The Doctrine of Beitar

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Please do not be angry with me for saying this; I am old, and our ways are not your ways – there is no shame in this whole matter, even if there were, for a woman or her sons, but it is not the man who is lofty, but the soul. Your mother is unique; in memories of Crete and commerce a lord will tell of heroes like you as rare individuals, and there have never been such as these, not in the tribe of Asher nor in the rest of the tribes of her people. A foreigner is one of them, perhaps a half-foreigner in your blood, but you are entirely a foreigner in your heart and your manner.

Samson was silent for a long time, and then he asked:

• Why do you say this?

• Come to us, quickly - replied the lord - you will be our chief of chiefs, you will do for us—for the people—a great deed with your unique quality, as before. Dor will be ours and Sidon with them; and the king of Canaan will be our inheritance up to the border of Egypt.

Samson laughed to himself and the lord sensed it.

• I knew your answer. And also your desire to ask: And in the east? Indeed, yes, in the east we are concerned with brotherhood, peace, and commerce. The land of Canaan, you, from now on Gaza is open without the Jews passing through. But do not be disgusted by its sons, hear the conclusion. I have known you, both you and your foreignness; you have served Dan. And you will never hew a quarry for Dan or for the rest of the tribes. And that is not what I ask of you.

The lord instinctively saw complicated matters in these reasons and understood the expression of anger and mockery in them.

• I mean you harm - said Samson. - I will conquer the Negev and the Pidon for them, and you will divide it there according to the army commanders. And you will go up against Dan, and Ephraim and Judah to carry them away and to plunder them, and all without me.

The lord shook his head.