You’re Not You When You’re Hungry, Samson
Every time we go through the story of Samson, we remind ourselves of the wisdom in the acronym HALT. Maybe you have encountered this acronym? Even if you have not, you have likely been on both the delivering and receiving ends of its effects. HALT stands for Hungry, Angry, Lonely, and Tired. The model describes the interpersonal risk factors that exacerbate internal and external pressures in relationships. People are more likely to make bad decisions, for example, when they are in states of HALT.
The candy company, Mars, Inc., and their ad
agency, BBDO, apparently were quite familiar with this notion when they built
their now-famous 2010 campaign around the slogan, “You’re not you when you’re
hungry”. The simple genius of the
campaign, featuring celebrities like Betty
White, Joe Pesci, Aretha Franklin, and Liza Minelli,
drove itself into public consciousness through the intuitive sense of HALT
(oriented on Hungry).
The Scriptures are not naïve about this. For example, they record the story of Israel
fighting one of their many battles with the Philistines at Gibeah. Israel had routed their enemy, but...
Now
the Israelites were in distress that day, because Saul had bound the people
under an oath, saying, “Cursed be anyone who eats food before evening comes,
before I have avenged myself on my enemies!” So none of the troops tasted food.
1 Samuel 14:24
Saul’s son Jonathan, ignorant of this ban, ate the honey, and his “eyes brightened” (like eating a Snickers® bar?). He tells the troops that his father “made trouble for the country” by ordering this fast. (Some oaths are not well thought out…looking at you, Jephthah.)
The Hebrew Bible, in fact, probably originate
the idea of “hangry”:
Distressed
and hungry, they will roam through the land; when they are famished, they will
become enraged and, looking upwards, will curse their king and their God.
Isaiah 8:21
If only Samson had known about HALT, his
story might have been different. Ah, but
we are ahead of ourselves. We are diving
into two verses in Samson’s story to unpack some important truths (HALT being
one of them).
Now see
to it that you DRINK no WINE or other FERMENTED DRINK and
that you do not EAT anything UNCLEAN. You WILL BECOME PREGNANT and have a
son whose HEAD is NEVER to BE TOUCHED by a RAZOR
because the boy is to be a NAZIRITE, DEDICATED to God from the WOMB.
He will take the lead in DELIVERING
Israel from the hands of the Philistines.’
Judges 13:4-5
Yesterday, we talked about how prevalent the
ideas of “eating and drinking” are in Scripture. Along with breathing, they are essential for
life. And Samson was expected, as both a
Jew and a Nazirite, to regulate how he did both. Anyone who’s read the story knows he performed
miserably in this task. Our post
yesterday explored the Hebrew verb SHATHAH (שָׁתָה),
which means “to drink”. And today, we
will look at its connect verb, “to eat”.
The Hebrew verb is AKHAL (אָכַל). It is used over 800 times in the Hebrew
Bible, making it a prevalent word. Its
first use is on the second page of the Bible (Genesis 2). In fact, it is used 21 times in two chapters
alone – Genesis 2 and 3 – including its very first use:
And the Lord God commanded the man, ‘You ARE FREE
TO EAT (NOTE: the text literally reads as “eat eat”; Hebrew’s neat
trick is to repeat words to indicate intensity) from any tree in the garden;
but you must not EAT from the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil, for when you EAT from it you will certainly die.’
Genesis 2:16-17
AKHAL does not simply mean to eat. Or put a bit differently, when the word is
used, it may have a more figurative meaning.
The
priest shall then put on his linen clothes, with linen undergarments next to
his body, and shall remove the ashes of the burnt offering that the fire HAS CONSUMED on the altar and place them beside the
altar.
Leviticus 6:10
You
will perish among the nations; the land of your enemies WILL DEVOUR you.
Leviticus 26:38
It EATS AWAY
parts of his skin; death’s firstborn DEVOURS his limbs.
Job 18:13
If a
fire breaks out and spreads into thorn-bushes so that it BURNS
sheaves of corn or standing corn or the whole field, the one who started the
fire must make restitution.
Exodus 22:6
The
final use of AKHAL in the Hebrew Bible (at least as far as the Christian
organization of the Text is concerned) is in the prophet Zechariah. The prophet announces that the LORD will
raise up a foolish shepherd who will not shepherd the flock.
For I am going to raise up a shepherd
over the land who will not care for the lost, or seek the young, or heal the
injured, or feed the healthy, but WILL
EAT the meat of the choice sheep, tearing off their
hooves.
Zechariah 11:16
Drinking
(SHATHAH) and eating (AKHAL) are essential to life itself. And when G-d created man and set him in the
Garden, man was free to eat (and to drink, one presumes) whatever he wished,
saving one tree. The Fall, of course,
changed that. And when G-d chose the
nation of Israel as His special treasure, He restricted their freedom of
consumption even further: to clean animals.
Samson, as a Nazirite, was restricted even further, but he behaved more like the foolish shepherd of Zechariah 11, who eats the choice parts reserved for G-d Himself. Samson cast off all restraint from his diet and his social life alike, eating and drinking whatever pleased his eye or his appetite.
We
should end with the words of St. Paul, who reminds us Who the Lord of our
appetites should be.
So whether you eat or drink
or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
1 Corinthians 10:31
