Ancient Anglican

My, my, my, Delilah / Why, why, why, Delilah / I could see, that girl was no good for me / But I was lost like a slave that no man could free.

The story of Samson and Delilah is one of the great romantic tragedies in Scripture. . . . As pointed out by Mrs. Higgs, Delilah is a complex character with many unknowns.

This outcast Samaritan woman we meet at the well becomes the first apostle. After this encounter, John tells us that she left her water jar and went back to the village to proclaim Jesus, and “many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony.”

The Samaritan woman at the Well was an outcast of an outcast of a marginalized group.  As you read through her story, keep in mind her complete lack of any social standing.

The sin of Sodom, therefore, goes beyond inhospitality and sexual lust for heavenly beings. Ezekiel’s statement also gives us an insight into Mrs. Lot’s character and why she longingly looked back to her life in the city.

How is the story of Lot’s wife a wonderful example of the dangers of remaining in the past or the dangers of having an affinity with those to whom we do not belong?

This story has an interesting life after the Scriptures. In later rabbinic literature and in the Koran, this story is reworked with some of the gaps in the Biblical narratives filled in or changed.

As you read through the story of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife in Genesis 39, look at the different layers of indiscretion we encounter.

As presented by Higgs, the first important part of the story of Eve is her equal dignity. She is not created by God to be subservient to Adam.

The story of Eve is the story of what causes sinful desires within us and how we can, in looking at Eve, hopefully overcome or avoid these desires.

She says that when she became a Christian and began studying the women of the Bible she failed to identify with the saintly women of the Bible. But, as she writes, “Something clicked inside of me when I happened upon Jezebel.”

The second Icon is the Eleousa – Lady of Tenderness. In this Icon, we see the Child embracing, grasping, and pushing himself toward Mary. He is actively seeking her with a love of insistent intensity and immediacy.