Superhuman

Hi everyone! I hope all of you are having a good weekend. I don’t know about you guys, but it was much needed. 

I don’t know if it’s just me being raised in a Christian home and going to church, learning different bible stories growing up, but all the characters I’ve read about in the old epics such as The Ramayana, The Epic of Gilgamesh, and now Beowulf remind me of people I’ve read and learned about in bible stories. 

When Beowulf first enters the scene in the epic, it was said that there was “no one like him alive” and that he was the “mightiest man on earth, high-born and powerful” with “the strength of thirty in the grip of each hand” and he was led by God. Like wow! This man sounds untouchable and like a god. When I read all of these descriptions, I imagined a tall man with broad shoulders, and a very muscular build dressed in garments and armor of a gladiator. He had long hair and a beard, and he wore sandals…To summarize what I’m trying to say, I imagine him looking like Hercules played by Dwayne Johnson in Hercules.

Get the picture?

The other man I imagine in this same way is a man in the bible by the name of Samson. I’m sure most of you are familiar with this story, there are songs about him and Delilah; however, if you are not familiar with this bible story, here’s a little background story:

Samson was born and given to God for his work, therefore, he was a Nazarite. He was the strongest man described in the bible. He couldn’t drink alcohol and he couldn’t cut his hair. When he grew up he was to help save the Israelite people from the Philistines. When he was older he fell in love with a Philistine woman by the name of Delilah. As you might guess, this doesn’t end well seeing as she was of the people Samson was going to save the people of Israel from. Delilah was a deceptive woman who tried and tried to get Samson to tell her his weakness so he could be destroyed. Finally, he tells her that the cutting of his hair is his weakness. So, when he is asleep she cut off his hair, taking away his strength. He was then taken and tied to two pillars which he pulled down with the strength of the Lord, and ultimately died.

This was a very poor and brief summarization of this story, and I encourage those of you who aren’t familiar with it to read it. It’s not long, and it’s a good story of redemption. For those who do know this story, read it again; maybe you’ll notice something you didn’t before. 

Samson was unnaturally strong. He was supposed to be led by God, but he ended up doing his own thing for awhile. Beowulf was strong and led by God. 

These two have many similarities, and I wonder if the author of the epic was inspired by the story of Samson. If he was, will Beowulf suffer a fate similar to that of Samson’s? A man with such power and strength can forget to rely and follow God, and end up digging his own grave like Samson did. I can’t wait to see what this epic has in-store for our little hero, Beowulf.