Barren No More
We had been telling the story of the Biblical Judge Samson, but we left him to take a detour. Considering Samson is already a sort of detour from another series, you may be experiencing a worrisome trend. Some day, we will get back to Jeremiah. We may even finish that journey. But now we onto a siding, looking into the story of Samson. We hope that explaining some of the Hebrew behind the English text will make your own reading journeys more enlightening, or at least more interesting.
You know the story of Samson. Israelite from the tribe of Dan, Manoah, and
his wife (who has no name that we know of), do not have any children. She is barren. The Hebrew word for barren (sse 13:2) is AQAR
(עָקָר). It is
only used in the context of a female unable to have children. Sarai in Genesis is described with AQAR, as
is Rachel. Farther ahead in the Story, Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptiser, is barren, using the Greek corollary of AQAR, which is STEIRA (στεῖρος).
In the Great Halal Psalms (113 to 118) sung during the
Passover season, Psalm 113 offers a triumphant promise for barren women (which
might remind you of the dream sequence at the conclusion of the Coen Brothers, “Raising
Arizona”, when Hi and Ed are parents at last):
He settles the CHILDLESS woman in her home
as a happy mother of children.
Psalm 113:9
Isaiah echoes this promised fertility, when nobody will be
barren, as the prophet sings of the glorious future of Zion:
Sing, BARREN
woman, you who never bore a child; burst into song, shout for joy,
you who were never in labor;
because more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband,
says the Lord.
Isaiah
54:1
Paul echoes this verse in his letter to the Galatians, hearkening back to Sarah's story.
Manoah and his wife join a long line of a Biblical theme: the barren woman has a long-delayed promised child. They are AQAR (עָקָר) no more.
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