Image Details

Courtesy of Irinia Rapaport

The flawed strongman Samson, more than the virtuous Deborah, is typical of the legendary military leaders described in the pages of the Book of Judges. Though heroic in battle, Samson is a wayward, immoral character who participates in his own undoing by consorting with the treacherous Delilah. Russian-American artist Alek Rapoport depicts in this painting Samson’s spectacular revenge in the Philistine temple, where he is brought to entertain the masses. “Let me die with the Philistines!” cries the fallen hero, and with his bare hands pulls down the pillars, bringing the temple “crashing down on the lords and on all the people in it” (Judges 16:30).