine the ideas reflected in this article.