Samson

"Samson and Delilah" by Gustave Doré.

Samson, (Hebrew: שִׁמְשׁוֹן, Šimšon) — meaning "of the sun" – is the third to last of the "judges" of ancient Israel mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. He is described in the Book of Judges chapters 13 to 16. Samson is a Herculean figure, utilizing massive strength to combat his enemies and perform heroic feats unachievable by ordinary men: killing a lion with his bare hands, slaying an entire army with nothing more than a donkey's jawbone, and tearing down a large pagan temple with his superhuman strength. Samson had two vulnerabilities, however: his attraction to untrustworthy women and his hair, without which he was powerless. These vulnerabilities ultimately proved fatal for him.

Biblical story

Annuciation and Birth

Samson is the last of "judges" mentioned in the Book of Judges, and his story is by far the longest of them. The story begins with a "man of God" appearing to Samson's mother. (The narrator informs us that he is an angel, but Samson's parents do not know this at first.) Following the pattern of several other biblical women — Sarah, Rebekah and Hannah in the Old Testament, and Elizabeth in the New Testament — the unnamed woman is unable to bear children. The angel predicts that, even though she is sterile, she will have a son "who will begin the deliverance of Israel from the hands of the Philistines." (Judges 13:7) In accordance with Naziritic requirements, she is to abstain from all alcoholic beverages and unclean (non-kosher) meat, and her promised child is never to shave or cut his hair. In due time, her son, Samson, is born; and he is reared according to these provisions.

Samson's Philistine Wife

Samson slays a lion on the road to Timnah.

When he becomes a young man, Samson visits the town of Timnah, where he becomes infatuated with a Philistine woman. His parents object to the match, but reluctantly agree to accompany him to Timnah to arrange it. On the way to visit his future bride, Samson is attacked by a lion and kills it with his bare hands. This is the first of his many amazing feats of strength. When he returns later to marry her, Samson notices that bees have nested in the carcass of the lion and have made honey. He eats a handful of the honey and later gives some to his parents.

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 each a costly set of clothing and undergarments. On the other hand, if they cannot solve it, Samson will receive a like set of clothing from each of them. 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. The Philistines are stumped by the riddle. They threaten Samson's new wife, saying they will burn her and her father's household if she does not discover and share the secret of the riddle. At the urgent and tearful imploring of his bride, Samson tells her the solution; and she promptly tells it to the thirty groomsmen. When they solve his riddle, Samson accuses them of "plowing with my heifer." Filled with the spirit of Yahweh, he goes to the city of Ashkelon, kills thirty Philistines there, and presents their clothing to his his groomsmen back in Timnah. He then returns to his father's house.

When Samson visits Timnah again at harvest time, he finds that his father-in-law has given his wife to another, apparently one of Samson's Philistine companions. Her father refuses to allow him to see her, and wishes to give Samson his younger daughter instead. Samson retaliates by attaching torches to the tails of three hundred foxes, leaving the panicked beasts to run through the Philistine fields and vineyards. The precious crops are destroyed as a result. The Philistines take revenge by burning Samson's wife and father-in-law to death. Not to be outdone, Samson slaughters many more Philistines, smiting them "hip and thigh."

Samson then takes refuge in a cave in the rock of Etam, near Bethlehem. A force of 3,000 men from the Tribe of Judah (a vassal of the Philistines), agree to a Philistine demand to deliver Samson to them. Samson allows them to tie him with two new ropes. They are about to hand him over to the Philistines when the spirit of Yahweh comes upon him again, and he breaks free. Using the jawbone of a donkey, he slays 1,000 Philistines.

Later, Samson goes to the Philistine town of Gaza where he spends the night with a prostitute. His enemies wait at the gate of the city to ambush him, but he rips the gate up and carries it away to safety.

Samson and Delilah

Continuing the theme of his fatal attraction to the wrong type of women, Samson then falls in love with the beautiful Delilah. Hearing of this, the Philistines approach Delilah and bribe her to find the secret of Samson's strength. Three times he falsely informs her to bind him in various ways; three times she does so; and three times he escapes her trap. Eventually Samson tells Delilah the that he will lose his strength if his hair is cut. Delilah calls for a servant to shave Samson's seven locks while he sleeps. The story implies that Samson probably thinks this, too, will not work. But since he has allowed his mother's oath to be broken, Yahweh now leaves him. Samson is promptly captured by the Philistines, who successfully bind him and gouge out his eyes. They then bring him to the Philistine city of Gaza, where he is imprisoned and put to work grinding grain.

Later, the Philistine leaders assemble in the temple Dagon for a religious sacrifice celebrating their capture of Samson. They summon Samson so that he may entertain them. Three thousand additional people gather on the roof to watch. However, Samson's hair has now grown back, and his strength has returned.

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..." Down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. (Judges 16:28-30).

After his death, Samson's family recovers his body from the rubble and buries him near the tomb of his father. He is reported to have judged Israel for 20 years.

Assessment

Samson at Dagon's Temple.

While Samson's story is undoubtedly one of the most famous and entertaining in the Bible, he can hardly be called a successful judge. None of his victories is lasting, and they all seem to be based on personal revenge rather than any patriotic motivation. Even his final act cannot be called redemptive in this sense. He uses his strength not for God or his people, but to avenge himself against the Philistines for blinding him. He does not unite the Israelites, or even his own tribe of Dan, against their oppressors. Time and again, he is deceived by beautiful women. While his acts of revenge are heroic, they do not seem particularly noble.

The Jewish Encyclopedia concludes its article on Samson with the following:

Ch. xvi. records the disgraceful and disastrous end of Samson... The final and fatal episode, in which Delilah betrays him to his enemies, is similar in its beginnings to the art practiced by the Timnitess. Samson's revenge at the feast of Dagon was the end of a life that was full of tragic events. Despite his heroic deeds he does not seem to have rid his people of the oppression of the Philistines; his single-handed combats were successful, but they did not extricate Israel from Philistine tyranny.[1]

In Rabbinical Literature

The rabbis give varied and sometimes conflicting additional information about Samson. In the Talmudic period, as today, many Jews seem to have been skeptical about whether Samson was an historical figure. He was regarded by some as a purely mythological character. This opinion was considered heretical by some of the rabbis of the Talmud.

One tradition identifies Samson with Bedan, a judge mentioned by Samuel in his farewell address (1 Samuel 12:11). The name "Samson" is based on the word shemesh ("sun"). Thus another rabbinical opinion compares his strength to the power of the sun, which, like Samson's, was derived from God. (Talmud, Tractate Sotah 10a).

One legend records that Samson was lame in both feet (Sotah 10a), but when the spirit of God came upon him he could cover several kilometers with one stride. His hair itself was magical, in that his individual strands clashed so violently against one another that the sound could be heard for miles (Midrash Lev. Rabbah 8:2). Samson was so strong that he could lift two mountains and rub them together like two clods of earth (Sotah 9b). Yet, his superhuman strength, like Goliath's, brought him no happiness (Midrash Eccl. Rabbah 1).

In licentiousness he is compared with King David's son Amnon and the evil Israelite King Zimri, both of whom were punished for their sins (Midrash Lev. Rabbah. 23:9). Samson's eyes were put out because he "followed them" too often (Sotah l.c).

Other cultural references

Literature

• In 1671, John Milton made Samson the hero of his blank verse tragedy Samson Agonistes.

• In 1724, Moshe Chaim Luzzatto used Samson as the subject of the first known Hebrew play.

• In 1926, Vladimir Jabotinsky published the historical novel, Samson, which earned him a credit on the 1949 Hollwood movie Samson and Delilah.

• Recently the novel, Lion's Honey: The Myth of Samson by David Grossman, was published in 2006.

Film

The most detailed film version of the Biblical Samson was the 1949 Cecil B. deMille film Samson and Delilah, starring Victor Mature as Samson.

The Samson character was later featured in a series of 5 sword-and-sandal adventure films made in Italy in the 1960s, as follows:

• Samson (1961)

• Samson vs. Hooley Dooleys (1963)

• Samson Challenges Hercules (1963)

• Samson vs. the Black Pirate (1963)

• Samson and the Mighty Challenge (1965)

Six other Italian movies were originally about a strongman called "Maciste" but were released in the U.S. as Samson films. American distributors believed the name Maciste in the titles would not be marketable to American filmgoers. These films included: Samson Marries Ionko (1962), Son of Samson (1960), Samson and the Slave Queen (1963), Samson and the Seven Miracles of the World (1961), Samson vs. The Giant King (1964), and Samson in King Solomon's Mines (1964)

Music

• Handel wrote his oratorio, Samson, in 1743.

• Camille Saint-Saëns wrote the opera Samson et Dalila between 1868 and 1877.

Samson has also been the subject of numerous popular songs.

• Both the Grateful Dead and Peter, Paul and Mary recorded versions of the song "Samson & Delilah," a traditional spiritual number learned from Reverend Gary Davis

• Regina Spektor wrote and recorded a song entitled "Samson" — included in her 2002 album Songs and n her 2006 album Begin to Hope — which tells Samson's story story from the point of view of Delilah.

• PJ Harvey's song "Hair" is also about Samson and Delilah, similarly told in the voice of Delilah.

• The song "Gouge Away" from the album Doolittle, by the Pixies, also retells the story of Samson.

Art

Samson has been a popular subject for paintings. Many of the following paintings can be viewed by following the link to this website.

• Alexander Anderson, Samson Fighting the Lion, ca. 1800 Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
• Jean Audran, after F. Verdier, The Burial of Samson, ca. 1700 Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
• Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (Guercino), Samson and the Honeycomb, ca. 1657 Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
• Niccolu Boldrini, after Titian, Samson and Delilah, ca. 1540-1545, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
• Boucicaut Master, Samson and the Lion, 1415, Getty Museum
• Hans Burgkmair the Elder, Samson and Delilah, ca. 1500 Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
• Lovis Corinth, Samson Blinded, 1912
• Giuseppe Caletti (Il Cremonese), Samson and Delilah, ca. 1625 Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
• Lucas Cranach the Elder, Samson and Delilah, 1529
  • Samson's Fight with the Lion, 1520-25
• Salomon de Bray, Samson with the Jawbone, 1636 Getty Museum
• Gerard de Jode, Samson Tying the Firebrands to the Foxes' Tails, ca. 1550 Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
• Etienne Delaune, Samson Setting Fire to the Wheat of the Philistines, ca. 1575 Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
• H.B. (John Doyle), Samson and Delilah, ca. 1800 Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

Samson in chains (Artist unknown).

• Gustave Doré, Death of Samson, 1865
  • Samson and Delilah, 1865
  • Samson Carrying Away the Gates of Gaza, 1865
  • Samson Destroying the Philistines, 1865
  • Samson Destroys the Temple, 1866
  • Samson Fighting with the Lion, ca. 1496
  • Samson Slaying a Lion, 1865
• Albrecht Dürer, Delilah Cuts Samson's Hair, 1493
• Josephus Farmer, Samson, 1982, Smithsonian American Art Museum
• Philip Galle, Samson Fighting the Lion, ca. 1600 Lutheran Brotherhood's Collection of Religious Art
• Luca Giordano, Samson and Delilah, ca. 1675 Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
• Guercin, Samson Captured by the Philistines
• Reinhold Hoberg, Samson and Delilah, ca. 1900 Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
• Lord Frederic Leighton, Illustrations for Dalziel's Bible Gallery, 1881, Tate Gallery:
  • Samson and the Lion
  • Samson Carrying the Gates
  • Samson at the Mill
• Andrea Mantegna, Samson and Delilah, ca. 1500
• Jacob Matham after Peter Paul Rubens, Samson and Delilah, 1613
• Matthaeus Merian the Elder, 1625-30, Samson and Delilah
  • Samson and the Gates
  • Samson's Strange Weapon
  • Samson Slays a Lion
• Michelangelo, Samson and Two Philistines, ca. 1530-50
• Aureliano Milani, Samson Slaying the Philistines, 1720 National Gallery, Canada

Samson and Delilah, by Francesco Morone

• Francesco Morone, Samson and Delilah
• Erasmus Quellinus, Samson Killing the Lion, ca. 1650 Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
• Archie Rand, Samson, contemporary Bernice Steinbaum Gallery
• Guido Reni, The Triumph of Samson, 1611-12
• Rembrandt van Rijn, The Blinding of Samson, 1636
  • Delilah Calls the Philistines, ca. 1655
  • The Sacrifice of Menoah, 1641
  • Samson Accusing His Father-In-Law, 1635
  • Samson Betrayed by Delilah, 1629-30
  • Samson Putting Forth His Riddles at the Wedding Feast, 1638
• Kirk Richards, Delilah, 1997
• Paul Roorda, Samson, contemporary
• Peter Paul Rubens, The Death of Samson, ca. 1605 Getty Museum
  • Samson is Seized, 1609-10
• Jacob Savery I, Samson Wrestling with the Lion, (after), ca. 1595 Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
• Hans Leonhard Schaufelein, Samson Destroying the Temple, Fifteenth to Sixteenth centuries Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
• Jan Steen, Samson and Delilah, 1667-70
• Matthias Stom, Samson and Delilah, 1630s
• James Tissot, 1896-1900. Christian Theological Seminary, Indianapolis, Samson Breaks His Cords
  • Samson Kills a Young Lion
  • Samson Puts Down the Pillars
  • Samson Slays a Thousand Men
• Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, 1851-60' World Mission Collection, The Death of Samson
  • Samson Kills the Lion
  • Samson Kills the Philistines
  • Samson is Seized
• Christiaen vanCouwenbergh, The Capture of Samson, 1630

Samson and Delilah, by Anthony van Dyck (1599-1641)

• Sir Anthony Van Dyck, Samson and Delilah, 1620
• Gerrit van Honthorst, Samson and Delilah, ca. 1615
• Israhel van Meckenem the Younger, Samson and the Lion, ca. 1475 National Gallery of Art
• Frans van den Wyngaerde, Samson Killing the Lion, ca. 1650 Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
• Claes Jansz Visscher the Elder, Delilah Cutting Samson's Hair, ca. 1610. Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco
• Les Drysdale, Samson, contemporary

Anonymous:

• Samson Destroys the Temple, Unknown German Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Biblical text of the Samson saga in the Book of Judges (13-16)

• Jewish Encyclopedia article on Samson.

• Grossman, David. Lion's Honey: The Myth of Samson. Canongate U.S., 2006. ISBN 978-1841957425

• Maine, David. The Book of Samson (historical novel). St. Martin's Press, 2006. ISBN 978-0312353391

• Matthews, Victor J. Judges and Ruth. Cambridge University Press, 2004. ISBN 978-0521000666

• Smith, R. Houston. "The Book of Judges," in The Interpreters One-Volume Commentary on the Bible. Abingdon Press, 1984. ISBN 0687192994

See also

• Book of Judges

Preceded by: Abdon

Judge of Israel

Succeeded by: Eli

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