Samson

A well - known character in the Old Testament: in one grand instance, as a Nazarite, a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. (See Judg. 13:&c.) His name is derived from Shemesh, sun. I refer to his life as is recorded in the book of the Judges; and shall only make one observation upon it, namely that the Holy Ghost hath made honourable mention of him by enrolling his name among those worthies, so eminent for their faith, who are said to be such of whom "the world was not worthy." (Heb. xi. 32.) See Nazarene.

son of Manoah, of the tribe of Dan, Jdg 13:2, &c. We are no where acquainted with the name of his mother. He was born A.M. 2849, and was a Nazarite from his infancy, by the divine command. He was brought up in a place called the camp of Dan, between Zorah and Estaol, Jdg 13:25. His extraordinary achievements are particularly recorded in Judges 14-16. “Faith” is attributed to him by St. Paul, though whether he retained it to the end of his life may be doubted. He is not inaptly called by an old writer, “a rough believer.”

Sam´son. This celebrated champion and judge of Israel, was the son of Manoah, of the tribe of Dan, and born A.M. 2848, of a mother whose name is nowhere given in the Scriptures. His birth was announced by a heavenly messenger, who declared to his mother that the child with which she was pregnant was to be a son, who should be a Nazarite from his birth, upon whose head no razor was to come, and who was to prove a signal deliverer to his people. She was directed, accordingly, to conform her own regimen to the tenor of the Nazarite law, and strictly abstain from wine and all intoxicating liquor, and from every species of impure food [NAZARITE]. According to the ’prophecy going before upon him,’ Samson was born in the following year, and his destination to great achievements began to evince itself at a very early age by the illapses of superhuman strength which came from time to time upon him. Those specimens of extraordinary prowess, of which the slaying of the lion at Timnath without weapons was one, were doubtless the result of that special influence of the Most High which is referred to in Jdg 13:25.

As the position of the tribe of Dan, bordering upon the territory of the Philistines, exposed them especially to the predatory incursions of this people, it was plainly the design of heaven to raise up a deliverer in that region where he was most needed. The Philistines, therefore, became very naturally the objects of that retributive course of proceedings in which Samson was to be the principal actor, and upon which he could only enter by seeking some occasion of exciting hostilities that would bring the two peoples into direct collision. Such an occasion was afforded by his meeting with one of the daughters of the Philistines at Timnath, whom he besought his parents to procure for him in marriage.

At his wedding-feast, the attendance of a large company of friends of the bridegroom, convened ostensibly for the purpose of honoring his nuptials, but in reality to keep an insidious watch upon his movements, furnished the occasion of a common Oriental device for enlivening entertainments of this nature. He propounded a riddle, the solution of which referred to his obtaining a quantity of honey from the carcass of a slain lion, and the clandestine manner in which his guests got possession of the clue to the enigma cost thirty Philistines their lives. The next instance of his vindictive policy was prompted by the ill-treatment which he had received at the hands of his father-in-law, who, upon a frivolous pretext, had given away his daughter in marriage to another man, and was executed by securing a multitude of foxes, or rather jackals, and, by tying firebrands to their tails, setting fire to the cornfields of his enemies. The indignation of the Philistines, on discovering the author of the outrage, vented itself upon the family of his father-in-law, who had been the remote occasion of it, in the burning of their house, in which both father and daughter perished. This was a fresh provocation, for which Samson threatened to be revenged; and thereupon falling upon them without ceremony he smote them, as it is said, ’hip and thigh with a great slaughter.’

Having subsequently taken up his residence in the rock Etam, he was thence dislodged by consenting to a pusillanimous arrangement on the part of his own countrymen, by which he agreed to surrender himself in bonds provided they would not themselves fall upon him and kill him. Being brought in this apparently helpless condition to a place called from the event Lehi, a jaw, his preternatural potency suddenly put itself forth, and snapping the cords asunder, and snatching up the jaw-bone of an ass, he dealt so effectually about him, that a thousand men were slain on the spot. That this was altogether the work, not of man, but of God, was soon demonstrated. Wearied with his exertions, the illustrious Danite became faint from thirst, and as there was no water in the place, he prayed that a fountain might be opened. His prayer was heard; God caused a stream to gush from a hollow rock hard by, and Samson in gratitude gave it the name of Enhakkore, a word that signifies ’the well of him that prayed,’ and which continued to be the designation of the fountain ever after.

The Philistines were from this time held in such contempt by their victor, that he went openly into the city of Gaza, where he seems to have suffered himself weakly to be drawn into the company of a woman of loose character, the yielding to whose enticements exposed him to the most imminent peril. His presence being soon noised abroad, an attempt was made during the night forcibly to detain him, by closing the gates of the city and making them fast; but Samson, apprised of it, rose at midnight, and breaking away bolts, bars, and hinges, departed, carrying the gates upon his shoulders, to the top of a neighboring hill that looks towards Hebron (not ’before Hebron,’ as the words are rendered in the Authorized Version). After this his enemies strove to entrap him by guile rather than by violence; and they were too successful in the end. Falling in love with a woman of Sorek, named Delilah, he became so infatuated by his passion, that nothing but his bodily strength could equal his mental weakness. The princes of the Philistines, aware of Samson’s infirmity, determined by means of it to get possession, if possible, of his person. For this purpose they propose a tempting bribe to Delilah, and she enters at once into the treacherous compact. She employs all her art and blandishments to worm from him the secret of his prodigious strength. Having for some time amused her with fictions, he at last, in moment of weakness, disclosed to her the fact that it lay in his hair, which if it were shaved would leave him a mere common man. Not that his strength really lay in his hair, for this in fact had no natural influence upon it one way or the other. His strength arose from his relation to God as a Nazarite and the preservation of his hair unshorn was the mark or sign of his Nazariteship, and a pledge on the part of God of the continuance of his miraculous physical powers. If he lost this sign, the badge of his consecration, he broke his vow, and consequently forfeited the thing signified. God abandoned him, and he was thenceforward no more, in this respect, than an ordinary man. His treacherous paramour seized the first opportunity of putting his declaration to the test. She shaved his head while he lay sleeping in her lap, and at a concerted signal he was instantly arrested by his enemies lying in wait. Having so long presumptuously played with his ruin, Heaven leaves him to himself, as a punishment for his former guilty indulgence. He is made to reap as he had sown, and is consigned to the hands of his relentless foes. His punishment was indeed severe, though he amply revenged it, as well as redeemed in a measure his own honor, by the manner in which he met his death. The Philistines having deprived him of sight, at first immured him in a prison, and made him grind at the mill like a slave, thus reducing him to the lowest state of degradation and shame.

In process of time, while remaining in this confinement, his hair recovered its growth, and with it such a profound repentance seems to have wrought in his heart as virtually reinvested him with the character and the powers he had so culpably lost. Of this fact his enemies were not aware. Still exulting in their possession of the great scourge of their nation, they kept him, like a wild beast, for mockery and insult. On one of these occasions, when an immense multitude, including the princes and nobles of the Philistines, were convened in a large amphitheater, to celebrate a feast in honor of their god Dagon, who had delivered their adversary into their hands, Samson was ordered to be brought out to be made a laughing-stock to his enemies, a butt for their scoffs, insults, mockeries, and merriment. Secretly determined to use his recovered strength to tremendous effect, he persuaded the boy who guided his steps to conduct him to a spot where he could reach the two pillars upon which the roof of the building chiefly rested. Here, after pausing for a short time, while he prefers a brief prayer to Heaven, he grasps the massy pillars, and bowing with resistless force, the whole building rocks and totters, and the roof, encumbered with the weight of the spectators, rushes down, and the whole assembly, including Samson himself, are crushed to pieces in the ruin.

Thus terminated the career of one of the most remarkable personages of all history, whether sacred or profane. The enrolment of his name by an apostolic pen (Heb 11:32) in the list of the ancient worthies, ’who had by faith obtained an excellent repute,’ warrants us undoubtedly to entertain a favorable estimate of his character on the whole,’ while at the same time the fidelity of the inspired narrative has perpetuated the record of infirmities which must for ever mar the luster of his noble deeds.

The son of Manoah, of the tribe of Dan, a deliverer and judge of the southern tribes of the Hebrews for twenty years, Jdg 13:1 ; 16:31. His birth was miraculously foretold; he was a Nazarite from infancy and the strongest of men; and was equally celebrated for his fearless and wonderful exploits, for his moral infirmities, and for his tragical end. His exploits were not wrought without special divine aid; "the Spirit of God came mightily upon him," Jdg 13:25 14:6,19 15:14 16:20,28. The providence of God was signally displayed in overruling for good the hasty passions of Samson, the cowardice of his friends, and the malice of his enemies. The sins of Samson brought him in great disgrace and misery; but grace and faith triumphed in the end, Heb 11:32 . His story forcibly illustrates how treacherous and merciless are sin and sinners, and the watchful care of Christ over his people in every age. Compare Jdg 13:22 Mat 23:37 .\par

Sam’son. (like the sun). Son of Manoah, a man of the town of Zorah in the tribe of Dan, on the border of Judah. Jos 15:33; Jos 19:41. (B.C. 1161). The miraculous circumstances of his birth are recorded in Judges 13; and the three following chapters are devoted to the history of his life and exploits. Samson takes his place in Scripture,

(1) as a judge -- an office which he filled for twenty years, Jdg 15:20; Jdg 16:31,

(2) as a Nazarite, Jdg 13:5; Jdg 16:17, and

(3) as one endowed with supernatural power by the Spirit of the Lord. Jdg 13:25; Jdg 14:6; Jdg 14:19; Jdg 15:14.

As a judge, his authority seems to have been limited to the district, bordering upon the country of the Philistines. The divine inspiration which Samson shared with Othniel, Gideon and Jephthah assumed in him, the unique form of vast personal strength, inseparably connected with the observance of his vow as a Nazarite: "his strength was in his hair." He married a Philistine woman whom he had seen at Timnath.

One day, on his way to that city, he was attacked by a lion, which he killed; and again passing that way, he saw a swarm of bees in the carcass of the lion, and he ate of the honey, but still he told no one. He availed himself of this circumstance, and of the custom of proposing riddles at marriage feasts, to lay a snare for the Philistines. But Samson told the riddle to his wife, and she told it to the men of the city, whereupon Samson slew thirty men of the city. Returning to his own house, he found his wife married to another, and was refused permission to see her.

Samson revenged himself by taking 300 foxes, (or rather, jackals), and tying them together two by two by the tails, with a firebrand between every pair of tails, and so he let them loose into the standing corn of the Philistines, which was ready for harvest. The Philistines took vengeance by burning Samson’s wife and her father; but he fell upon them in return, and "he smote them hip and thigh with a great slaughter," Jdg 15:6-8, after which he took refuge on the top of the rock of Etam, in the territory of Judah.

The Philistines gathered an army to revenge themselves, when the men of Judah hastened to make peace by giving up Samson, who was bound with cords, these, however, he broke like burnt flax, and finding a jawbone of an ass at hand, he slew with it, a thousand of the Philistines. The supernatural character of this exploit was confirmed by the miraculous bursting out of a spring of water to revive the champion as he was ready to die of thirst. This achievement raised Samson to the position of a judge, which he held for twenty years.

After a time, he began to fall into the temptations, which addressed themselves to his strong animal nature; but he broke through every snare in which he was caught, so long as he kept his Nazarite vow. While he was visiting a harlot in Gaza, the Philistines shut the gates of the city, intending to kill him in the morning; but, at midnight, he went out and tore away the gates, with the posts and bar and carried them to the top of a hill looking toward Hebron.

Next, he formed his fatal connection with Delilah, a woman who lived in the valley of Sorek. Thrice, he suffered himself to be bound with green withes, with new ropes, but released himself until finally, wearied out with her importunity, he "told her all his heart," and, while he was asleep, she had him shaven of his seven locks of hair. His enemies put out his eyes, and led him down to Gaza, bound in brazen fetters, and made him grind in the prison. Then, they held a great festival in the temple of Dagon, to celebrate their victory over Samson.

They brought forth the blind champion to make sport for them, and placed him between the two chief pillars, which supported the roof that surrounded the court. Samson asked the lad who guided him to let him feel the pillars, to lean upon them. Then, with a fervent prayer that God would strengthen him only this once, to be avenged on the Philistines, he bore with all his might upon the two pillars; they yielded, and the house fell upon the lords and all the people. "So the dead, which he slew at his death, were more than they, which he slew in his life." (Jdg 16:30. In Heb 11:32, his name is enrolled among the worthies of the Jewish Church.

(See MANOAH.) ("awe inspiring".) (Jdg 13:6; Jdg 13:18-20) or else "sunlike" (Gesenius): compare Jdg 5:31, "strong" (Josephus Ant. 5:8, section 4). Judge of Israel for 20 years (Jdg 15:20; Jdg 16:31), namely, in the Danite region near Philistia. Judah and Dan, and perhaps all Israel, were subject then to the Philistines (Jdg 13:1; Jdg 13:5; Jdg 15:9-11, "knowest thou not the Philistines are rulers over us?" Jdg 15:20). His 20 years’ office was probably included in the "40 years" of Philistine rule. At the time of the angel’s announcement to his mother (Jdg 13:5) they ruled, and as his judgeship did not begin before he was 20 it must have nearly coincided with the last 20 years of their dominion. However their rule ceased not until the judgeship of Samuel, which retrieved their capture of the ark (1Sa 7:1-14). So the close of Samson’s judgeship must have coincided with the beginning of Samuel’s, and the capture of the ark in Eli’s time must have been during Samson’s lifetime. Correspondences between their times appear.

(1) The Philistines are prominent under both.

(2) Both are Nazarites (1Sa 1:11), Samson’s exploits probably moving Hannah to her vow. Amos (Amo 2:11-12) alludes to them, the only allusion elsewhere to Nazarites in the Old Testament being Lam 4:7.

(3) Dagon’s temple is alluded to under both (1Sa 5:2; Jdg 16:23).

(4) The Philistine lords (1Sa 7:7; Jdg 16:8; Jdg 16:18; Jdg 16:27).

Samson roused the people from their servile submission, and by his desultory blows on the foe prepared Israel for the final victory under Samuel. "He shall begin to deliver Israel" (Jdg 13:5) implies the consummation of the deliverance was to be under his successor (1Sa 7:1-13). "The Lord blessed him" from childhood (Jdg 13:24); type of Jesus (Luk 2:52, compare Luk 1:80, John the Baptist the New Testament Nazarite). "The Spirit of the Lord" is stated to be the Giver of his strength (Jdg 13:25; Jdg 14:6; Jdg 14:19; Jdg 15:14). Samson was not of giant size as were some of the Philistines (1 Samuel 17); his strength was not brute natural strength, but spiritual, bound up with fidelity to his Nazarite vow. An embodied lesson to Israel that her power lay in separation from idol lusts and entire consecration to God; no foe could withstand them while true to Him, but once that they forsook Him for the fascinations of the world their power is gone and every enemy should triumph over them (1Sa 2:9).

Still even Samson’s falls, as Israel’s, are in God’s wonderful providence overruled to Satan’s and his agents’ confusion and the good of God’s elect. Samson slays the lion at Timnath, and through his Philistine wife’s enticement they told the riddle; then to procure 30 tunics he slew 30 Philistines, the forfeit. His riddle "out of the eater came forth meat (carcasses in the East often dry up without decomposition), and out of the strong (Mat 12:29) came forth sweetness," is the key of Samson’s history and of our present dispensation. Satan’s lion-like violence and harlot-like subtlety are made to recoil on himself and to work out God’s sweet and gracious purposes toward His elect. Deprived of his wife, Samson by the firebrands attached to 300 "jackals" (shual), avenged himself on them. The Philistines burnt her and her father with fire; then he smote them with great slaughter at Etam. Then under the Spirit’s power with an donkey bone (for the Philistines let Israel have no iron weapons: 1Sa 13:19) he slew a thousand Philistines.

This established his title as judge during the Philistine oppression ("in the days of the Philistines": Jdg 15:20). (See DELILAH for his fall.) By lust Samson lost at once his godliness and his manliness; it severed him from God the strength of his manhood. Samson set at nought the legal prohibition against affinity with idolatrous women (Exo 34:15-16; Deu 7:3). Parting with the Nazarite locks of his consecration was virtual renunciation of his union with God, so his strength departed. Prayer restored it. The foes’ attribution of their victory over "Samson the destroyer of their country" to their god Dagon provoked God’s jealousy for His honour. A Philistine multitude, including all their lords, congregated in the house, which was a vast hall, the roof resting on four columns, two at the ends and two close together at the center; 3,000 men and women on the roof beheld while Samson made sport. Samson by pulling down the house slew at his death more than in his life. Type of Christ (Col 2:15; Mat 27:50-54).

Fulfilling Jacob’s prophecy of Dan, his tribe (Gen 49:16-17). A token that Israel’s temporary backslidings, when repented of, shall issue in ultimate victory. Samson, the physically strong Nazarite, prepared the way for Samuel, the spiritual hero Nazarite, who consummated the deliverance that Samson began. Samson wrought what he did by faith, the true secret of might (Heb 11:32; Mat 21:21). The Phoenicians carried to Greece the story of Samson, which the Greeks transferred to their idol Hercules. The Scholion on Lycophron (Bochart Hieroz. 2:5, section 12) blends the stories of Samson and Jonah, and makes Hercules come out of the belly of the sea monster with the loss of his hair. Hercules was "son of the sun" in Egypt (shemesh) related to Sam-son). Ovid (Fasti 54) describes the custom of tying a torch between two foxes in the circus, in memory of damage once done to a harvest by a fox with burning straw. Hercules dies by the hand of his wife; but every fault is atoned by suffering, and at last he ascends to heaven. His joviality and buffoonery answer to the last scene in the life of Samson. The history is taken probably from the tribe of Daniel. (See TIMNATH.)

Samson (săm’son), sunlike. The son of Manoah, and noted as the strongest man. He was judge of a portion of Israel for 20 years, during the latter part of "the 40 years" period, and partly contemporary with Ell and Samuel. Judg. chaps. 13-16. His birth was miraculously foretold; he was a Nazirite from infancy; celebrated for his fearless and wonderful exploits, for his moral infirmities, and for his tragical end. He was not a giant in size; his exploits were wrought by special divine aid; "the Spirit of God came mightily upon him." Jdg 13:25; Jdg 14:6; Jdg 14:19; Jdg 15:14; Jdg 16:20; Jdg 16:28. The providence of God was signally displayed in overruling for good the hasty passions of Samson, the cowardice of his mends, and the malice of his enemies. Samson is ranked with the heroes of the faithful. Heb 11:32-33. But we must, of course, not judge him from the standpoint of the New Testament. He lived in the wild anarchial period of the judges, when might was right, and he was just the man for that time.

[Sam’son]

Son of Manoah, of the tribe of Dan. His birth had been pre-announced by an angel to his mother, who had long been childless. The angel told his parents that he was to be a Nazarite (that is, a separated one) from his birth. When Israel was in bondage to the Philistines, the internal enemies of God’s people, a Nazarite had to be raised up by God to work out their deliverance. The statement that "he judged Israel twenty years," doubtless signifies the south-west parts of the land near the country of the Philistines. It was said of Samson before his birth: "He shall begin to deliver Israel out of the hand of the Philistines."

His marriage with a woman of Timnath was so far "of the Lord" that it became in the ways of God an occasion against the Philistines to whom he had allied himself. His going down to her was the occasion of his killing a lion; this led to Samson’s riddle, and the riddle to his slaying thirty of the Philistines. Then, his wife being given to another man, Samson burned up their corn, their vineyards, and their olives, and smote the Philistines with ’a great slaughter.’

When the Philistines gathered themselves together to arrest Samson, the men of Judah would not defend him, but, owning their bondage, said, "Knowest thou not that the Philistines are rulers over us?" and three thousand of Judah bound Samson and delivered him to the Philistines. Thus Samson, through God’s inscrutable ways, was separated from his own people: they delivered him up, as afterwards the people of Judah delivered up the Lord Jesus, the true Nazarite, who came to save them.

When in the hands of his enemies, he was mightily moved by the Spirit, and with the jaw-bone of an ass slew a thousand of the Philistines. After this great victory he fainted for water, and cried unto the Lord, who clave a hollow place in the rock [also called lehi, ’a jaw-bone’] and gave him drink.

His humiliating end was brought about through his lust after strange women. It was extreme folly to make known the secret of his strength to Delilah when he knew she would betray him. It is a striking instance of the foolish things a Nazarite (and all Christians are morally Nazarites) may do if he gets out of communion with the Lord. The strong man was blinded and made to grind in a dungeon for his enemies.

But God had not forsaken him, and his hair began to grow again. The Philistines offered a great sacrifice to their god Dagon, and they praised their god, and said it was he that had delivered Samson into their hands. Then they sent for him to make sport before them; but he cried unto the Lord, and asked Him to strengthen him this once, that he might be avenged on the Philistines for the loss of his two eyes. God strengthened him, and he pulled down the house, on the roof of which there were about three thousand souls, and thus he slew at his death more than he had slain in his life.

Notwithstanding the failures of Samson, God accomplished the purpose for which He had raised him up in subduing the Philistines; but it was only accomplished in his own death. Among the cloud of witnesses who ’obtained a good report through faith,’ Samson is named, but his acts are not there recorded. Heb 11:32. His history is given in Judges 13 - Judges 16.

By: Joseph Jacobs, Ira Maurice Price, Wilhelm Bacher, Jacob Zallel Lauterbach

—Biblical Data:

One of the judges of Israel, whose life and acts are recorded in Judges xiii.-xvi. At a period when Israel was under the oppression of the Philistines the angel of the Lord appeared to Manoah, a man of Dan, of the city of Zorah, and to his wife, who was barren, and predicted that they should have a son. In accordance with Nazaritic requirements, she was to abstain from wine and other strong drink, and her promised child was not to have a razor used upon his head. In due time the son was born; he was reared according to the strict provisions of the Nazariteship, and in the camp of Dan the spirit of the Lord began to move him.

The Philistines about and among the Israelites naturally became very familiar with them. So infatuated was Samson with a Philistine woman of Timnah that, overcoming the objections of his parents, he married her. The wedding-feast, like that celebrated in certain parts of the East to-day, was a seven-day banquet, at which various kinds of entertainment were in vogue. Samson, equal to the demands of the occasion, proposes a riddle for his thirty companions. Upon the urgent and tearful implorings of his bride he tells her the solution, and she betrays it to the thirty young men. To meet their demands he slays thirty Ashkelonites, and in anger leaves the house of his bride and returns home. The father of the young woman gives her to Samson's companion, probably his right-hand man; so that when, after some time, Samson returns to Timnah, her father refuses to allow him to see her, and wishes to give him her sister. Samson again displays his wrath, and through the strange plan of turning loose pairs of foxes with firebrands between their tails, he burns the grain of the Philistines. Inquiry as to the cause of this destruction leads the Philistines to burn the house of the Timnite and his daughter, who had stirred up Samson's anger.

Samson then smote the Philistines "hip and thigh," and took refuge in the rock of Etam. An army of them went up and demanded from 3,000 men of Judah the deliverance to them of Samson. With Samson's consent they tied him with two new ropes and were about to hand him over to the Philistines when he snapped the ropes asunder. Picking up the jawbone of an ass, he dashed at the Philistines and slew a full thousand. At the conclusion of Judges xv. it is said that "he judged Israel in the days of the Philistines ['sway] twenty years."

Ch. xvi. records the disgraceful and disastrous end of Samson. His actions at Gaza display his strength and also his fascination for Philistine women. The final and fatal episode, in which Delilah betrays him to his enemies, is similar in its beginnings to the art practised 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. His death was the severest revenge for the Philistines' cruelty in putting out his eyes.

J. I. M. P.—In Rabbinical Literature:

Samson is identified with Bedan (I Sam. xii. 11); he was called "Bedan" because he was descended from the tribe of Dan, "Bedan" being explained as "Ben Dan" (R. H. 25a). On the maternal side, however, he was a descendant of the tribe of Judah; for his mother, whose name was Zelelponit (B. B. 91a) or Hazelelponit (Num. R. x. 13), was a member of that clan (comp. I Chron. iv. 3). The name "Samson" is derived from "shemesh" (= "sun"), so that Samson bore the name of God, who is also "a sun and shield" (Ps. lxxxiv. 12 [A. V. 11]); and as God protected Israel, so did Samson watch over it in his generation, judging the people even as did God. Samson's strength was divinely derived (Soṭah 10a); and he further resembled God in requiring neither aid nor help (Gen. R. xcviii. 18). In the blessings which Jacob pronounced on the tribe of Dan (Gen. xlix. 16-17) he had in mind Samson (Soṭah 9b), whom he regarded even as the Messiah (Gen. R. l.c. § 19). Jacob compared him to a serpent (Gen. ib.) because, like the serpent, Samson's power lay entirely in his head—that is, in his hair—while he was also revengeful like the serpent; and as the latter kills by its venom even after it is dead, so Samson, in the hour of his death, slew more men than during all his life; and he also lived solitarily like the serpent (Gen. R. l.c. §§ 18-19).

His Strength.

Samson's shoulders were sixty ells broad. He was lame in both feet (Soṭah 10a), but when the spirit of God came upon him he could step with one stride from Zoreah to Eshtaol, while the hairs of his headarose and clashed against one another so that they could be heard for a like distance (Lev. R. viii. 2). He was so strong that he could uplift two mountains and rub them together like two clods of earth (ib.; Soṭah 9b), yet his superhuman strength, like Goliath's, brought wo upon its possessor (Eccl. R. i., end). In licentiousness he is compared with Amnon and Zimri, both of whom were punished for their sins (Lev. R. xxiii. 9). Samson's eyes were put out because he had "followed them" too often (Soṭah l.c.). When Samson was thirsty (comp. Judges xv. 18-19) God caused a well of water to spring from his teeth (Gen. R. l.c. § 18).

In the twenty years during which Samson judged Israel (comp. Judges xv. 20, xvi. 31) he never required the least service from an Israelite (Num. R. ix. 25), and he piously refrained from taking the name of God in vain. As soon, therefore, as he told Delilah that he was a Nazarite of God (comp. Judges xvi. 17) she immediately knew that he had spoken the truth (Soṭah l.c.). When he pulled down the temple of Dagon and killed himself and the Philistines (comp. Judges l.c. verse 30) 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 (Gen. R. l.c. § 19).

Even in the Talmudic period many seem to have denied that Samson was a historic figure; he was apparently regarded as a purely mythological personage. A refutation of this heresy is attempted by the Talmud (B. B. l.c.), which gives the name of his mother, and states that he had a sister also, named "Nishyan" or "Nashyan" (variant reading, ; this apparently is the meaning of the passage in question, despite the somewhat unsatisfactory explanation of Rashi).

SAMSON (LXX [Note: Septuagint.] and Vulg. [Note: Vulgate.] ; Heb. Shimshôn; probably derived from shemesh, ‘sun,’ either as a diminutive, or better ‘sun-man’).—Mentioned in OT in Jdg 13:1-25; Jdg 14:1-20; Jdg 15:1-20; Jdg 16:1-31, and in NT in Heb 11:32.

1. The story need not be recapitulated, but certain details require explanation. Jdg 13:25 seems to be the prelude to a first exploit, now lost. Jdg 13:14 is not clear as it stands; probably ‘his father and his mother’ in Jdg 13:5-6 b, Jdg 13:10 a are glosses introduced to avoid the appearance of disobedience. He goes down alone, meets the lion alone, returns to his home after his visit to his bride (Jdg 13:8 ‘to take her’ being another gloss); then after an interval he goes back to celebrate the marriage he has arranged; Jdg 13:10 a is particularly absurd as it stands. The ‘thirty companions’ of Jdg 13:11 are the ‘friends of the bridegroom,’ chosen on this occasion from the bride’s people (see below, § 4); the companion of Jdg 13:20 is their leader, ‘the best man.’ The ‘linen garments’ of Jdg 13:12 are pieces of fine linen, costly and luxurious (Pro 31:24, Isa 3:23); ‘the changes’ are gala dresses. The Philistines give up the riddle ‘after three days’ (Jdg 13:14), and appeal to the woman on the seventh (Jdg 13:15; LXX [Note: Septuagint.] Syr. ‘fourth’); yet she weeps for the whole week, imploring Samson to tell her (Jdg 13:17). Perhaps the figures of Jdg 13:14-15 are interpolations, the Philistines giving up at once. ‘Before the sun went down’ (Jdg 13:18) is ungrammatical in Heb., with a rare word for ‘sun‘; with best modern edd., read by a slight alteration ‘before he went into the bridal-chamber’ (cf. Jdg 15:1). In ch. 16, words, variously represented by LXX [Note: Septuagint.] , have fallen out between Jdg 15:13 and Jdg 15:14; the sense is ‘… and beat them up with the pin, I shall become weak, So while he was asleep she took the seven locks and wove them into the web, and beat them tight with the pin,’ etc. We are to imagine an upright loom with a piece of unfinished stuff; Delilah weaves the hair into this, and heats it tight with the ‘pin.’ Samson pulls up the posts of the loom by his hair which is fastened to the web. For Jdg 13:21, cf. the blinding of captives as shown on Assyr. [Note: Assyrian.] monuments; to be put to the mill was a frequent punishment of slaves. Nothing is known of the worship of Dagon (cf. 1Sa 5:1-12); the etymology ‘fish-god’ and the connexion with the Assyr. [Note: Assyrian.] god ‘Dagan’ are uncertain.

2. Origin and nature of the story.—(a) The narrative seems to belong entirely to J″ [Note: Jahweh.] , the Judæan source of the early history of Israel; there are no traces of a double source, as in other parts of Judges. It has been but slightly revised by the Deuteronomic editor. Ch. 16, though an integral part of the original cycle of stories, was apparently at one time omitted by the compiler; see the repeated note in Jdg 15:20; Jdg 16:31. Perhaps it gave too unfavourable a picture of the hero’s love-affairs. (b) Though it is said that Samson ‘judged Israel twenty years’ (Jdg 15:20), and that he should ‘begin to deliver’ his nation from the Philistines (Jdg 13:5), there is no hint of his ever having held any official position, nor does he appear as a leader of his people; on the contrary, he is disowned by his neighbours of Judah (Jdg 15:11). His exploits have only a local significance, and are performed single-handed in revenge for his private quarrels. The story evidently belongs to the class of popular tales, common to every country-side. Every people has its hero of prodigious strength, to whom marvellous feats are ascribed, and it becomes a hopeless task to discover the precise historical basis of the legends, which in this case are undoubtedly of great antiquity. (c) It is not necessary to look for a further explanation in the theory of a ‘solar myth.’ The name ‘Samson,’ and the existence of a ‘Beth-shemesh’ (‘house of the sun’) near his home, offer an obvious temptation to such a theory, but it is entirely unnecessary and is now generally abandoned. (d) It is more probable that in ch. 15 we find the workings of folk-etymology (‘ætiological myth’), i.e. stories suggested by the fancied meaning of names. Ramath-Lehi (‘the height of Lehi’) is taken to mean ‘the casting away of the jawbone’; En-hakkore (‘Partridge spring’), ‘the spring of him who called’; and incidents are suggested to explain the supposed meanings. (e) The parallels with other popular stories, especially the exploits of Hercules, are obvious, e.g. the killing of the lion, the miraculous satisfying of the hero’s thirst, and his ruin at the hand of a woman. For the lion episode, cf., further, the stories of Polydamas, David (1Sa 17:34), Benaiah (2Sa 23:20); for the sacred hair or lock, cf. the story of Nisus. Ovid (Fasti, lv. 681–712) has a remarkable parallel to the burning of the corn by the foxes (or jackals?); at the Cereaila, foxes with lighted torches tied to their tails were let loose in the Circus; he explains the custom as originally due to the act of a mischievous boy, who burned his father’s corn in the same way. The conclusion to be drawn from such parallels is not necessarily identity of origin, but the similar working of the mind and imagination under similar conditions.

3. Historical value.—Regarded as a picture of early conditions and customs, the narrative is of the greatest significance. Politically it takes us to the time when Dan, perhaps weakened by the departure of its 600 men of war (Jdg 1:34; Jdg 1:18) acquiesces in the rule of the Philistines; Timnah is in their hands. There is no state of war between the two peoples, but free intercourse and even intermarriage. As already pointed out, Samson is in no sense the leader of a revolt against the foreign dominion, and his neighbours of Judah show no desire to make his private quarrels an excuse for a rising (Jdg 15:11); there is no union even between the tribes of the south. None the less, his exploits would be secretly welcomed as directed against the common foe, and remembering that Jdg 17:1-13; Jdg 18:1-31; Jdg 19:1-30; Jdg 20:1-48; Jdg 21:1-25 is an appendix, we see how the narrative paves the way for the more defined efforts of Saul and David in 1Samuel to shake off the foreign yoke. Sociatly the story gives us a picture of primitive marriage customs. Ch. 14 is the clearest OT example of a sadika marriage (see Marriage, § 1). We get a good idea of the proceedings, essentially the same as in the East to-day. The feast lasts for a week, and is marked by lavish eating and drinking, songs, riddles, and not very refined merriment. The whole story gives us a valuable insight into the life of the people; we note the grim rough humour of its hero, so entirely natural (ch. 14, the three deceptions of ch. Judges 16; 16:28 RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] ).

4. Religious significance.—Samson is a popular hero, and we shall expect the directly religious interest of the story to be subordinate. It appears in the account of his birth, perhaps hardly a part of the original cycle, but added later to justify his inclusion among the Judges. As a child of promise, he is in a peculiar sense a gift of God, born to do a special work; an overruling providence governs his acts (Jdg 14:4; Jdg 16:30). The source of his strength is supernatural; at times it is represented as due to a demonic frenzy, an invasion of the spirit of J″ [Note: Jahweh.] (Jdg 13:25, Jdg 14:6; Jdg 14:19, Jdg 15:14), but in 13, 16 it lies in his hair; he is a Nazirite of God. The rules for the Nazirite are given in Num 6:1; those in Jdg 13:1-25 are the same, with the general prohibition of ‘unclean’ food. The essence of the conception lay in a vow to sacrifice the hair at a sacred shrine, the life-long vow being probably a vow to do so at stated periods. The hair, like the blood, was regarded as a seat of life, and was a common offering not only among the Semites, but in all parts of the world. In Arabia the vow to leave the locks unshorn was particularly connected with wars of revenge (Deu 32:42 RVm [Note: Revised Version margin.] , Psa 68:21). As soon as a vow was taken, the life of the votary became a continuous act of religion; particularly must the body, which nourishes the hair (now the property of the deity), be kept clean from all defilement; the taboo of the vine and its products is esp. common (cf. Amo 2:11-12). In the story itself no stress is laid on any such precautions on the part of Samson (e.g. in Jdg 14:8 he eats from a carcase), and hence no doubt the taboos were transferred to his mother (Jdg 13:4). There is unfortunately little basis for the religious feeling with which Milton has invested the character of Samson. He is a popular hero, and the permanent value of the story is to be sought in its ethical lessons. It is true, its morality is on a low level; revenge is Samson’s ruling idea, and his relations with women have been a stumbling-block to apologists. But once we recognize the origin of the story, we shall not feel bound to justify or explain away these traits, and the lessons stand out clearly. The story emphasizes the evils of foreign marriages (Jdg 14:3), of laxity in sexual relations, and of toying with temptation. It teaches that bodily endowments, no less than spiritual, are a gift from God, however different may be our modern conception of the way in which they are bestowed, and that their retention depends on obedience to His laws. But if Samson stands as an example ‘of impotence of mind in body strong,’ he also stands, in Milton’s magnificent conception, as an example of patriotism and heroism in death, to all who ‘from his memory inflame their breast to matchless valour and adventures high.’

C. W. Emmet.

Judge of Israel (Judges 13-16). Before his birth an angel predicted that he should be the deliverer of Israel and commanded that his hair should not be cut. He showed his superhuman strength by slaying a lion with his bare hands, by killing a thousand Philistines with the jawbone of an ass, and by carrying off the gates of Gaza. His hair was cut off by Dalila, his paramour, and he fell into the hands of the Philistines, who blinded him. On the feast of the god Dagon he pulled down the pillars of a great edifice and perished in the ruins with the Philistines.

Abbot of St. Edmunds, b. at Tottington, near Thetford, in 1135; d. 1211. After taking his M.A. in Paris, Samson returned to Norfolk and taught in the school at Bury. In 1160 the monks of St. Edmunds sent him to Rome on their behalf to appeal against an agreement of the abbot and King Henry II, and for this on his return Abbot Hugh promptly clapped him into gaol. In 1166 Samson was a fully-professed monk, and on his election as abbot on Hugh’s death in 1182 he had filled a number of offices — those of sub-sacrist, guestmaster, pittancer, third prior, master of novices, and master of the workmen. For the rest of his life, as Abbot of St. Edmunds, Samson worked with prodigious activity for the abbey, for the town, and for the State. He regained the right of joint election of two bailiffs for the abbey and town, made a thorough investigation of the properties of the abbey, looked into the finances, cleared off arrears of debt, rebuilt the choir, constructed an aqueduct, and added the great bell tower at the west end of the abbey, and two flanking towers. He did his best for the liberties of the town; helped the townsfolk to obtain a charter and gave every encouragement to new settlers. The monks resisted Samson’s concessions of market rights to the townsmen, but were no match for their abbot. A hospital at Babwell, and a free school for poor scholars, were also the gifts of Abbot Samson to the townspeople. Pope Lucius III made Samson a judge delegate in ecclesiastical causes; he served on the commission for settling the quarrel between Archbishop Hubert and the monks of Canterbury; and on the Royal Council in London, where he sat as a baron, frustrated the efforts of William of Longchamp to curtail the rights of the Benedictine Order. Samson died in 1211, having ruled his abbey successfully for thirty years. Carlyle in "Past and Present" has made Abbot Samson familiar to all the world; but Carlyle’s fascinating picture must not be mistaken for history.-----------------------------------Memorials of St. Edmunds Abbey, ed. ARNOLD, in Rolls Series; NORGATE in Dict. Nat. Biog., s. v.; there are many editions and translations of JOCELIN DE BRAKELOND’S De rebus gestis Samsonis Abbatis.JOSEPH CLAYTON Transcribed by Vivek Gilbert John Fernandez Dedicated to Abbot Samson, the late Fr. John Roche O.A.M. (Homebush, Sydney Australia) and all other warriors of the Catholic Faith. The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume XIIICopyright © 1912 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, February 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, D.D., CensorImprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York

sam´sun (שׁמשׁון, shimshōn).

1. Name:

Derived probably from שׁמשׁ, shemesh, “sun” with the diminutive ending ון-, -on, meaning “little sun” or “sunny,” or perhaps “sun-man”; Σαμψών, Sampsṓn; Latin and English, Samson: His home was near Bethshemesh, which means “house of the sun.” Compare the similar formation שׁמשׁי, shimshay (Ezr 4:8, Ezr 4:9, Ezr 4:17, Ezr 4:23).

2. Character:

Samson was a judge, perhaps the last before Samuel. He was a Nazirite of the tribe of Dan (Jdg 13:5); a man of prodigious strength, a giant and a gymnast - the Hebrew Hercules, a strange champion for Yahweh! He intensely hated the Philistines who had oppressed Israel some 40 years (Jdg 13:1), and was willing to fight them alone. He seems to have been actuated by little less than personal vengeance, yet in the New Testament he is named among the heroes of faith (Heb 11:32), and was in no ordinary sense an Old Testament worthy. He was good-natured, sarcastic, full of humor, and fought with his wits as well as with his fists. Milton has graphically portrayed his character in his dramatic poem Samson Agonistes (1671), on which Handel built his oratorio, Samson (1743).

3. Story of His Life:

The story of Samson’s life is unique among the biographies of the Old Testament. It is related in Judges 13 through 16. Like Isaac, Samuel and John the Baptist, he was a child of prayer (Jdg 13:8, Jdg 13:12). To Manoah’s wife the angel of Yahweh appeared twice (Jdg 13:3, Jdg 13:9), directing that the child which should be born to them should be a Nazirite from the womb, and that he would “begin to save Israel out of the hand of the Philistines” (Jdg 13:5, Jdg 13:7, Jdg 13:14). The spirit of Yahweh first began to move him in Mahaneh-dan, between Zorah and Eshtaol (Jdg 13:25). On his arriving at manhood, five remarkable circumstances are recorded of him.

(1) His marriage with a Philistine woman of Timnah (Judges 14). His parents objected to the alliance (Jdg 14:3), but Samson’s motive in marrying her was that he “sought an occasion against the Philistines” At the wedding feast Samson propounded to his guests a riddle, wagering that if they guessed its answer he would give them 30 changes of raiment. Dr. Moore felicitously renders the text of the riddle thus:

’Out of the eater came something to eat,

And out of the strong came something sweet’ (Jdg 14:14).

The Philistines threatened the life of his bride, and she in turn wrung from Samson the answer; whereupon he retorted (in Dr. Moore’s version):

’If with my heifer ye did not plow,

Ye had not found out my riddle, I trow’ (Jdg 14:18).

Accordingly, in revenge, Samson went down to Ashkelon, slew some 30 men, and paid his debt; he even went home without his wife, and her father to save her from shame gave her to Samson’s “best man” (Jdg 14:20). It has been suggested by W. R. Smith (Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia, 70-76) that Samson did not from the first intend to take his bride to his home, his marriage being what is known among the Arabs as a cadı̄ḳat, or gift marriage, by which is meant that the husband becomes a part of the wife’s tribe. This assumes that the social relations of the Hebrews at that time were matriarchate, the wife remaining with her family, of which custom there are other traces in the Old Testament, the husband merely visiting the wife from time to time. But this is not so obvious in Samson’s case in view of his pique (Jdg 14:19), and especially in view of his parents’ objection to his marrying outside of Israel (Jdg 14:3). Not knowing that his bride had been given by her father to his friend, Samson went down to Timnah to visit her, with a kid; when he discovered, however, that he had been taken advantage of, he went out and caught 300 jackals, and putting firebrands between every two tails, he burned up the grain fields and olive yards of the Philistines. The Philistines, however, showed they could play with fire, too, and burned his wife and her father. Thereupon, Samson smote the Philistines in revenge, “hip and thigh” (Jdg 15:1-8).

(2) When he escaped to Etam, an almost vertical rock cliff in Judah (by some identified with ‛Araḳ Ismain) not far from Zorah, Samson’s home, the Philistines invaded Judah, encamped at Lehi above Etam, and demanded the surrender of their arch-enemy. The men of Judah were willing to hand Samson over to the Philistines, and accordingly went down to the cliff Etam, bound Samson and brought him up where the Philistines were encamped (Jdg 15:9-13). When Samson came to Lehi the Philistines shouted as they met him, whereupon the spirit of Yahweh came mightily upon him, so that he broke loose from the two new ropes with which the 3,000 men of Judah had bound him, and seizing a fresh jawbone of an ass he smote with it 1,000 men of the Philistines, boasting as he did so in pun-like poetry, ’With the jawbone of an ass, m-ass upon m-ass’; or, as Dr. Moore translates the passage, ’With the bone of an ass, I ass-ailed my ass-ailants’ (Jdg 15:16). At the same time, Samson reverently gave Yahweh the glory of his victory (Jdg 15:18). Samson being thirsty, Yahweh provided water for him at a place called En-hakkore, or “Partridge Spring,” or “the Spring of the Caller” - another name for partridge (Jdg 15:17-19).

(3) Samson next went down to Gaza, to the very stronghold of the Philistines, their chief city. There he saw a harlot, and, his passions not being under control, he went in unto her. It was soon noised about that Samson, the Hebrew giant, was in the city. Accordingly, the Philistines laid wait for him. But Samson arose at midnight and laid hold of the doors of the gate and their two posts, and carried them a full quarter of a mile up to the top of the mountain that looketh toward Hebron (Jdg 16:1-3).

(4) From Gaza Samson betook himself to the valley of Sorek where he fell in love with another Philistine woman, named Delilah, through whose machinations he lost his spiritual power. The Philistine lords bribed her with a very large sum to deliver him into their hands. Three times Samson deceived her as to the secret of his strength, but at last he explains that he is a Nazirite, and that his hair, which has never been shorn, is the secret of his wonderful power. J. G. Frazer (Golden Bough, III, 390 ff) has shown that the belief that some mysterious power resides in the hair is still widespread among savage peoples, e.g. the Fiji Islanders. Thus, Samson fell. By disclosing to Delilah this secret, he broke his covenant vow, and the Spirit of God departed from him (Jdg 16:4-20). The Philistines laid hold on him, put out his eyes, brought him down to Gaza, bound him with fetters, and forced him to grind in the prison house. Grinding was women’s work! It is at this point that Milton catches the picture and writes,

“Eyeless in Gaza, at the mill with slaves.”

Howbeit, the hair of his head began to grow again; but his eyes did not! (Jdg 16:21, Jdg 16:22).

(5) The final incident recorded of Samson is in connection with a great sacrificial feast which the Philistine lords gave in honor of Dagon, their god. In their joyous celebration they sang in rustic rhythm:

’Our god has given us into our hand

The foe of our land,

Whom even our most powerful band

Was never able to withstand’ (Jdg 16:24).

This song was accompanied probably, as Mr. Macalister suggests, by hand-clapping (Gezer, 129). When they became still more merry, they called for Samson to play the buffoon, and by his pranks to entertain the assembled multitude. The house of Dagon was full of people; about 3,000 were upon the roof beholding as Samson made sport. With the new growth of his hair his strength had returned to him. The dismantled giant longed to be avenged on his adversaries for at least one of his two eyes (Jdg 16:28). He prayed, and Yahweh heard his prayer. Guided by his attendant, he took hold of the wooden posts of the two middle pillars upon which the portico of the house rested, and slipping them off their pedestals, the house fell upon the lords and upon all the people that were therein. “So the dead that he slew at his death were more than they that he slew in his life” (Jdg 16:29, Jdg 16:30). His kinsmen came and carried him up and buried him near his boyhood home, between Zorah and Eshtaol, in the family burying-ground of his father. “And he judged Israel twenty years” (Jdg 16:31).

4. Historical Value:

The story of Samson is a faithful mirror of his times: “Every man did that which was right in his own eyes” (Jdg 17:6; Jdg 21:25). There was no king in those days, i.e. no central government. Each tribe was separately occupied driving out their individual enemies. For 40 years the Philistines had oppressed Samson’s tribal compatriots. Their suzerainty was also recognized by Judah (Jdg 14:4; Jdg 15:11). Samson was the hero of his tribe. The general historicity of his story cannot be impeached on the mere ground of improbability. His deeds were those which would most naturally be expected from a giant, filled with a sense of justice. He received the local popularity which a man of extraordinary prowess would naturally be given. All peoples glory in their heroes. The theory that the record in Judges 13 through 16 is based upon some “solar myth” is now generally abandoned. That there are incidents in his career which are difficult to explain, is freely granted. For example, that he killed a lion (Jdg 14:6) is not without a parallel; David and Benaiah did the same (1Sa 17:34-36; 2Sa 23:20). God always inspires a man in the line of his natural endowments. That God miraculously supplied his thirst (Jdg 15:19) is no more marvelous than what God did for Hagar in the wilderness (Gen 21:19). That Samson carried off the doors of the gate of Gaza and their two posts, bar and all, must not confound us till we know more definitely their size and the distance from Gaza of the hill to which he carried them. The fact that he pulled down the roof on which there were 3,000 men and women is not at all impossible, as Mr. Macalister has shown. If we suppose that there was an immense portico to the temple of Dagon, as is quite possible, which was supported by two main pillars of wood resting on bases of stone, like the cedar pillars of Solomon’s house (1Ki 7:2), all that Samson, therefore, necessarily did, was to push the wooden beams so that their feet would slide over the stone base on which they rested, and the whole portico would collapse. Moreover, it is not said that the whole of the 3,000 on the roof were destroyed (Jdg 16:30). Many of those in the temple proper probably perished in the number (R. A. S. Macalister, Bible Side-Lights from the Mound of Gezer, 1906, 127-38).

5. Religious Value:

Not a few important and suggestive lessons are deducible from the hero’s life: (1) Samson was the object of parental solicitude from even before his birth. One of the most suggestive and beautiful prayers in the Old Testament is that of Manoah for guidance in the training of his yet unborn child (Jdg 13:8). Whatever our estimate of his personality is, Samson was closely linked to the covenant. (2) He was endowed with the Spirit of Yahweh - the spirit of personal patriotism, the spirit of vengeance upon a foe of 40 years’ standing (Jdg 13:1, Jdg 13:25; Jdg 14:6:19; Jdg 15:14). (3) He also prayed, and Yahweh answered him, though in judgment (Jdg 16:30). But he was prodigal of his strength. Samson had spiritual power and performed feats which an ordinary man would hardly perform. But he was unconscious of his high vocation. In a moment of weakness he yielded to Delilah and divulged the secret of his strength. He was careless of his personal endowment. He did not realize that physical endowments no less than spiritual are gifts from God, and that to retain them we must be obedient. (4) He was passionate and therefore weak. The animal of his nature was never curbed, but rather ran unchained and free. He was given to sudden fury. Samson was a wild, self-willed man. Passion ruled. He could not resist the blandishments of women. In short, he was an overgrown schoolboy, without self-mastery. (5) He accordingly wrought no permanent deliverance for Israel; he lacked the spirit of cooperation. He undertook a task far too great for even a giant single-handed. Yet, it must be allowed that Samson paved the way for Saul and David. He began the deliverance of Israel from the Philistines. He must, therefore, be judged according to his times. In his days there was unrestrained individual independence on every side, each one doing as he pleased. Samson differed from his contemporaries in that he was a hero of faith (Heb 11:32). He was a Nazirite, and therefore dedicated to God. He was given to revenge, yet he was ready to sacrifice himself in order that his own and his people’s enemies might be overthrown. He was willing to lay down his own life for the sake of his fellow-tribesmen - not to save his enemies, however, but to kill them. (Compare Mat 5:43 f; Rom 5:10.)

Literature.

(1) Comma. on Jgs, notably those by G. F. Moore, ICC, 1895; Budde, Kurzer Handkommentar, 1897; Nowack, Handkommentar, 1900; E. L. Curtis, The Bible for Home and School, 1913; Bachmann, 1868; Keil, 1862; Farrar in Ellicott’s Commentaries; Watson, Expositor’s Bible. (2) Articles on “Samson” in the various Bible Dictionaries and Encyclopedias; in particular those by Budde, HDB; C. W. Emmet, in 1-vol HDB; S. A. Cook, New Encyclopedia Brit; Davis, Dict. of the Bible.

(Óáìøþí)

Samson was the popular hero of the tribe of Dan who began to deliver Israel from the Philistines, the Nazirite whose secret of strength lay in his hair, the blinded giant who prayed for power to avenge himself and his country in the hour of his death (Judges 13-16). He finds a place in the great Roll of Faith contained in Hebrews 11. Much has been written in recent years regarding the legendary elements of the story of Samson and the possibility of its being a solar myth, but such ideas were naturally far from the mind of the anonymous writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews.

Literature.-For solar myth theory see Commentaries on Judges by G. F. Moore (International Critical Commentary , 1895) and K. Budde (Das Buch der Richter, 1897); J. G. Frazer, The Golden Bough2, 1900, iii. 390 ff.; A. Jeremias, The OT in the Light of the Ancient East, Eng. translation , 2 vols., 1911, ii. 169ff.

James Strahan.

In the days between Israel’s entrance into Canaan and the establishment of the kingdom, the Israelites were often oppressed by other peoples of the region. During one period, when the Philistines dominated them for forty years, the people had become so crushed that they had no more desire to fight. It was easier to accept the hardship of Philistine rule than to try to overthrow it (Jdg 15:11-13). The man whom God raised up to stir the Israelites from this apathy was Samson. He began the revolt that would eventually lead to the overthrow of the Philistines (Jdg 13:5 b).

As a person dedicated to God according to the conditions of the Nazirite vow, Samson was not to drink wine, cut his hair or touch any dead body (Jdg 13:5; cf. Num 6:2-8). Although he carried out mighty deeds through the special power of God’s Spirit upon him (Jdg 13:25; Jdg 14:6; Jdg 14:19; Jdg 15:14), he was not careful to maintain his Nazirite dedication to God (Jdg 14:8-9). When, towards the end of his life, he allowed the removal of the last symbol of this dedication (his uncut hair), God withdrew his divine power from him (Jdg 16:19-20).

Samson had to fight his battles against the Philistines virtually unaided by his fellow Israelites. While they were complacent, he was looking for ways of unsettling the enemy. He lost no opportunity of doing as much damage as he could (Jdg 14:4).

When, for example, the Philistines won a bet against him through cheating, Samson killed thirty of their citizens (Jdg 14:18-19). When his wife was given to another man, Samson burnt the Philistines’ fields (Jdg 15:1-5). In retaliation for their murder of his wife and father-in-law, Samson killed more Philistines (Jdg 15:6-8). When the Philistines made an attack on the town where he was staying in an attempt to capture him, he killed another thousand of them (Jdg 15:15).

Samson became known as one of the judges of Israel. He was a judge not in the sense that he settled legal disputes, but in the sense that he executed judgments on the oppressors of God’s people. His remarkable attacks, spread over twenty years, began the deliverance that David eventually achieved many years later (Jdg 13:5 b; 15:20; 2Sa 8:1; 2Sa 8:11-12). His greatest triumph was on the day of his death when, through faith in the power of God, he killed all the Philistine rulers along with three thousand of their leading people (Jdg 16:23; Jdg 16:28; Jdg 16:30; Heb 11:32-34). It was the turning point that gave Israel new hope.