“Dan will be a serpent on the road, a viper on the path, that bites a horse’s heels, and his rider falls backward” (Genesis 49:17). “Dan will be a serpent on the road” – just as the serpent is found among women,86The serpent approached Eve to entice her to eat from the tree of knowledge, and did not approach Adam. so, Samson son of Manoaḥ was found among women. Just as the serpent is restrained by oath,87This is a reference to the incantations of snake charmers, which they would utter in order to render the snake harmless. so, Samson was restrained by oath: “Samson said to them: Take an oath to me” (Judges 15:12).88He let the people of Judah bind him and turn him over to the Philistines after they took an oath that they would not kill him.
Thus, he was restrained as a result of an oath that the people of Judah took. Just as this serpent, all its strength is only in its head, so, Samson: “He told her his whole heart and said to her: If I were shaved, my strength would leave me” (Judges 16:17). Just as this serpent, its venom permeates even after its death, so, “the dead whom he put to death in his death [were more than those he put to death during his life]” (Judges 16:30).
“That bites a horse’s heels” – “Summon Samson and let him amuse us” (Judges 16:25). Rabbi Levi said: It is written: “On the roof there were some three thousand” (Judges 16:27). These were the ones who were at the edge of the roof, but those who were behind them, and behind those behind them, no one knows, and you say: “His brothers and the entire household of his father went down, bore him, and went up; they buried him…in the grave of Manoaḥ his father” (Judges 16:31)?89How were they able to locate his corpse among all the rubble and all the corpses?
It is because Jacob our patriarch requested mercy regarding this matter: “And his rider falls backward” – let all these items90Let the stones, the chairs, and the corpses fall backward so that Samson’s family could find his body. fall backward. “For your salvation I hope, Lord” (Genesis 49:18). Because Jacob our patriarch envisioned him [Samson] and believed that he was the messianic king, when he envisioned that he would die, he said: Will this one, too, die?
“For your salvation, I hope, Lord.” Rabbi Yitzḥak said: Everything is through hope; [relief from] suffering is through hope, sanctification of the Name is through hope, the merit of the patriarchs is through hope, the desire for the World to Come is through hope. Suffering – that is what is written: “Even in the path of Your judgments, Lord, we hoped for You” (Isaiah 26:8) – this is suffering. “For Your name” (Isaiah 26:8) – this is sanctification of the Name.
“And Your memory” (Isaiah 26:8) – this is the merit of the patriarchs. “The desire of the soul” (Isaiah 26:8) – this is the desire for the World to Come. Grace is through hope: “Lord, be gracious to us, we have hoped for You” (Isaiah 33:2). Forgiveness is through hope: “For forgiveness is with You” (Psalms 130:4).
What is written thereafter? “I have hoped, Lord” (Psalms 130:5). Because Jacob our patriarch envisioned him and believed that salvation would arrive in his days, when he envisioned that he would die, he said: Will this one, too, die? “For your salvation, I hope, Lord.”