Cliff Keller

The Lion or the Lamb Cliff Keller

An unfit Philistine boyThoughtful Padi, the young son of a Philistine warrior, discovers at an early age that he does not fit among his people. Not only has his mild nature tainted his standing among his warlike clan, but his choice of a wild native boy named Samson as best friend has set him completely apart.

Though no Philistine would dare harm Padi for fear of Samson's revenge, Padi abandons his father's lodge and moves to the Sorek Valley where he accepts Samson's abandoned Philistine bride as a gift from her angry father, thus becoming a close witness to a disappointing succession of Samson's destructive miracles.

Disillusioned and confused by the continuing violence in the valley, Padi deserts his faithless Philistine bride and strikes out for the Judean hills. Unequipped for survival, he stumbles into the peaceful village of Bethlehem exhausted and near death. There, despite his pagan blood, he is nursed back to health by the family of Salmon, older brother of Elimelech, the husband of Naomi, who is about to abandon Judah for a better life in Moab.

After a deceptive introduction to the hill people's tradition of circumcision, Padi marries Salmon's daughter and goes to work in the barley fields for her brother, Boaz. Happily married, father of three and in love with his newfound home, Padi's life should be complete. But, as he observes the ongoing strife between Judah and his kin, he is plagued by an unanswered question; What exactly is salvation which the Judeans so keenly crave?

Padi finally learns the answer only after Naomi returns to Bethlehem with her beautiful Moabite daughter, Ruth, and Padi's friend, by then known throughout the land as Mighty Samson, is captured and taken in chains by the Philistines to their temple at Gaza.