Samson, Shimshon (Hebrew: שִׁמְשׁוֹן, Standard Šimšon Tiberian Šimšôn; meaning "of the sun" – perhaps proclaiming he was radiant and mighty, or "[One who] Serves [God]") or Shamshoum شمشون (Arabic) is the third to last of the Judges of the ancient Children of Israel mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, the Tanakh, and the Talmud. Tiberian Hebrew is an extinct (yet very well documented Oral tradition of pronunciation for ancient Hebrew, especially the Hebrew of the Tanakh, that was Biblical judges ( Hebrew: shoftim שופטים were leaders of the Israelites, which included the judicial and military roles The term Hebrew Bible is a generic reference to those books of the Bible originally written in Biblical Hebrew (and the related Biblical Aramaic See also Old testament, Septuagint, Targum, Peshitta The Tanakh (תַּנַ"ךְ (taˈnax or; also Tenakh or Tenak is The Talmud ( Hebrew: he תַּלְמוּד is a record of Rabbinic discussions pertaining to Jewish law, ethics, customs and history He is described in the Book of Judges chapters 13 to 16. Book of Judges ( Hebrew: Sefer Shoftim ספר שופטים is a book of the Bible originally written in Hebrew. [1][2][3] He is believed to be buried in Tel Tzora in Israel overlooking the Sorek valley. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Israel topics. Nahal Sorek (נחל שורק lit "Brook of Sorek" also Soreq is one of the largest most important drainage basins in the Judean Hills. There reside two large gravestones of Samson and his father Manoah. Nearby stands Manoach’s altar (Judges 13:19-24). [4] It is located between the cities of Zorah and Eshtaol. [5]
Samson is a Herculean figure, who uses tremendous strength to combat his enemies and perform heroic feats unachievable by ordinary men:[6] wrestling a lion,[3][7][8][9] slaying an entire army with nothing more than a donkey's jawbone,[2][3][8][9][10] and tearing down an entire building. In Greek mythology, Heracles or Herakles ("glory of Hera " or [1][3][9]
Joan Comay, co-author of Who's Who in the Bible:The Old Testament and the Apocrypha, The New Testament, believes that the biblical story of Samson is so specific concerning time and place that Samson was undoubtedly a real person, who pitted his great strength against the oppressors of Israel. [1]
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Biblical narrative
Samson lived when God was punishing the Israelites by giving them "into the hand of the Philistines. The Philistines ( Hebrew פלשתים plishtim) (see "other uses" below were a people who inhabited the southern coast of Canaan, "[11] An angel from God appears to Manoah, an Israelite from the tribe of Dan, in the city of Zorah, and to his wife, who is sterile. An angel is a Spiritual Supernatural being found in many Religions Although the nature of angels and the tasks given to them vary from tradition to tradition Manoah is the father of Samson. Manoah means rest or quiet in Judges 131-23 and 142-4 of the Hebrew Bible. Tribe of Dan was also a band from the mid 1990s The Tribe of Dan ( was one of the Tribes of Israel. Zorah (צרעה perhaps "place of wasps" a town in the low country of Judah, afterwards given to Dan ( Josh [2][7][12] This angel predicts that they will have a son who will begin to deliver the Israelites from the Philistines. [7] Requirements were set up by the angel that she (as well as the child himself) is to abstain from all alcoholic beverages, and her promised child is not to shave or cut his hair. [2][7][12] In due time the son, Samson, is born; he is reared according to these provisions. [7][12]
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When he becomes a young man, Samson leaves the hills of his people to see the cities of the Philistines. While there, Samson falls in love with a Philistine woman from Timnah that, overcoming the objections of his parents who do not know that "it is of the LORD", he decides to marry her. Biblical Timnah is identified with the modern archeological site of Tel Batash, in the Sorek Valley of Israel, near Kibbutz Tal Shahar. [7][12][13] The intended marriage is actually part of God's plan to strike at the Philistines. [7] On the way to ask for the woman's hand in marriage, Samson is attacked by an Asiatic Lion and kills it. The Asiatic Lion ( Panthera leo persica) is a subspecies of the Lion which survives today only in India where it is also known as the Indian lion [7][8] He continues on to the Philistine's house, winning her hand in marriage. On his way to the wedding, Samson notices that bees have nested in the carcass of the lion and have made honey. [7][8] He eats a handful of the honey and gives some to his parents. [7] At the wedding-feast, Samson proposes that he tell a riddle to his thirty groomsmen (all Philistines); if they can solve it, he will give them thirty pieces of fine linen and garments. [7][12] The riddle ("Out of the eater, something to eat; out of the strong, something sweet. ") is a veiled account of his second encounter with the lion (at which only he was present). [7][8] The Philistines are infuriated by the riddle. [7] The thirty groomsmen tell Samson's new wife that they will burn her and her father's household if she does not discover the answer to the riddle and tell it to them. [7][8] At the urgent and tearful imploring of his bride, Samson tells her the solution, and she tells it to the thirty groomsmen. [7][12] Before sunset on the seventh day they said to him,
- "What is sweeter than honey?
- and what is stronger than a lion?"
Samson said to them,
He flies into a rage and kills thirty Philistines of Ashkelon for their garments, which he gives his thirty groomsmen. Ashkelon (אַשְׁקְלוֹן ٲشكلون also عسقلان; Latin: Ascalon; Akkadian: Isqalluna is a coastal city in southern [8][10][12] Still in a rage, he returns to his father's house, and his bride is given to the best man as his wife. [8][10][12] Her father refuses to allow him to see her, and wishes to give Samson the younger sister. [10][12] Samson attaches torches to the tails of three hundred foxes, leaving the panicked beasts to run through the fields of the Philistines, burning all in their wake. [8][10][12] The Philistines find out why Samson burned their crops, and they burn Samson's wife and father-in-law to death. [9][10][12] In revenge, Samson slaughters many more Philistines, smiting them "hip and thigh. "[10][12]
Samson then takes refuge in a cave in the rock of Etam. [10][12][14] An army of Philistines went up and demanded from 3,000 men of Judah to deliver them Samson. The Tribe of Judah ( was one of the Tribes of Israel. At its height it was the leading tribe of the Kingdom of Judah, and occupied most of the territory of the kingdom [12][14] With Samson's consent, they tie him with two new ropes and are about to hand him over to the Philistines when he breaks free. [9][14] Using the jawbone of a donkey, he slays one thousand Philistines. [3][9][14] At the conclusion of Judges 15 it is said that "Samson led Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines. "[14]
Later, Samson goes to Gaza, where he stays at a harlot's house. Francesco Morone ( 1471 &ndash 16 May 1529) was an Italian painter active in Verona in a Renaissance style Gaza (غزة, עַזָּה ʕazzā is the largest city in the Gaza Strip and the Palestinian territories. [10][15] His enemies wait at the gate of the city to ambush him, but he rips the gate up and carries it to "the hill that is in front of Hebron. Hebron ( al-Ḫalīl or al-Khalīl, Standard Hebrew: Ḥevron Tiberian Hebrew: Ḥeḇrôn is the largest city in the West Bank, located in the south "[10][15]
He then falls in love with a woman, Delilah, at the Brook of Sorek. Delilah ( דלילה - D+*uL+iJ+L+oH+, Standard Hebrew meaning " who weakened or uprooted or impoverished" from the root dal meaning Nahal Sorek (נחל שורק lit "Brook of Sorek" also Soreq is one of the largest most important drainage basins in the Judean Hills. [9][10][15][16] The Philistines approach Delilah and induce her (with 1100 silver coins each) to try to find the secret of Samson's strength. [10][15] Samson obviously does not want to tell the secret, so at first he teases her, telling her that he can be bound with fresh bowstrings. [10][15] She does so while he sleeps, but when he wakes up he snaps the strings. [10][15] She persists, and he tells her he can be bound with new ropes. She binds him with new ropes while he sleeps, and he snaps them, too. [10][15] She asks again, and he says he can be bound if his locks are woven together. [10][15] She weaves them together, but he undoes them when he wakes. [10][15] Eventually Samson tells Delilah that he will lose his strength with the loss of his hair. Hair is a keratinised protein filament that grows through the epidermis from follicles deep within the Dermis. [9][10][15][16] Delilah calls for a servant to shave Samson's seven locks. [10][15][16] Since that breaks the Nazarite oath, God leaves him, and Samson is captured by the Philistines. [3][10][15] They burn out his eyes by holding a hot poker near them. [15] After being blinded, Samson is brought to Gaza, imprisoned, and put to work grinding grain. [15]
One day the Philistine leaders assemble in a temple for a religious sacrifice to Dagon, their god, for having delivered Samson into their hands. Dagon was a major northwest Semitic god reportedly of grain and agriculture [15][5] They summon Samson so that he may entertain them. [15][5] Three thousand more men and women gather on the roof to watch. [15][16][5] Once inside the temple, Samson, his hair having grown long again, asks the servant who is leading him to the temple's central pillars if he may lean against them (referring to the pillars). [9][15][5]
- "Then Samson prayed to the Lord, 'O Lord God, remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes. ' (Judges 16:28). "[3][15][5] "Samson said, 'Let me die with the Philistines!' (Judges 16:30)[5][17] Down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. [3][9][16][5][17] Thus he killed many more as he died than while he lived. " (Judges 16:30). [9][17]
After his death, Samson's family recovers his body from the rubble and buries him near the tomb of his father Manoah. [5]
The fate of Delilah is never mentioned[16]
In rabbinic literature
Rabbinical literature identifies Samson with Bedan;[12] Bedan was a Judge mentioned by Samuel in his farewell address (1 Samuel 12:11) among the Judges that delivered Israel from their enemies. Rabbinic literature, in its broadest sense can mean the entire spectrum of Rabbinic writings throughout Jewish history Bedan is named as the deliverer of Israelites in 1 Samuel 1211 Samuel ( Hebrew: שְׁמוּאֵל, Standard Šəmuʼel Tiberian Šəmûʼēl) is an important The Books of Samuel ( Hebrew: Sefer Sh'muel ספר שמואל are part of the Tanakh (part of Judaism 's Hebrew Bible) and also of [18] However, the name "Bedan" is not found in the Book of Judges. [18] The name "Samson" is derived from the Hebrew word "shemesh", which means the sun, so that Samson bore the name of God, who is called "a sun and shield" in Psalms 84:11; and as God protected Israel, so did Samson watch over it in his generation, judging the people even as did God. [12] Samson's strength was divinely derived (Talmud, Tractate Sotah 10a); and he further resembled God in requiring neither aid nor help. [19][12]
Jewish legend records that Samson's shoulders were sixty ells broad. An ell (from Proto-Indo-European *el- "elbow forearm" is a unit of measurement approximating the distance from the elbow to the wrist [12] He was lame in both feet [20], but when the spirit of God came upon him he could step with one stride from Zorah to Eshtaol, while the hairs of his head arose and clashed against one another so that they could be heard for a like distance[21]. Zorah (צרעה perhaps "place of wasps" a town in the low country of Judah, afterwards given to Dan ( Josh Eshtaol (אֶשְׁתָּאוֹל is a Moshav in central Israel. [12] Samson was said to be so strong that he could uplift two mountains and rub them together like two clods of earth,[22] yet his superhuman strength, like Goliath's, brought woe upon its possessor. Goliath ( גָּלְיָת, Standard Hebrew Golyat, Tiberian Hebrew Golyāṯ, Arabic: جالوت Jalut (Muslim [23][12]
In licentiousness he is compared with Amnon and Zimri, both of whom were punished for their sins. Amnon (אַמְנוֹן according to the Hebrew Bible / Old Testament, was David's eldest son [24][12] Samson's eyes were put out because he had "followed them" too often. [25][12] It is said that in the twenty years during which Samson judged Israel he never required the least service from an Israelite [26], and he piously refrained from taking the name of God in vain. [12] Therefore, as soon as he told Delilah that he was a Nazarite of God she immediately knew that he had spoken the truth [27]. A nazirite or nazarite, (in Hebrew: נזיר nazir) refers to a Jew who took the Ascetic vow described in. [12] When he pulled down the temple of Dagon and killed himself and the Philistines the structure fell backward, so that he was not crushed, his family being thus enabled to find his body and to bury it in the tomb of his father [28]. [12] In the Talmudic period some seemed to have denied that Samson was a historic figure; and was regarded by such individuals as a purely mythological personage. [12] This was viewed as heretical by the rabbis of the Talmud, and they refuted this view. [12] The Talmud does so by giving the names of his mother, and states that he had a sister named "Nishyan" or "Nashyan" (variant reading). [12]
Some evidence suggests that Samson's home tribe of Dan might have been related to the Philistines themselves. "Dan" might be another name for the tribe of Sea Peoples otherwise known as the Denyen, Danuna, or Danaans. The Sea Peoples is the term used for a confederacy of seafaring raiders of the second millennium BC who sailed into the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, caused political The Denyen are one of the groups associated with the Sea Peoples, raiders associated with the Eastern Mediterranean Dark Ages who attacked Egypt during If so, then Samson's origin might be entirely Aegean. [29]
These speculations are in stark contrast to the historical depictions expressed in the Bible and are therefore mutually exclusive.
Samson parades
Samson parades are annual parades of a Samson figure in different villages in the Lungau, Salzburg (state) and two villages in the north-west Steiermark (Austria). The Bezirk Tamsweg is an administrative district ( Bezirk) in the federal state of Salzburg, Austria, and congruent with the Lungau Salzburg is a state or Land of Austria with an area of 7154 km² located adjacent to the German border Styria (Steiermark is a state or Bundesland, located in the southeast of Austria.
Samson is one of the giant figures at the "Ducasse" festivities, which takes place at Ath, Belgium. Athe (Aat is a Belgian municipality located in the Walloon province of Hainaut. The Kingdom of Belgium is a Country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters as well as those
References
- ^ a b c Comay, Joan; Ronald Brownrigg (1993). Who's Who in the Bible:The Old Testament and the Apocrypha, The New Testament (in English). New York: Wing Books, Old Testament, 320. ISBN 0-517-32170-X.
- ^ a b c d Rogerson, John W. (1999). Chronicle of the Old Testament Kings: The Reign-By-Reign Record of the Rulers of Ancient Israel. London: Thames & Hudson, 58. ISBN 0500050953.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Porter, J. R. (2000). The Illustrated Guide to the Bible (in English). New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 75. ISBN 0-760-72278-1.
- ^ Philistines are upon you, Samson, Ynet
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Comay, Joan; Ronald Brownrigg (1993). Who's Who in the Bible:The Old Testament and the Apocrypha, The New Testament (in English). New York: Wing Books, Old Testament, 319. ISBN 0-517-32170-X.
- ^ Comay, Joan; Ronald Brownrigg (1993). Who's Who in the Bible:The Old Testament and the Apocrypha, The New Testament (in English). New York: Wing Books, Old Testament, 316-317. ISBN 0-517-32170-X.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Comay, Joan; Ronald Brownrigg (1993). Who's Who in the Bible:The Old Testament and the Apocrypha, The New Testament (in English). New York: Wing Books, Old Testament, 317. ISBN 0-517-32170-X.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Rogerson, John W. (1999). Chronicle of the Old Testament Kings: The Reign-By-Reign Record of the Rulers of Ancient Israel. London: Thames & Hudson, 59. ISBN 0500050953.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rogerson, John W. (1999). Chronicle of the Old Testament Kings: The Reign-By-Reign Record of the Rulers of Ancient Israel. London: Thames & Hudson, 61. ISBN 0500050953.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Comay, Joan; Ronald Brownrigg (1993). Who's Who in the Bible:The Old Testament and the Apocrypha, The New Testament (in English). New York: Wing Books, Old Testament, 318. ISBN 0-517-32170-X.
- ^ Judges 13
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab This article incorporates text from the 1901–1906 Jewish Encyclopedia article "Samson", a publication now in the public domain. The Jewish Encyclopedia was an Encyclopedia originally published between 1901 and 1906 by Funk and Wagnalls. The public domain is a range of abstract materials &ndash commonly referred to as Intellectual property &ndash which are not owned or controlled by anyone
- ^ a b Judges 14
- ^ a b c d e Judges 15
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Judges 16
- ^ a b c d e f Rogerson, John W. (1999). Chronicle of the Old Testament Kings: The Reign-By-Reign Record of the Rulers of Ancient Israel. London: Thames & Hudson, 62. ISBN 0500050953.
- ^ a b c Judges 16:30
- ^ a b BibleGateway - Quick search: Bedan
- ^ (Midrash Genesis Rabbah xcviii. Genesis Rabba ( Bereshit Rabba in Hebrew: בראשית רבה) is a religious text from Judaism 's classical period 18)
- ^ (Talmud tractate Sotah 10a)
- ^ (Midrash Leviticus Rabbah viii. Leviticus Rabbah, Vayikrah Rabbah, or Wayikra Rabbah is a homiletic Midrash to the Biblical book of Leviticus ( Vayikrah in Hebrew 2)
- ^ (ibid. ; Sotah 9b)
- ^ (Midrash Eccl. Rabbah i. Ecclesiastes Rabbah or Kohelet Rabbah ( קהלת רבה) is an Haggadic commentary on Ecclesiastes, included in the collection of the Midrash , end)
- ^ (Leviticus Rabbah. Leviticus Rabbah, Vayikrah Rabbah, or Wayikra Rabbah is a homiletic Midrash to the Biblical book of Leviticus ( Vayikrah in Hebrew xxiii. 9)
- ^ (Sotah l. c. )
- ^ (Midrash Numbers Rabbah ix. Numbers Rabbah (or Bamidbar Rabbah in Hebrew) is a religious text holy to classical Judaism. 25)
- ^ (Sotah l. c. )
- ^ (Midrash Genesis Rabbah l. Genesis Rabba ( Bereshit Rabba in Hebrew: בראשית רבה) is a religious text from Judaism 's classical period c. § 19)
- ^ Greenberg, Gary (2000). 101 Myths of the Bible. Sourcebooks, Inc. , 171-172. ISBN 1-57071-586-6.
See also
External links
- 'Samson' by Solomon Solomon
- 'Candlewick Productions'
- The Samson and Delilah Home Page
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Samson
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| Preceded by Abdon |
Judge of Israel | Succeeded by Eli |
Film The most detailed film version of the Biblical Samson was the 1949 Cecil B Other cultural references Israeli culture "The figure of "Samson the hero" played a role in the construction of Zionist collective memory and in building the Tribe of Dan was also a band from the mid 1990s The Tribe of Dan ( was one of the Tribes of Israel. Abdon, which means " servile " in Hebrew, was the son of Hillel, a Pirathonite and was the tenth Judge of Israel mentioned Biblical judges ( Hebrew: shoftim שופטים were leaders of the Israelites, which included the judicial and military roles Eli ( was according to the Books of Samuel, the name of a priest of Shiloh, and one of the last Israelite Judges before the rule of kings in ancient Israel
Dictionary
Samson
-proper noun
- (Biblical) An Israelite judge in the Old Testament who performed feats of strength against the Philistines but was betrayed by Delilah his mistress.
- (by extension) Any very strong man.
- A male given name.
- An English surname derived from the given name.
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